When Senior Fashion Design major, Leilani Maldonado, moved to New York from Puerto Rico at age 17, she describes the new fashion sense she faced as “a cultural shock.”
At home, Maldonado developed a strong aesthetic with a distinctly Puerto Rican flavor—loud, vibrant colors, bold patterns, and flowy silhouettes. She admits with a warm laugh that if people from Puerto Rico saw some of the styles popular in her new locale, “They would be like ‘what the hell are you doing?’”
But, like all good designers, Maldonado knows how to adapt, and has learned to fuse together her style, cultural background and new lifestyle. All 25 pieces of her upcoming collection must be designed in black, the emblematic color of New York style and uncharted territory for the color-happy designer.
“Doing black is difficult because the fabrics are similar, dull, [gloomy], and it’s [hard] to see details,” says Maldonado. She explains that she purposely picked out black fabrics with something extra, subtle patterns and interesting textures including chiffon, organza, and georgette which add shine and unique character to each of her designs.
Despite her aversion to the shade, Maldonado had no trouble finding a source of inspiration to guide the direction of her all black collection. Maldonado is a graduate of Jose Julian Acosta, a performing arts high school. While at school, she was introduced to Film Noir, the seminal 1940s cinema genre cherished by many for its climactic storytelling and dramatic black-and-white production. In her collection sketches, Maldonado keeps the women’s hair white, to maintain the black-and-white film effect in combination with the black clothing. A frequent motif of Film Noir is the Femme Fatale, a literal "woman of death" who uses her sultry mystique to attract and manipulate unsuspecting victims. Maldonado’s designs play on the characteristic confidence of the Femme Fatale.
“They had bold attitudes and the clothing they wore was just impeccable,” she says. At the same time, she strives to create tastefully sexy clothes for her young audience. “Sometimes [people] label you as something you’re not. You’re either one thing or another, there’s no middle ground,” she says.
Maldonado designs with the confident young woman in mind—and if she's not feeling so confident? The clothes will bring out her inner confidence, she proclaims.
Although Maldonado admits that designing a monochromatic collection was a challenge, she says that she loves to experiment and is driven to constantly tweak and improve her designs. Prior to this collection, she had never designed asymmetrical clothing, but while putting the project together, the asymmetrical pieces have become fast favorites. For future collections, she hopes to further explore geometric and asymmetric construction. Even with her adaptations, Maldonado found a way to bring her ethnic background into the collection, leaving her silhouettes loose and flowing.
Two years ago, Maldonado interned for Puerto Rican Designer, Lisa Thon. Under the direction of Thon, she honed her construction skills, took classes taught by Thon, and rounded out her experience with two weeks of sewing in Thon’s workshop. This year, she was immersed in Fashion Week, fitting and changing models at LelaRose, Jill Stuart, and Duckie Brown. She treasures these experiences as she further learns how to meld her Puerto Rican flavor with New York’s fashion sense.
Dream Job: To put out her own label. The name she devised Carde Maldo- is a combination of her two last names which she takes pride in since they are uncommon both here, and in Puerto Rico.
Why you should look out for her: Maldonado is always game for trying new things . She describes herself as hyper and in constant motion. You’ll never be bored with her work, as it is constantly changing to fit the times.
Designer Confidential: She’s an absolute movie freak and draws a great deal of inspiration from the characters and plotlines of her favorite flicks, as can be seen in her Femme Fatale-oriented collection.
-Amanda Michelson
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