DAY 1 RECAP MERCEDES-BENZ NYFW S/S 14' : STRUT IT OUT!

The first official day of Mercedes-Benz has finally arrived! Lincoln Center, where individuals from all over the world come to preview what the trendsetters have in store for the next six months in Fashion, has been the prime location. New  styles for our upcoming Spring and summer  have been flowing through the runway, giving the audience a whiff of uplifting refreshment and fluent elegance for what's to come. From the striking bold to geometric wonder, the first day was a total success! Here are a few  photos of some of the Designers that showed on the first day.

                                                              NICHOLAS K.

Their S/S '14 collection is inspired by the Native American theme, combining accessories such as headbandswithfeathers. The color palette was made of earthy colors such as white, greys, black browns, and burnt orange. These layered looks are everyday's womenswear. Silhouettes are loose and flowy, cpmplimenting a wide range of body types. 

                                                                BCBGMAXAZRIA

This year BCBGMAXAZRIA introduced a lot of new ideas for their Spring/Summer 2014 collection. In a show full of mixed arrangements and contrast., the collection exudes an unique aesthetic of light summer shades and materials combined with a sharpened edge of folds and mixes.The collection is fresh, simple and contrasts the feminine vs masculine silhouettes.

                                                             TADASHI SHOJI

Sweat Liberation. It is easy to imagine this splendidly attired models strolling casually but confidently down the boulevards of Paris in the 1950s. Shoji’s empowered elegance is a mix of nostalgia and modern. The clothes are designed for strong women in a fierce contemporary world.  Shoji took an old fashioned and  seductive approach for his new collection.

                                                                      CANDELA

Inspiring infused streetwear and more casual elements into a hyperfeminine, romantic lineup. Channeling a marine theme, Perezutti used natural rope for the straps of a navy silk maxidress and re-created the patterns of maritime flags on color-blocked lace shirts and pencil skirts.

 DESIGUAL

Fun & flirty! This Mediterranean inspired collection is filled with colorful prints, polka dots, stripes and weightless fabrics.  This is the first time Desigual showed at New York Fashion Week and the Spanish fashion brand did not disappoint. The collection was divided into three themes; fun, love and sex. The show opened with the theme of fun, eye-catching animal prints, bold symbols and sixties references. The optimistic  feel and care-free nature is the energy that defines the collection this season.

MARISSA WEBB

The 2014 collection, Webb adds a taste of sophistication bringing a hint of leather detailing, into spring and summer with cropped jackets, shorts, and skirts. Colors are bold and bright. . From pop bold reds to bright blues and yellows, this collection gives a sense of happiness and good vibes.

By Sharon Trang

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SACHIKA @ THE FINALS OF THE SUPIMA DESIGN CONTEST 2010

To-Tam (left) & To-Nya (right) Sachika. Identical Twin Designers of SACHIKA at the Finals of the Supima Design Contest 2010

January 19th 2010 at the NY Times Center, 6 designers were about to unveil their finals garments made of the finest cotton in America: Supima, as a results of weeks and weeks of hard labor and little sleep...LOL

We arrived at the building promptly at 4h30pm. Makeup artists, hairdressers, models, organizers were running around everywhere, working like bees. Lights & cameras were everywhere, documenting the big event. It's always so thrilling to do a show, to create something and see it on the runway with all the lights on....awwww..what a thrill!!!

Our dresses were ready and so was our "ultimate t-shirt". Each Designer had to design 3 dresses(knit, woven and denim) and their version of the ultimate t-shirt. We had our 4 pieces ready and we were happy and proud of our designs. Designers were mostly steaming their garments, prepping their models, etc. At 5h30pm, we had a rehearsal in the main room. Some of our favorites photographer friends were there: Arthur Eisenberg, James Bluck, Derrick Salters, Keith Lew, Shawn Punch. Always lovely to know we're going to get amazing shots out of this!!!

Here are the final 6 Designers chosen: Robin Tomas, Gina DeSilva, Michael Venker, Nadia Ivanova, Heber Sanchez, and Sachika’s To-Tam and To-Nya Ton-Nu
Judges:
Teri Agins, Simon Collins, Chris Frye, Horacio Silva and Buxton Midyette.

At 7pm, the show started and SACHIKA was first. We love to either open or close shows!

Our model Atalita opened the show with our denim dress. It's the BIJOU dress, a flirtatious one-shoulder dress with sequins and wide circular dress made in denim. Denim never looked so fab!! We were frankly very proud of that dress and Atalita totally rocked it!

Bijou Denim Dress by SACHIKA

Second piece was the Fatale dress. This dress fits Rayunna like a glove. She has the perfect cleavage & proportions for the dress. It's simple, sexy, young and modern.



Fatale dress by SACHIKA


3rd dress was our Butterfly hater dress with removable straps. This dress photographed the best out of our 2 dresses! Yes, even garments can be photogenic lol.



Butterfly dress by SACHIKA

Our t-shirt was worn by male model Chris Austad. He is such a sweetheart. He looked totally hot in our t-shirt and he loved it!!! He kept saying he wanted it. He did an amazing job on the runway! It's the Tux-Body shirt. The lines create the illusion of a tuxedo yet with you get the feel and comfort of a t-shirt. Strategically placed seams to enhance the male body with a more v-shape, wider shoulders and sexy neckline. Do you guys like it???

Tux-Body T-Shirt by SACHIKA

Each Designer proudly showcased their designs. We must admit everyone was so sweet and nice. Everyone seemed focused on their work, it was a pleasant environment.

The lovely Coco Rocha announced the winners :

1) Best gown: Gina Da Silva.

We have to congratulate her and admit that her craftmanship was great. She put countless hours into making those dresses and she truly deserved it for putting so much effort and work. We were particularly impressed with her last dress.

2) Best T-shirt for men: Robin Tomas
Congrats to Robin! He was a sweetheart and he's Filipino!!! So let's go Asians Designers!!

The evening ended on the step and repeat with flashes here and there, photos, interviews and we left still feeling proud of our designs!! YES!
"A True Winner is one who finds victory in all life experiences"

Here is the video to the whole show. The first 4 designs are SACHIKA's :)

Supima Design Competition Fashion Show from Marc Lewkowitz on Vimeo.

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To-Tam & To-Nya Sachika

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Visit our website: www.SACHIKA.com

SACHIKA advances to the FINALS of the SUPIMA Design Competition by Bloomingdale's!!!

For more details and updates on Supima Cotton and the contest, check out their blog:
http:/www.supimacotton.blogspot.com

A friend of ours, also a very talented photographer, James H.Bluck, had told us about this competition. He recommended we tried out for it. On Wednesday October 21st, an open casting call was held at Bloomingdale's for all Designers. The goal of the contest is to create a platform for emerging designers to grow as well as to promote the quality and versatility of that natural fiber called SUPIMA. Pima cotton is a generic name for extra-long staple (ELS) cotton grown mostly in the United States, Australia, and Peru.SU-PIMA cotton stands for SUPERIOR PIMA. It is a trademark name that guarantees that the product is made of 100% American Pima cotton. Supima cotton is a stronger and softer quality of cotton. Cotton is often used for more casual-ready-to-wear fashions and who says Supima cotton cannot be used for evening gown or couture? As a Designer, the challenge is to break the barrier of what's has been done before and to work with a different fiber by creating a beautiful high-fashion garment out of cotton. Especially in this economy, I'd say designers should be more price sensitive and try to make beautiful garment that are cost efficient. This goes along the line of the mentality of our brand: SACHIKA which mainly focuses on creating dresses that are fashionable and sophisticated yet by using more comfortable fabrics such as rayon, viscose and silk jerseys. Supima can actually be a great substitute for the above fabrics. Why not? We are up for the challenge!

Supima held their open call casting at Bloomingdale's 59th Street flagship for its next Competition for Emerging Designers.

Designers chosen for the Competition will then be given top quality Supima fabric to execute their designs, and a chance to show them to the press, buyers, and a panel of celebrity judges during a live runway show in January.

The winning design will not only have his or her garment promoted by Supima.
It'll also be featured in Bloomingdale's!

Here is a link to their previous show at the Gotham Hall in NYC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFYJmGythR4



At the open call, we had created 3 sketches that we submitted along with our portfolio, resume and dresses that we've sewn to the jugding panel. Number 13 we were. Now that is OUR LUCKY number...lol... we love number 13, cause we were born on December 13th. The wait was long and although we were among the first ones, we ended up waiting for nearly 2 hours to be seen. The interview was filmed. We got a pretty good vibe and positive feedback from the judges. We were confident about the designs we submitted.

The next day, we got a happy call back from Supima annoucing that made it to the next round! 12 designers haven been chosen to advance to the next round where we will be interviewed and showing our designs to a panel of celebrity judges. Exciting!

3 days later:
Wow! This time, the stakes are higher, we have to draw 4 different sketches: 3 evening dresses (knit, woven and denim) and our version of the ultimate t-shirt....and they are choosing 6 to go to THE FINALS!...NICE!!!

A few hours before the big day, Tuesday October 27th, we were still drawing the sketches and figuring out the colors,trimmings, etc. We arrived at the IMG building a few minutes after 10am, ready for round 2!

IMG created "NEW YORK FASHION WEEK". Here are posters of past fashion weeks in the conference room of IMG.


In the conference room, where the 11 other finalists sat, we could feel a healthy competitive vibe and a lot of curiosity from the other Designers. Some of them cracked jokes to relax the atmosphere, others made conversations, either to make friends or who knows, maybe to size each other up?!? Regardless, we were mostly focused on ourselves and how we were going to wow the judges.

The tension rose in the conreference where a total of 11 other finalists were also waiting to meet the judges


The staff informed us that the judges were composed of very important people: Fashion Editor of the Wall Street Journal, the Fashion Editor of the NY Times, the Fashion director of Bloomingdale's, a member of SUPIMA, etc. All those names really just made us more nervous...so I told my sister we should rather focus on our speech and presentation. A long hour and a half later, they finally started the interviews because some judge arrived FASHIONABLY LATE...We were second (2) to go. As we walked in, 5 judges were sitting across the table with lights and cameras everywhere. It was quite an intimidating set up...

It felt like " Project Runway" !

Camera crew moments before the top 6 are revealed!

Cameras didn't bother us because we are Sagittarians, it was the short time allowed that was a concern. We immediately started our presentation trying to look as confident as possible, with our best foot forward....lol... A few questions were asked here and there but, we found ourselves talking most of the time. We were really REALLY hoping for some reaction, perhaps positive feedback?..lol... etc but did not receive any. And before we knew it, our 5 minute was passed.... Two hours went by,designer after designer did their presentation to the judges.

The judges were now deliberating...And it took them a few hour to make a decision!

The wait was long and draining!...

At 4pm, one of the judge finally came in as the 12 if us lined up against the wall...That's when we really got nervous...!!!

Peak Stressful Moment of the day!





My sister and I looked at each other with a look in our eyes that meant :" what if we don't make the cut? " Are we good enough? questions and doubts arose... And in no specific order, they called the following names as the TOP 6 FINALISTS:

1)Heber Sanchez
we smiled and applauded...still 5 to go...

Heber Sanchez
2)Nadia Atanasova
wow ok...4 more names left...we applauded...
Nadia Atanasova
3)Michael Venker
ok now that is half the bunch...we applauded..
Michael Venker
4)Gina DeSilva
omg, we aren't named...only two left!!!
Gina DeSilva

5)SACHIKA
we applauded and...oops..yay!!!...that was us!..We looked at each other, smiled and walked to the front.



6)Robin Tomas
Yay!, that was our filipino buddy/designer sitting right next to us!!!
Robin Tomas



What a relief!!.....It was worth it after so many hours of waiting around.Sometimes, we all need to get some reassurance... and of course the opportunity to present our garments on the final runway show which will be on January 19th!


We left with big smiles and a few great photos...!

To-Tam and To-Nya with MARK INDELICATO from Ugly Betty and FERN MALLIS, the executive Director of 7th on Sixth productions, the Vice President of marketing for International Management Group models, as well as the Vice President of IMG fashion. She is best recognized for organizing Fashion Week, an event which IMG currently produces.

Stay tuned for more updates on this competition...

Love,

SACHIKA TWINS
TO-TAM & TO-NYA