Ready to wear fashion comes to Denver Fashion Week (DFW) on June 27, with an evening that will showcase local fashion designers. Ahead of the event, 303 Magazine got to talk with a pair of those designers – Mona Lucero, creator of Mona Lucero Couture, and Jasmine Lewis, creator of Jasmine Lewis Design – about their collections. Both designers incorporate art with fashion to create pieces that are unlike others through shape, color and materials. We learned all about their creative processes, inspiration and influences that have impacted their collections this season.
Mona Lucero Couture
Mona Lucero received a Bachelor of Fine arts from the University of Colorado Denver and an Associates Degree in Fashion Design from the Institute of Technology in New York. From there Lucero returned to Denver to use those skills to mesh art and fashion together for her ready-to-wear collection.
This season Lucero has 10 outfits with some featuring her own artwork. Through her designs, she uses a lot of personal artwork and has incorporated a 70’s vibe with bright colors, lengthy dresses and funky sleeve shapes.
303 Magazine: How have your life experiences impacted your take on fashion?
Mona Lucero: Everything that I create has some aspect of my life in it, there is a print with my cat who has passed away, Vincent. There is a print of a drawing I did when I was in fashion school. There is a print from a drawing of a shoe from high school. There are miscellaneous designs from different parts of my life.
303: Is there anything you wish to share with others through fashion?
ML: I just want people to really enjoy their lives and I believe fashion is about equality of life. So wearing nice clothes and fun clothes and something that makes you happy is equality of life.
303: Are there any challenges that you have had to overcome to get this collection ready?
ML: I feel really rusty, it has been a while since I have created a complete collection. Working during this year and all of 2020, I created a lot of masks and continued to make custom designs and also some new patterns and prints of fabric. This is the first fashion show I have done in about a year and I feel very rusty and difficult to get back into the swing of things.
303: Have you experimented with any new fabrics for this collection??
ML: I’m always doing new fabrics and new designs, there are a couple of new shapes that I am doing. I would say the denim jackets that are coordinated with a couple of dresses are going to be my favorites. I am still in the process of completing them.
Jasmine Lewis Designs
Jasmine Lewis is a Colorado native with a heart in artistry. In college, Lewis studied product design and industrial design. She later incorporated this into fashion design with the use of many fabrics throughout the products she was creating. Lewis bends the way art and fashion are seen through the use of refurbishing and sculpting mixed with colorful fabrics and patterns.
This season, Lewis will showcase 16 new pieces on eight individual models. Throughout the collection, Lewis plays with many different shapes, movements and mixes different fabrics.
303 Magazine: Where do you find your inspiration?
Jasmine Lewis: My inspiration always comes from many different sources. I was looking at organic shapes, microorganisms, armor and lines of movement. My collections are also really inspired by the material. I like to experiment and try different techniques, which usually leads to a path I’m interested in exploring more.
303 Magazine: What do you wish to share with others through fashion?
JL: I approach fashion design the same way I would draw or paint. I think fashion can be very artistic and expressive, and I really enjoy sharing that artistic aspect with people.
303: What have been some of the biggest challenges to overcome related to this collection?
JL: I always start a collection with a specific direction, and usually end it with pieces that look very different than what I intended. With this collection, I had a lot of different inspirations, so it was difficult to decide where I wanted to take it.
303: Which item in this collection is your favorite? Why?
JL: I think the black dress is my favorite. It’s made out of a technique I’ve worked with before, but I’ve always wanted to see it used on a larger scale, so I’m glad I was able to include that in this collection.
All Photography done by Roxanna Carrasco