Beatriz accessories
After attending OC Fashion Week in March of 2022, I was mesmerized by a collection of beautifully detailed evening bags that managed to be fun and quirky while still exuding a level of elevated elegance. The collection being presented was from a Philippines-based brand called Beatriz Accessories. I had an opportunity to chat with founder and designer, Carissa Evangelista, to discuss some of her inspirations, the psychology of color, and the importance of community.
What was your inspiration as you were starting the brand to employ local women who needed that source of income and wanted a creative outlet? The focus of this first issue of L’Avenir de la Mode is ethical brands and getting to know the people who make the product, so why is this a value that you hold too?
I started the brand in 2015. Prior to this, I’d started other businesses trying to work with different communities as well, because I’m the type of person who likes to help. I believe that we need to have women helping women so that we can create better communities. We were looking at different communities that would do different things with metal, we had metal bags. We were working with different crocheting communities. We had some projects using tilapia skin for leather. Beatriz is born out of a love for creating beautiful products, developing a love for community, and sustaining community work. Our most popular bags are made with individually glued threads. Soon, it began growing from five to about thirty women. It was based out of their homes, and we had leaders who would help direct them on how to create the bags. Aside from being paid fairly, they felt a certain joy knowing that this bag created joy for other people as well. It’s art in a bag. If you work with colors that make you happy, it’s going to make you happy as the creator and make the buyer happy as well. You build your outfit around something – sometimes your earrings, your bag, or even your lipstick. Color is very powerful because it can lift our mood or express how we feel. Beatriz has great use of color and pattern so it’s an expression of the personality of the person using it while knowing they helped others as a livelihood has been created with the bag.
“If you work with colors that you make you happy, it’s going to make you happy...”
That’s one of the things I loved when I saw your bags at OC Fashion Week; they’re so intricately detailed. With every little thread, you can tell that everybody working on them takes so much time and has so much passion for what they’re doing. Again, I think your mission is so incredible. Who are some of your creative influences?
I have an aunt named Josie Natori and she’s a designer in the US. I’ve been looking up to her as an example of a strong, Asian-American woman who was an immigrant and has made it in the US. She was able to show the uniqueness of our country by sharing our handwork with embroidery while building a factory in The Philippines to support the people here.
Have you always wanted to pursue something creatively in the fashion industry, or is that something you decided to pursue later in life?
It’s something I decided to pursue later in life. I had worked for a bank, and for the government. For one of my government jobs, I worked in assisting exports with garments and fashion accessories. I found inspiration working with them. It’s a roundabout kind of thing because I went from the person assisting the exporters to becoming the exporter myself. I think things happen for a reason. I had always loved fashion accessories. Accessories are easy – you can use them with anything, and they lift your mood. I used to wear the hugest earrings. I’m very introverted and quiet in the way that I process things, but somehow, I’ve always felt that with color and accessories I could speak. I used to be very shy around crowds and people, but through work, I learned to speak more. I would let the way I dress speak for me, ‘I’m happy. I’m here. I exist.’ It became a form of self-expression…For the bags, what’s important is the shape, pattern, and color. When it’s brought together, it brings a different feeling for each. The white with the beige and the brown with the bright chartreuse. When you see it all together, then it’s something that looks different. If I change the chartreuse to another color, then the whole feeling will change all together. I think there’s psychology with color.
There is! It’s so funny you mention that! I believe it’s the only Ph.D. degree associated with fashion right now. You can earn a Ph.D. in the psychology of color. There’s a fashion institute in London that offers the degree, so there’s an entire field of study dedicated to it.
It’s the forecast of colors too – for interiors, for makeup, for nail polish – everything!
Speaking of trends, I know sustainability is an important value of Beatriz Accessories. Would you like to share a bit about that?
It could be the materials used which could be recycled or natural fibers and dyes. The way that we’re sustainable is that we have been using recycled plastic for our threads, and in the past, we came up with recycled plastic bags and worked with a group crocheting them. I like the idea of zero-waste. I think it’s important to leave a good footprint where you do not create a lot of waste. You need to use what you have as much as possible. We will continue to look for partners that will help us with this cause because we believe in it both locally and internationally.
I think trying to be zero-waste is the key component of sustainability. It’s great to use recycled materials and less harmful alternatives, but if there’s a bunch of waste then it’s still an issue.
Yes. I also find the idea of vegan leather interesting, mushroom leather, and fruit leather. That’s something I’d be most happy to work with in the future for other types of bags or items for our brand.
I think mushroom leather came out recently. I’ve been researching it myself and I’m very interested in that one because, with the texture of mushrooms, they tend to be very pliable once cooked or processed, so I’m very interested to see what the final product would look like.
We have partnerships with our group, the Philippine Fashion Coalition, and the Philippine Textile Research Institute in The Philippines and they’re very big on organic dyes. They’re also looking at fruit leather, so if we could create something with mango or guava that would be so cool! I know that if we can make fish leather, we could make fruit leather.
That would be so amazing! With your brand being so bright, fun, and colorful, you could maybe even make little bags with fruit on them or something to match the leather they’re made of.
That’s a great idea! Maybe that’s something we should work on – mangoes with mangoes.
That would be my favorite! Mangoes are my favorite fruit.
And then you can scratch and sniff it, so you can sniff the mango, right?
Yes, you would just create the whole experience. Aside from the fruit leather, what is something you're hoping to see in the future?
Presently, still coming out of the pandemic, we’re trying to grow digitally and create more content for our website and social channels, and retail locations. A lot of factories closed during the pandemic here, but we’d joined trade shows in the past and that’s something I need to do again. This kind of fear…I think one of the biggest innovations we’re able to have is to be smarter through online mediums and learn how to find a voice in a global market. Being able to create and show more of our personality. Now, we’re trying to learn how to build a community. I think maybe getting the product to market faster. Getting to know who the buyers are locally and internationally and building better relationships with them since everyone’s online. I’m very grateful to our digital team for putting things together. We had a collaboration with a French designer, maybe we can have a collaboration with a US designer, so we’d be open to that also. We’re very grateful as well to OC Fashion week for extending an invitation to us to participate, we’re grateful to the models who did such a great job too!