San Juan Moda is PR’s fashion week, and Her Campus was there to get the latest on all things fashion! What to expect when entering an event such as this one? Lights, camera’s flashing, pumped up music and beautiful clothes of course. It was all this, and way more. The runaway was black, it was surrounded by white chairs and was lit, not just by multi-colored lights but also, by beautiful chandeliers. It was as glamorous as you can imagine, champagne and all. The audience was a sea of bright colors, flowers, black, print and sparkled clothes. As if this wasn’t enough, the event was sponsored by Ferrero Rocher, who were giving out sweets, and Maybelline, who were doing people’s makeup.
This year, the event was hosted by the San Juan Hotel. In the entrance of this establishment, you are greeted by a giant inflatable rat. Yes, you read right, a rat. The purpose of this inflatable is to draw attention to what seems like a small protest occurring right next to it. Some former workers of the establishment are boycotting because of the recently approved labor laws in the island, and how their employer decided to put them in effect. To read more about this, all you have to do is google the hotel and the information will appear or click on the hyperlink attached to the hotel’s name. 2017 has been a rough one, all over the world, and it’s only April. There are protests all over the island, not just because of the new labor laws, but because of the privatization of public beaches and the government’s decision to withdraw funds from both our education and health systems. It seems the people are fighting injustice left and right.
So here we are, attending an event that could be considered an attempt to escape the chaos we are bombarded with every day. Yet, instead, we find ourselves being greeted by it. A reminder that there is chaos in beauty, and beauty in chaos. The coincidental union of these events (beauty and protest) reminded me of a similar situation that occurred not so long ago. Bosnia in the 90’s was a war zone, but it was there that a group of women decided to host a Beauty Pageant to restore normality into their lives. When talking about the Miss Sarajevo Pageant, Pilar Galindo Baquero writes “It is thus that a superficial and trivial event constituted an act of resistance…””. You see, wanting normality should not be confused with not believing in the cause (if you will). Celebrating beauty is and should be part our everyday lives no matter what reality we are living. You would think that once inside the hotel it would be easy to forget, that just outside the entrance’s doors, there are people screaming to the skies about injustice. It wasn’t, it was an inspiration instead.
If you follow our snapchat (hcupr), you followed our live feed of the event. If you don’t, here is a recap of some of the collections:
The first runway we had the privilege of attending was Angel Guzman’s Casa Blanca. If there is a movie that highlights the urge and needs for commonality in the mists of chaos, its Casa Blanca. On that note and in the name of normality, let’s talk about the clothes! The collection was elegant, yet the clothes were filled with bright colors, flowers, sparkles and touches of gold.
Secondly, we saw Jean Cintron’s collection. Jean is a young designer who is making it big and is possibly the future of Puerto Rico’s fashion industry. His designs were beautiful, elegant and sparkly! They gave us that bit of fun we were all holding our breath for.
A few days after, we managed to get a glimpse of Leonardo’s collection which had an “it’s man’s world” themed to it. A sexy man’s world that is! I am sure we can all agree that there are few things better than men in suits; and one of those things could be a woman in a sexy suit! Most of the runway was done by men in always elegant, sometimes sexy, sometimes professional looking suits. However, there was one girl in that runway and the audience loved her, her confidence, and her clothes.
The excitement of the night was not just about the glamor, the protest, or the clothes, but about looooove. In between shows a man who seemed to be hosting the event called out for everyone’s attention and then to his girlfriend (who was one of the models). He told the model to meet him in the middle of the runway and she did, she seemed confused walking towards him. Nevertheless, the second she stood next to him she started to cry because she knew. He got down on one knee, professed his love and asked for her hand in marriage. She stood there crying as he put the ring on her finger, he stood, they hugged and he thanked us, the audience, for our attention. Once again, normality was sneaking its way into our thoughts. Even in the mists of chaos (however you define it), love thrives. Whether it’s your love for your job and family, your love for your island, your love of clothes, or your love for, well, love, it’s going to thrive if you let it, so let it. We should continue to celebrate beauty and love, we should continue to speak, through protest and art. We should simply continue to love because after all, it makes the world go round.
Angel Guzman pictures: https://www.facebook.com/angelguzmanmoda/