His evolving style moves from darkness into the light.
Designer Juan Carlos Obando is in growth mode. He’s planning a new jewelry line to roll out in November, the same time he launches e-commerce, and is expanding his company with a few key hires, including his first chief operating officer.
When Obando launched his collection at Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2005, he still had a day job as an art director in advertising, working with such clients as BMW, CocaCola, Disney and Sony. He taught himself fashion design by pulling apart vintage pieces and sewing them back together. In 2008, he began showing his collection in New York.
For the first few seasons, he was admittedly influenced by the sexuality of Tom Ford’s work at Gucci. As his style began to develop, his collections were often aggressively sexy, with lots of tailoring and an emphasis on hand craft. He singed, sun-bleached and even broiled fabric, all in the name of achieving interesting effects. The evolution of his design is evident when one considers a dress with hand-painted fish from spring 2006, a superhero-inspired jacket from fall 2008, sunbleached frontier-style tailoring from spring 2010 and KISS-inspired leather appliques from fall 2011.
But only when Hollywood discovered his talent did he really discover himself.
“That Freida Pinto dress turned my business around,” Obando said over breakfast recently, referring to the green, bias-cut gown the star wore in July 2011 to the L.A. premiere of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”
Perhaps because of his advertising background, Obando was more than willing to listen to what his customers wanted. Beginning in 2011, he started to focus more on the evening wear for which Pinto, Miley Cyrus, Viola Davis and other celebrities were clamoring.
“Before that, my style was a bit dark,” he said. “Now, I’m known for simple, streamlined gowns in bright colors. I have an evening-wear company.”
He’s become a red carpet go-to for L.A.’s art, society and media types too, including Willow Bay, Jacqui Getty and Katherine Ross, afashion consultant who is the wife of Los Angeles County Museum of Art Director Michael Govan.
“Seventy percent of my clients have come to me because of Katherine,” Obando said. “She is instrumental in developing that strategic eye and picking the right celebrities. And she has helped so many L.A. designers — Gregory Parkinson, George Esquivel and Johnson Hartig.”
Obando, who just turned 35, is at a point where he can appreciate his creative journey, he said: “from what I thought my style was, to what it is, to what it needs to be.”
This spring, he was able to get his feet wet in the jewelry category by designing a few pieces for Atelier Swarovski, in stores and online now. (The Austrian crystal brand has been sponsoring Obando’s New York Fashion Week runway shows for three years.)
For his own jewelry collection, which he hopes will hit stores in time for the holidays, he’s taking inspiration from men’s metal watch bands. He’ll launch e-commerce at about the same time, with a selection of his signature gowns, as well as more separates, such as breezy blouses to throw on over jeans.
“It’s funny as a designer how my vision has changed,” Obando said. “Some people don’t like the reality of what their vision becomes, but for me, I’m happy.” Juan Carlos Obando’s collection, $1,800 to $3,500, sells at Barneys New York, and Des Kohan in Los Angeles.