Gallivanting and playing dress up: Interview with JH Sedrome

It’s been a little over one month since Club Rambutan’s twice sold-out debut fashion show, The Pyres of Desire, took place in Oakland, CA. Inspired by the 7 deadly sins, TPD showcased 5 emerging Bay Area designers and 15 original looks. The showcase explored the relationship between desire and fear -- themes that also intersect with Club Rambutan’s upcoming 4th issue, Amygdala. 

I had the pleasure of collaborating on this project as Assistant Stylist for the photoshoot and fashion show itself. Today I am speaking with JH Sedrome, the Lead Stylist, to learn more about his perspective and creative process. JH is an independent fashion designer with extensive experience in creative direction, styling, and producing large-scale fashion shows. 

Tiffany: As the Lead Stylist, you played such a key role, and I had so much fun helping you out as an assistant stylist on the team. Before we dive deep into your process and look at the critiques, how do you feel about how The Pyres of Desire show came together? 

JH: It was pretty fierce. I mean, we were just gallivanting. It was simple, you know, it was cute, you know what I mean? It was exactly what it had to be.

T: Yes, exactly. No, honestly, it was a really cute and successful night. For our first fashion show to have been sold out twice and to highlight the fashion talent, what more could we have asked for? 

JH: Yes! I think there were obviously some learning experiences, but that's every event in life, you know? 

T: Yes, agreed. Can you share your experience within the fashion industry outside of CR? How did you get your start? 

JH:  I was 17, and I was always in fashion clubs in high school. I was very interested in being active in the [fashion] scene, and I'm only really good at picking out outfits and choosing colors, and making things look cute. So it went hand in hand, and I gallivanted with friends, and we didn't have any money. We only had our iPhones. We just got really good at taking photos using what we had. We were resourceful and we never stopped creating and dressing up. 

I also went to school, but I was hating my career path. I think I was working at Gap. I created a makeshift fashion portfolio; I printed out every single project I've worked on with my friends. Then I went to Macy's, Nordstrom, and basically every local retailer with a printout packet of my work and told them about my interest in pursuing a styling career. 

T: I love that. Putting yourself out there is important, especially in any creative line of work. Where did that get you? 

J: It actually led me to multiple rejections. But [...] It was still important because doing that led me to form connections, and people know of me and my work now. I was always kept in mind, so whenever things did open up, I was the first person people called. People just threw my name around [because]  I continued to put myself out there in those environments. But as of two weeks ago, I have switched jobs and slightly switched career paths.

T: Oh my gosh. Wait, I'm curious. What's your new job now?

J: I am now managing this interior design showroom, so now I get to just sit in a beautiful showroom and it's not folding sh*t. [laughs] People come in and they move the furniture and I get to sit on the furniture and I arrange furniture around like “oh that rug would look cute here.” Interior design and fashion go hand in hand; there are similar aspects. 

T: Yes, I do see that intersection, and congratulations! I love this for you. Okay, can you talk more about your inspiration and creative process in both curating the ambiance of the venue space that we had? For example, your idea of utilizing the drapery.

J: I take a look around and intuitively gravitate towards things that are simple and [effective]. When you pick one color and you put that color everywhere, it's easy to build off of that. It’s not only appealing to the eye because everything looks cohesive, but it also cements branding. Another way I look at set design is to just fill up space, thinking about easy concepts we can do in tight time constraints. 

T: Period. You put practicality at the forefront when you helped with the set design. 

J: Yes, practicality and drama. The best shows are always simple in design, and it's just the people that bring the dramatic flair. 

T: What's your inspiration, creative process behind styling the looks? For example, when you and Maria created the styling cards at the very beginning, [...] how did you guys come up with different makeup looks or hairstyles?

J: What’s great about styling is how collaborative it is. It’s important that the designers also have their own creative freedom and vision of how they want their garment to come across. When I saw the garments, I knew things were going to change. I think that is just a fact of the matter. 

And because it's more about creating like completed looks. A lot of them [designers] made dresses, so intuitively deciding the hair needs to be pulled back to highlight the dress. 

“There are times when you don't need to style that much because it's a good dress. There's no need to add.”

T: Yes. That's true. We also collaborated with local jewelry brands such as Metal Thoroughfare and Descry SF for the runway looks. How do you approach balancing the clothing accessories so that each piece kind of complements one another rather than overpowering the other? 

J: Once again, practicality is something I always think about. For example, the knitwear pieces shouldn't have the jewelry because it's gonna get snagged and [the fabric] is delicate. This was one of those cases where being practical took precedence over aesthetic styling. Many of the designers had strong aesthetics on their own.

At the first fitting, it was hard to be able to truly accessorize and style when many of the pieces were unfinished. [All I could do] was offer words of encouragement and [suggest] my ideas. A lot of the designers were pretty receptive and did include some of the notes I had from the fitting. 

T: You also designed a sickening dress for Joanne that started the show. It was like this layered wrap dress with pale shades of blue and gray, right? Tell me more about the creative process behind designing the dress.

J: That look was actually made the night before because we scrapped the original look last minute. Initially, I had designed a long coat, but I can't do a coat when it's hot outside. The weather was giving summer, so the coat did not fit the vibe. 

I started playing around. The piece is literally just a tank top with a train. I used the extra fabric to wrap around her multiple times and tied knots. There was a slip dress underneath that had like a flounce trim. I combined premade pieces and made some last-minute edits. I had all these pieces from previous collections. The hair and makeup were heavily discussed between Joanne and I. Being barefoot was on the mood board because we were trying to pick out shoes, but none of the shoes were hitting with that look. 

For the hair, we had a couple of ideas. We ended up doing an updo with face-framing pieces. The night before, we were just gallivanting, trying on the look, she walked back and forth, and then that's when we were able to make changes as we saw the garment in motion.A key portion is watching how it moves and taking functionality into account. 

T: And how did the idea of Joanne starting the runway with her screaming come about? 

J: The show was inspired by the 7 deadly sins, so the scream reminded me of Wrath. I wanted an authentic scream because I think that true blue, young designer history is having those like “you just had to be there” moments. 

T: Yes, it definitely was one of those moments, and the scream set the tone for the entire show. Now let’s  get into the look critiques. What were your favorites of the night? 

J: For Mel Lamore, they brought symmetry and drama to their pieces. I knew they had theater experience, [too]. I loved their pieces, but we did need to [make] some tweaks. For example, they created these beautiful trains, but they were a little too long for functionality. The corsetry was beautiful and their looks, overall, were incredibly symmetrical.

T: Mel’s looks were personally one of my favorites! I also loved how the Metal Thoroughfare’s jewelry elevated the pieces, like Kira’s [Wrath] look? Insane. 

J: For Tianna, I’d say they had the most range design-wise and most experimental with silhouettes. They designed two dresses, a coat, and very abstract pants using unconventional materials. I appreciated their dedication to showcasing their Filipino heritage through their pieces. 

Mar’s two-part Pride look was my personal favorite of Tianna’s, though. That was actually peak styling, a prime example of how much styling can really amp up a piece. I saw Mar’s hair getting done, and then I saw the hair getting completely covered up in fabric. I thought, “Wait, hold on. Why did you even do his hair? We need to highlight the hair, so I suggested we pull the headband back a little to show some of his hairstyle. Then Tianna came in, saw that we had changed it, and came running back with some red hair clips they brought, which were the perfect final touch. 

“It’s fun to see how different people work with their design process and to see it on the model, and experimenting with the look until we get it right. At the end of the day, styling is just gallivanting and playing dress up and seeing what looks good.”

T: Yes, I love that you’ve used gallivanting as a way to describe the creative process. Okay, the next designer is Erika Hurtado. 

J: Erika’s looks were so impressive because she managed to use knitwear with other textures simultaneously. Her looks had such a great use of texture, and the gray/cream knitwear for the Sloth look on Vineeta was sooo fab. As a stylist, that cream knitwear look is an immediate pull for a client. 

T: Yes, I agree 100%. I also loved how she incorporated two masks into her Envy and Wrath looks, very avant-garde. Let’s move on to Cole’s looks. 

J: Cole's looks were minimal but were fun with some styling touches. Like, for example, Biana’s Lust look was all white, but the fabric was wrinkled on purpose with some royal blue gloves, which I thought was a fun touch. Cole had his own vision of how he wanted everything to look. 

T: Let’s move on to the last designer, Joey Ehren. 

J: Joey’s looks had good construction; they were palatable, and I appreciated how clean the pieces looked.

J: I also want to share a few words about what I got from this [entire] experience, too. 

“To genuinely get to connect with all of these creative individuals and to take up space with complete strangers through design gave me pure uninhibited joy. Getting to live off your fantasies in such an immediate way and to run around and style with everyone. To bond, style, laugh, and say dumb, silly jokes behind the stage or in between shoots is what fashion and creative collaboration are all about.” 

T: I agree. I loved being in an atmosphere of just creating and also community. Everybody was just so excited to be there. I have one last question for you. Which sin do you think you embody the most? 

J: It's Libra season, so I'm gonna say Lust. 

T: Okay, period. That's real. Thank you so much for joining me today to talk a little more about the behind-the-scenes styling of The Pyres of Desire. This is just the beginning of CR’s fashion presence!