Vania Romoff On Surviving a Business During A Pandemic

The designer was one of the designers who took on the pandemic head-on in order to maintain their business and passion

Related: Vania Romoff reimagines the new feminine

One of the few designers who quickly maneuvered into pandemic dressing, top young designer Vania Romoff had the foresight to predict that Filipinos would quickly grow tired of boxed masks and, instead, gravitate towards more stylish options. So, in the middle of a tough 2020, she released the “Essentials” collection glamorized pandemic must-haves—silk masks, chic PPE-inspired protective outerwear, and loungewear sets.

Float On

Romoff admits that it was “tough trying to stay creative while figuring out how to keep the company afloat,” didn’t stop there. She also ventured into footwear, tapping local artisans from Marikina to create woven sandals, and released VR Casa, an edit of locally-made home objects in collaboration with Ren Marble, at a time when home decoration became a collective passion project.

“My journey as a designer is unique and I feel that I am only starting out as I have so much to pursue,” she says, noting that for 2021, the short-term focus will still be on keeping the company afloat.

Keep Dreaming

“For me, [creativity] has always been somewhat organic,” she says. “Creativity can spark from beautiful fabric, music that moves me, travel or most of the time inspiration comes from the women I dress or dream of dressing.”

Stripped of some of these conduits of inspiration, that she still managed to infuse her design sensibility into protective clothing is a feat; that even when the clothes are pared down (and functional in a germ-blocking sense), they’re still so distinctly her.

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Read more about Vania Romoff, one of the most in-demand designers of her generation in MEGA May 2021 available in Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio

Photography: JERICK SANCHEZ

Text: ALYSSA LAPID

Creative Direction & Illustration: JANN PASCUA

Art Direction: NICOLE ALMERO

Fashion Direction: JEB FRONDA

Styling: LYN ALUMNO (for Vania), JEB FRONDA (for Rosenthal and Patty)

Beauty Direction: TRINA EPILEPSIA BOUTAIN

Makeup: XENG ZULUETA (for Vania), PONG NIU (for Rosenthal and Patty)

Hair: MONG AMADO (for Vania), JAN EDROSOLAN (for Rosenthal and Patty)

Sittings Editor: PEEWEE REYES-ISIDRO

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