British Filipino designer Nicomede Talavera’s latest collection was a deeply personal and beautiful tribute to his father Reynaldo Divina Talavera, who passed away last year.
“I wanted to celebrate the man in my life who showed me what true love is. To be creative, to be thoughtful and to have an open heart. I started the collection by looking into my dad’s classic wardrobe and taking his pieces into a new realm. My dad had style,” Talavera said during a preview.
Pictures of his father, at what Talavera deemed key fashion moments in his life, were shown on the designer’s mood board alongside black-and-white fashion editorials, and images of angels, a recurring source of inspiration since Talavera relaunched his namesake label in 2019.
The result was a great lineup of modern iterations of his father’s key staples mixing futuristic shapes and sharp tailoring with Filipino heritage and Catholic elements.
In this “wardrobe for him to take to paradise,” traces of couture-inspired cutting can be seen on leather jackets, coats and bombers. Sheer tailoring was paired with a mini apron skirt, for some extra kick. Long T-shirts were beaded at the bottom in Indigenous patterns that serve as a blessing for the wearer.
Talavera’s take on Barong Tagalog, a traditional long-sleeved shirt that his father had always worn in the Philippines, felt particularly refreshing. He made it with silk and hand-embroidered beads and sequins in a floral pattern, a reminder of his father’s love for gardening.
The look book was styled by his mother, the only person who knows exactly how his father would like things to be.
Talavera is one of the most underrated talents in London at the moment. It’s hard not to give him a thumbs-up for his ability to continuously translate something so intimate into such a modern collection that for sure will draw the attention of the pickiest fashion shoppers.
Need proof? Selfridges puts his designs next to Bottega Veneta on the shop floor all the time.
