In a bold departure from the hermetic luxury of traditional fashion weeks, Life Design—the diasporic streetwear label founded in Toronto—staged its debut catwalk show not in a gallery, but within the concrete corridors of Valeriano Fugoso Memorial School in Marikina. Taking place just twenty-four hours before the country’s second Trillion Peso March, the presentation was a visceral collision of high-fashion ambition and socio-political protest. By reclaiming the aesthetics of public infrastructure, school uniforms, and street-level agitation, founders Xylk Lorena and Fisayo Olowolafe have effectively redrawn the boundaries of Filipino cool, positioning their label as a "fashion house" that answers to the people rather than the elite.
The New Geography of Cool
The choice of venue was a deliberate provocation. Valeriano Fugoso Memorial School is far removed from the polished marble of Makati’s retail centers. It represents the lived reality of millions of Filipino youths—a space of heat, concrete, and community. For Life Design to unveil its inaugural runway here signals a strategic rejection of the aspirational escapism that typically defines the industry.
This was infrastructure theater at its most potent. Guests received invites in the form of laminated "school IDs," instantly effectively demoting fashion editors and influencers to the rank of student. The setting forced the fashion elite to physically enter a space often marginalized in the cultural narrative, bridging the gap between the observer and the observed.
The timing was equally surgical. Staging the show on the eve of the Trillion Peso March at the EDSA People Power Monument charged the atmosphere with a palpable tension. The collection did not exist in a vacuum; it breathed the same air as the impending street protests, transforming the runway into a prelude to political action. This wasn't merely a clothing drop; it was a field declaration.
Deconstructing the Uniform
Visually, the collection served as a sociological study of the Filipino student experience, refracted through the lens of diasporic nostalgia and American pop culture. The designers leaned heavily into the "school ecosystem," presenting a wardrobe that felt simultaneously familiar and radically subverted.
The garment construction highlighted the deep, often invisible entanglement between the Philippines and American influence. Letterman jackets and basketball jerseys—staples of US teen archetypes—were seamlessly blended with the silhouette of local PE uniforms and crisp white dress shirts. It was a commentary on postcolonial identity: the adoption of American codes, rewritten on Filipino terms.
Standout pieces elevated the mundane to the majestic. Laura Jhane closed the show in a skirt constructed from tarpaulin and "good morning" towels—ubiquitous, utilitarian items usually associated with labor and jeepney drivers. By scaling these materials into a couture silhouette and crowning the look with a halo of school pencils, Life Design transmuted the "baduy" (uncool) into an armor of national pride.
"It’s More Funds in the Philippines"
Life Design’s graphic language has evolved into a sophisticated weapon of critique. Drawing clear inspiration from the text-based conceptualism of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, the brand utilized clothing as a billboard for dissent. The most searing example was the slogan tee reading "it’s more funds in the Philippines"—a biting satirization of the Department of Tourism’s 2012 "It’s More Fun in the Philippines" campaign.
This is where the brand separates itself from generic streetwear. The "iNNERGY" graphic system doesn't just look cool; it speaks a specific political vernacular. In a climate where corruption is a central national discourse, wearing a Life Design tee becomes an act of alignment with the anti-corruption movement.
Other graphics, such as "somebody in Manila loves you" and "reading is fundamental," operate as softer power. They act as exportable emotional memes, designed to travel globally while remaining rooted in local sentiment. It is a dual-pronged communication strategy: aggressive domestic critique paired with warm, global connectivity.
From Toronto to Greenbelt: The Business of Diaspora
While the spiritual heart of the show was Marikina, the business engine of Life Design is global. Founded in Toronto in 2022, the brand has meticulously built a cult following through guerrilla placements at Paris Fashion Week, ComplexCon in Los Angeles, and SoleDXB in Dubai.
This "outside-in" strategy is critical. By establishing credibility in major streetwear capitals first, Lorena and Olowolafe created a demand vacuum back home. The recent installation at Univers Greenbelt 3, one of Manila’s premier luxury boutiques, validated this approach. They arrived in the local market not as hopeful upstarts, but as validated international players returning to claim their territory.
Fisayo Olowolafe’s declaration—"We’re a fashion house. We’re here. We’re not going anywhere"—is a challenge to the local industry’s status quo. By adopting the nomenclature of a "house," they are signaling longevity and narrative depth. They are moving beyond the drop model of t-shirts and hoodies into full seasonal storytelling, a move that requires significant operational maturity.
The Ecosystem: Laya, Budots, and the Streets
Modern luxury is no longer just about the product; it is about the community the brand cultivates. Life Design has embedded itself deeply within the margins of Philippine creative culture. The show’s soundtrack was scored by DJ Love, a pioneer of *Budots*—a hyper-local electronic dance genre often dismissed as low-brow, now re-contextualized here as the sonic texture of the avant-garde.
Furthermore, the integration of the *LiFE DESiGN TELA ViSiON* web series adds a documentary layer to the brand. The screening of the first episode, featuring Ardii Poblete—a tattoo artist and former student of the Laya Digital Curators program for incarcerated individuals—anchors the brand in a carceral-to-creative pipeline narrative.
This partnership with Laya Digital Curators suggests a brand DNA that prioritizes social impact over vacuous hype. It positions Life Design as a platform for marginalized voices, giving it a moral weight that competitors lack.
Timeline: The Rise of Life Design
- 2019: The Concept. Xylk Lorena pitches the idea of a fashion house to Fisayo Olowolafe, who initially resists due to market saturation.
- 2022: The Launch. Life Design is formally founded in Toronto, establishing a visual identity based on the "new sun" and anti-corruption themes.
- 2023–2024: The Global Guerrilla. The brand builds a cult following via street-level activations at Paris Fashion Week, ComplexCon (LA), and SoleDXB (Dubai).
- Late 2024: The Homecoming. A major installation at Univers Greenbelt 3 precedes the historic debut runway show at Valeriano Fugoso Memorial School in Marikina.
Forecast: What Happens Next?
The Marikina show has set a high watermark for Filipino streetwear, but the challenge now lies in scaling this momentum without diluting the message. We anticipate Life Design will aggressively expand its *TELA ViSiON* web series, using it as a primary marketing vehicle to bypass traditional media gatekeepers.
Commercially, the brand is poised for a hybrid distribution model. Expect limited, high-concept drops with regional boutique partners like Univers, balanced by direct-to-consumer releases of their "slogan" basics which serve as the cash cow. The "It's More Funds" tee is likely to become a defining garment of the current political season, potentially drawing ire from establishment figures—a controversy that would, ironically, only fuel the brand's growth.
Internationally, the trajectory points toward a formal presentation at a secondary fashion week—perhaps Tokyo or a return to Paris in a more official capacity. Life Design has proven it can command attention; now it must prove it can deliver production at scale.
Ultimately, Life Design is testing a hypothesis: Can a brand built on the aesthetics of the "Third World" public sector command "First World" luxury respect? If the energy in Marikina is any indication, the answer is a resounding yes.
Written by Ara Ohanian for FAZ Fashion — fashion intelligence for the modern reader.
