02.02.2007

ROCK STAR STYLIN'

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE MUSICIANS LOOK GOOD? FASHION EXPERT NI195'A SANDEJAS FILLS US IN

by Niña Sandejas

MUSIC, FASHION AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

I don’t really know when music and fashion went to bed together—it just happened, as most people would say about love. People started to be exposed to more things and at the same time got too busy for leisurely tasks such as shopping or reading magazines. Suddenly, occupations such as fashion styling for artists sprang up from odd places, like wild mushrooms. It’s kind of like how we created more employment opportunities when we developed the habit of failing to throw the trash ourselves at McDonalds.

When I started out, I literally did not know anything about music. I’d like a song or two from some artists, listen to them again and again, and forget them after a month. I wonder, then, how I ended up working for an industry I initially knew nothing about. I would merely nod when the bands I was styling for would mention artists they wanted to imitate, thankful that I didn’t have to discuss their type of sound or how many albums they’d released. Thank God for Google; I was able to wing it.

It helped not being a fan of anybody I’ve worked with: I could be critical about them and not really care if they liked me or not. The only embarrassing thing I could remember was on my first job, working as Rivermaya’s stylist. I would call their guitarist “Japs” and their bassist “Mike” and people were puzzled why I was calling someone but looking the other way. Fortunately, the band members didn’t notice… well, I’d like to think they didn’t.

NOT YOUR TYPICAL STYLING GIG

Dressing up rock bands isn’t like your typical fashion styling gig where you just get clothes and tell the models to wear them. For one thing, rock musicians generally don’t admit to thinking about clothes, and some of them are even “anti-fashion” (which is actually a deliberate fashion statement). You don’t want to make them look like they’re from a completely different genre or generation, so you have to get to know the band and try to see what direction they’re heading or what market they’re targeting. Performers are like politicians running for election; they have to win the hearts of those watching them, so they have to feel good about what they’re wearing in front of a crowd. To achieve that, they need to have confidence in the person who is telling them what to wear. So trust is important and it takes an open mind and some time hanging out to achieve that.

The truth of the matter is, most musicians believe that they do not need a stylist. They have an old school belief that they can get by with just the music. It may be true, but with media overload these days, the entire metropolis is like a big stage production and not riding along with it will just get you lost amidst all the rubble. It’s always better to have a professional advisor because even though some musicians have an innate fashion sense, not everyone has the exact same taste in clothes. There are important factors to consider, such as a unified look for an entire band or a trend that reflects a band’s pop-cultural relevance. Unless the musician is a designer himself, these are things that stylists will know more about.

I remember trying to recreate a vintage purple corduroy jacket that Rivermaya vocalist Rico Blanco wore during a gig opening for Hoobastank. With his skinny frame, the clothes that I usually ended up getting for him at the vintage shops were for women. Being merely a freshman student in fashion school, I was taking a while to figure out how to loosen the shape as the deadline loomed ever nearer. I told him that I was having trouble removing the darts, which made the jacket unnecessarily curvy (darts are those small folded sewn lines you find on the side of the front of your polos, sometimes at the side of your bust for women).

He agreed, saying that he had to fold and hide it inside the pocket.

I was in front of the sewing machine contemplating the message he sent me. I was confused; I think he was referring to the pocket flaps. Suffice it to say, I never completed the task.

BIG TIME BAND, UGLY-ASS JACKET

When The Dawn asked me if I could style them, the very first thing I told them was that lead guitarist Francis Reyes should change his eyeglasses and that drummer JB Leonor should dye his hair. It was more difficult to work with them: they’ve had famous stylists like Jun Poblador, Rafe Totengco, Randy Ortiz and Rajo Laurel—who, in the 80’s, would make clothes for them from scratch. Styling is a lot more different now since RTW boomed in the 90’s—ordinary people can now shop for nice clothes in a nearby store. These days people can emulate those they admire, even to the point of wearing the same shirt, or the same tie, or sporting the same hairstyle.

Clothing sponsors are obviously great because you get freebies but they can be a stylist’s nightmare. You can never complain when you get stuff for free. If items are out of stock, the artists might be forced to wear things you would never like. They also don’t carry a vast range of sizes, sometimes I’d take stuff out from my own collection or have them readjusted, an unnecessary expense for the band, just so they can seal the deal.

Brands usually have one particular style and direction, and they’re not necessarily consonant with a band’s image. For example, Jett Pangan once had a sponsored jacket with big sun-shaped patches. I promptly removed them; otherwise he would have looked like a circus ringleader and not the frontman of a respected rock band. Reconstructing or revamping clothes from brands so that they’ll really complement the band is the key. Sometimes you can get lucky and ask a rockstar like Francis Reyes to do things such as beadwork because “it’s just like changing guitar strings”.

IT'S A LIVING

Is styling a glamorous job? Well, you never get to truly enjoy gigs because you always end up as more of a yaya during those events. Also, being a stylist involves accepting that you are merely the means to an end; the spotlight is always on someone else.

Frankly, it wouldn’t hurt to be thanked and credited for a job well done once in a while. It’s funny; when most musicians get complimented about their looks, they tend to say, “Well, I’ve always dressed like this…”

Music is an ever evolving, fast-paced industry much like fashion. Image is just as important as the music itself—name any of the most influential musicians in history, and I can guarantee that they had both the sound AND the look. Local artists have begun to realize this in the past three years and have taken it upon themselves to develop their own style, thus artist styling is now almost an endangered profession. Working with musicians has made me a fan of music though—something I was not three years ago—and the music I’ve discovered can serve as an inspiration, and feed back into the way I work. Music and fashion have a symbiotic relationship, with similar historic goals: revivalism and reinvention. I’ve learned that not only do they benefit one another, they’re inseparable.



Photos provided by Niña Sandejas.

As a freelance designer and stylist, Niña has worked with artists and bands like Rivermaya, The Dawn, Kitchie Nadal, Session Road, Vina Morales, Nina and Paolo Santos, as well as brands like Mango, Rustan's, Palmolive, Marlboro, and Globe Telecom. She has also done store window dressing for the prestigious brand Zara and has worked with famous top model Joyce Oreña in her accessory line. She is currently a student taking up fashion design and marketing at the LaSalle College International, a Canadian-based fashion school here in Manila.

Share this article!

• 2009
  • SEPTEMBER
    • RIVERMAYA: HEAVENWARD
  • JULY
    • FINE LINE: ON LINER NOTES IN GENERAL AND PUPIL'S 'WILDLIFE: SPECIAL EDITION' IN PARTICULAR
  • MARCH
    • I'VE BEEN WANTING TO TAKE YOU THERE (P2)
  • FEBRUARY
    • I’ve Been Wanting to Take You There
    • Please Transpose: Kris Dancel and the Eraserheads
    • ROBIN RIVERA: GATEKEEPER
    • ROBIN RIVERA: GATEKEEPER
    • PEACE-ING IT ALL TOGETHER (PART 2)
    • PEACE-ING IT ALL TOGETHER
• 2008
  • DECEMBER
    • QLE AWARDS = QUALITY LISTENING EXPERIENCE
  • OCTOBER
    • NOTES FROM THE WALL-FLY ALMANAC: THE DZRJ 45TH ANNIVERSARY "SUPERSESSION" REHEARSALS
  • SEPTEMBER
    • The Eraserheads Reunion: It Finally Happened
  • AUGUST
    • OK COMPRENDE: Marcus Adoro on the Eraserheads Reunion Show
  • JULY
    • RUNNING A ROCK CLUB WITH SAGUIJO'S ANGELO CARLOS
  • MARCH
    • DIVINE WRITE: SONGWRITERS AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
  • JANUARY
    • THE PARTY IS THE SECRET
• 2007
  • OCTOBER
    • MAKING MUSIC MAGAZINES
  • SEPTEMBER
    • THE PARTY IS THE SECRET
  • JUNE
    • EXTRA! EXTRA!
  • JANUARY
    • PREFERABLY GOOD PUBLICITY
• 2006
  • OCTOBER
    • CRAZY+BEAUTIFUL