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Martinez
Premieres 'Ocean Jewels' to the Ocean State
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Kerri
Kanelos
October
31st 2003 |
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 Club
Therapy at Gallery Insane came to life on
Sunday night as Rhode Island fashion designer
Marisol Martinez debuted her first solo show,
'Ocean Jewels.' Although she first began designing
clothing at the age of ten, Martinez's creativity
was truly recognized during her time at Hope
High School in Providence. After a teacher
discovered her talents and encouraged her
to flourish, Martinez founded a design program
at her school. Through two fashion shows,
scholarships and support from friends and
family, Martinez raised enough money to attend
the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons
School of Design in New York City. While in
New York, she learned the ins and outs of
the production side of fashion design, "the
whole process from sketch to pattern and how
to design for a person realistically."
After her studies
in New York City, Martinez returned to the
Ocean State and opened a shop called Milana
Boutique for a short time on Wickenden Street
in Providence. Retail sales were relatively
slow, but the shop provided the opportunity
to network with potential special order customers.
"Retail was never number one," she
said, "but I got a huge amount of custom
order clientele from the shop." Currently,
Martinez makes a living through her custom
orders only. Most of her individualized pieces
are for women's gowns for special occasions
such as weddings.
 'Ocean
Jewels' took over one year to create, from
concept and design to the premiere on Sunday
night. With the help of only one seamstress,
Martinez created almost 100 designs by hand
for this show. According to her, the patterns
for each piece proved to be the most challenging
part of the creation process. "I haven't
slept in months," she said. Up until
the last minute, she was constantly consumed
with the steps needed in order to run a successful
solo show. In the wake of the Station nightclub
fire, new Rhode Island safety code regulations
prevented Martinez from fully executing some
of her creative design ideas at Club Therapy.
Since many of the models lost weight after
the initial fitting, she found herself backstage
reconfiguring and pinning her creations for
the perfect fit.
As the name
of the show implies, 'Ocean Jewels' included
pieces that were inspired by the exotic creatures
and colorful life forms of the sea. To play
off the diversity of the ocean, some of Martinez's
series were bright and airy; others were distinctively
dark and sharp. A great mix of hypnotic house
music, spun by DJ DEK-ONE and Bradford James,
kept the show in step while also entertaining
the audience. Club Therapy proved to be an
intimate and rather upscale venue for first
time, solo fashion show. I was also amazed
at the live reading during intermission by
Ove the Magnate, a student of the SEED program
in New York City. The number of audience members
was encouraging, especially since Martinez
kept the amount of advertising to a minimum.
 The
show began with a series of deep, navy blue
denim pants, coats and skirts which were decorated
with green, red and yellow lines and were
brilliantly casual. I particularly enjoyed
the two-toned denim pants with bright cherry
lining. The show also included a set of tight,
colorful leather designs that were incredibly
flattering. One model wore a short, plastic
red plaid skirt paired perfectly with a form
fitting red shirt. Martinez's premiered several
pieces that featured tight, simple tops with
intricate, flowing bottoms. A rather extensive
set known as the "pipes" collection
included combinations of white, bright turquoise,
lemon and reds that were masterfully applied
to everything from casual jackets to more
professional women's suits.
The audience
particularly seemed to enjoy several pieces
that resembled fish scales. A short skirt
with a variety of shades in purple and white
was beautifully paired with a fitting, sparkly
lavender shirt. Martinez also designed an
interesting ankle length trench coat with
the same material in black, beige and white.
A lengthy dress in gold and bronze scales
also received quite a bit of attention. Martinez
said that each of these pieces required painstaking
detail and quite a bit of creative preparation.
After viewing
many of Martinez's special occasion gowns,
it is no surprise why most of her clientele
ask for her dresses. Audience members seemed
enraptured with a dark gray, sleeveless gown
outlined in crimson lining. Towards the end
of the show, a coral inspired dress with matching
bright red leather headpiece received quite
a warm reception. The show also included several
shorter dresses that hung off of one shoulder.
 While
Martinez's fashions are completely top notch,
the show itself seemed poorly organized in
a few areas. At the 7:00pm start time, audience
members filled almost every nook at Club Therapy.
However, a handful of people left the show
because it didn't begin until almost a full
hour and a half later. Show assistants that
looked increasingly frustrated were sprinting
back and forth in their attempt to smooth
out all last minute details. A show participant,
dressed in one of Marisol's wildly colorful
designs, stood on a platform next to the runway
and attempted to keep the audience entertained
as she swayed to the music. Unfortunately,
her performance lasted the entire show and
was rather distracting at times. A few models
even got caught up in her long, gauzy outfit
as they entered the runway.
Since the hors
d'ouevres and beverages were located on the
bar directly at the end of the runway, hungry
and thirsty audience members were continually
blocking the view of the show. Although most
of the models did an amazing job, there were
a few that ruined the overall mood. One model
in particular always presented herself with
a terribly bored look on her face and appeared
as through there were several other places
that she would rather be. Some of the more
amateur participants scampered down the runway
too quickly to fully take in each piece. On
more than a few occasions, the models had
difficulties walking on the runway because
the floorboards appeared to be weak in certain
areas.
 For
the future, Martinez is thinking about bringing
the show's "pipe" line to New York
City. Also, she is currently interviewing
for a position as a children's clothing designer.
Since 'Ocean Jewels,' she has also received
several phone calls from potential customers
who attended the show. Overall, Martinez is
pleased with the outcome of her first solo
venture. "I think it went great,"
she said, "Personally, there are a lot
of things that I would do differently-but
it was great that my friends all came together
to help." Through the hectic schedule
and barrage of challenges during 'Ocean Jewels'
Martinez truly realized the importance of
her craft and is more than willing to do it
all over again. "After all of the chaos,
I walked out and thought 'This is what I want
to do; this is what I always want to do'."
In regards to
pricing and custom order inquiries, Marisol
Martinez can be reached at (401) 615-9532.
This article was previously
published on www.lovethyjob.com |
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