California Apparel News

Los Angeles-based designer Jose Angel comes from a family of designers and was practically reared on a sewing machine. When Angel was a baby, his mother would place his bassinet on the sewing machine while she made clothing.

“She would sit me on the side of her sewing machine while she worked—literally on the same table as the sewing machine,” said Angel. “As an adult, the sound of a sewing machine is still comforting to me. That’s why I work late at night a lot. The experience of putting thread and needle to fabric on a machine is entrancing and my consciousness shifts when I go into that zone.”

Angel said that, as the youngest of three children, he spent the most time around his mother, who would give him such tasks to do as clipping threads, pressing seams or sewing buttons and beads. Gradually, the tasks he was given became more complex, providing a training ground for Angel.

“A lot of my learning was indirect, but I learned a great deal,” said Angel. “When I started sewing myself, I learned custom work and started skill-honing, but a lot of what I do is natural.”

In 1998, Angel, a former dancer, created a partnership to choreograph fashion shows and dance for fashion concepts in Europe, working with such American companies as Nike and Tommy Hilfiger as well as the Netherlands’ G-Star.

“While I was in Europe, I was able to see how a huge corporate monster like Nike works,” said Angel. “My vision is not to be a huge corporate monster, but it’s nice to see the ins and outs and the politics.

Last year, he made the transition to designer and moved to Los Angeles, a city that he sees as an emerging fashion center ripe for independent designers.

“I moved here to create a design company and I have found nothing but positive energy,” said Angel. “Considering that I am a smaller company, I have found a great deal of success in a very short amount of time. People are very supportive of what I do, especially from my actual audience—the men and women I expect to wear and buy my clothing.”

Angel’s first collection, Destiny, is being delivered for Summer 2002 and is what he describes as “very beach-oriented and tropics-oriented.”

“The collection has very soft lines, using mixes of cotton and linen in a real tropical weight that is meant for the warmth and the sun,” he said. “The thing that struck me in the designing were the colors of ice cream—brown, off-white, pink and baby blue.”

As a former dancer, Angel kept body movements in mind for men and women.

“It’s a very sexy concept for that warm body movement–oriented person, because the breeze is able to blow through you and fill your clothing,” he said. “I’m doing things which are mostly open in cut for the men. With the women’s stuff, I’m doing a lot of pieces that are bikini-oriented. The pants and skirts tie like bikini bottoms and the tops look like bikini tops.

Angel said that the pieces are designed to be versatile, transforming well into eveningwear.

Wholesale prices start at $30.

The first stores to take delivery on Destiny are Giselle in Santa Monica, Calif., which carries the women’s collection, and Enno in nearby Beverly Hills, which carries the men’s offerings. For more information, call (866) 692-6635.