Interview with John Les

John Les is the designer name I go by which is my middle name (John) and part of my first name (Lester). By branding my name it made sense to go by John Les because menswear is known as simplistic and expected. “Less is more” is the attitude that I held onto with creating my menswear designs.

It honestly depends on the time of the day. But I honestly believe that keeping in touch with what works for ourselves is very important because it’s easy for us to lose touch in what we’re really good because I view creativity like a sport, and treat creativity the same way athlete’s treat their skills. Finding creative activities in my spare time is very important for me to stay creative and keep my creative flow going because when athletes perform, it takes them dedication and practice daily to become good at what they do. I view this same philosophy towards staying creative.

It’s different every time when designing because many designs are different and different designs will compel us to design from different angles of view points and emotions.

Fashion is an industry that is always changing so I don’t think there is a notion of know when a design is successful. If it boils down to creating designs that will make you wealthy, you have to follow trends.

A guy like me coming from an island in the Philippines, environmental issues and responsibilities is something that I am passionate about when it comes to discarding textiles and using the majority of remnants as possible in the designs of garments because the fashion industry is the second most polluting contributor to our environment. Even if the progress is as little as me being the 1% in this world that sees all the signs around us of climate change, I know that things must be done differently taking into account of sustainability as a designer.

Massively known businesses are integrating to sustainable business practices and this is absolutely great for our environment and industry. This shows us that we are heading into the right direction and cleaning up our mess that we’ve created for years.

When I started fashion school, designing red carpet dresses for celebrities is what got me into enrolling into The Art Institute and then I later learned that menswear is a bit more behind than womenswear so my 2nd year is when I decided to focus my designs in menswear. I’ve started to notice that my inspirations come from women’s clothing.

My design style is futuristic and bold with prominent curve lines conveyed by neutral colors. I initially wanted to dwell in womenswear by creating dresses and gowns. I think a lot of my influential styles comes from women’s clothing when designing menswear.

I live in San Diego, California. California is so diverse so a lot of the diverse groups have influenced me in some way, absolutely.

This is a tough and tricky one because it’s very difficult to find a good match between a company and a designer, especially when it comes to both that see eye to eye in similar styles. These pairings are rare to find the shoe that fits for every designer. It’s just luck and faith in my book.

I usually start from a mood board by pulling certain images that evoke certain emotions to keep my brain activity active. Then I pull inspirations from architectural objects and images. The choices of textiles are chosen next in order to decide what will work best with the designs created and what textiles are trending.

I wake up and make coffee before I leave the house. I grab my gym bag and head to my destination of errands that must be done. Once I’m done with that I head to a vegan friendly food spot to give myself some fuel for the gym. Then I head back home and relax watching YouTube reaction videos or sewing things up.

I would say to stay true to yourself and never conform to what society wants you to be. That’s that hardest and worst that can happen to a designer is losing themselves in the mix. So stay true to yourself, beliefs, and values. We don’t need cookie cutter pleasers.

When you’re designing for yourself, don’t follow trends because it allows you to tap into your creative zone where there are no limits. When designing for a company or client, follow their guidelines because that will make your designs profitable.

I have a big brown traveling rolling bag where all my tools are in to see using industrial sewing machines, tools for patterning, and books that refresh my knowledge in the basics of patterning and construction.

I always have to do the designing in between by busy schedule whether it’s driving in the car or grocery shopping. I’m always designing, taking mental notes, and jotting ideas down on a cellular notepad.

It all depends. When I design and come up with a great idea, I tend to design from that idea and repeat the process until a new collection has been created.

My short term goals is to work for a company in order to learn things that I don’t know in what makes a company successful. My long term goal is to become a well known name label like Marc Jacobs, and Calvin Klein but a label that practices sustainability within the process of production.

I am fresh out of school graduated with a bachelors so I develop my designs for myself, but my goal is to work for a company and learn the working parts of a business so I can implement and mirror that into my own business.

I am currently working on a repurpose collection using remnants of fabrics and a collection created along Reformation which was a sub theme from the Reformation mood board. The repurpose collections is a womenswear collection of gowns, dresses, and jump suits and the sub theme tied to Reformation’s mood board is a menswear collection that consist of avant garde formal wear inspired from a religious tone of the mood board.

I can be contacted through social media outlets where my contacts are openly posted or on my portfolio website.Instagram: JohnlesdesignsWebsite: lesterjdeguzman.wixsite.com/johnles