Emerging fashion designer Esteban Osuna will be on the red carpet of the Tony Awards.
Well, at least one of his unique gowns will be.
Osuna’s creation will be worn at the premier awards show for Broadway theatre after being referred to Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, a voting member of the awards and executive director of ASU Gammage at Arizona State University.
The Tucsonan has been making a name for himself through hard work creating his own eveningwear designs over the past six years.
But before this opportunity was presented to him, Osuna was on an entirely different path. From an early age he was interested in creating art and saw it daily through his father’s work as a boot cobbler.
As he watched his father work his interest in creative design grew.
Osuna caught a “big break” in high school, after continuously submitting his work in various art challenges. The Art Institute of Tucson offered him a scholarship.
He thought it would be a next step following his dad, who also has a background as an architect. He thought it would be a way for Osuna to learn how to design spaces for people to live or work in.
“Just like any art school, they have portfolios before they take you in, submit you to the school and enroll you,” he said. “So, it turns out I went to the interior design department, I showed them my books, my sketches and it took a weird turn at that moment.”
The director of fashion put Osuna on a different path, a path that would lead him to today.
He said his first thought was, “Wow, I can barely afford my clothes and you want me to make clothes for other people? I don’t even know how to sew.”
Somehow the words of the director telling him to stick with the program kept Osuna at the school.
Those days in the beginning were no fun for him.
“I tried it and I was miserable, I did not like to sew, I hated it and then I’m like, ‘wow there goes another $5,000 down the drain’, ” he said. “Almost at this point I became a little hopeless about it because I didn’t know much about design.”
Osuna’s interest in fashion design would finally grow in a class where his creative side would be displayed.
In his Surface Design class, he could manipulate the fabrics, dyeing, beading, adding texture, changing the original material into something entirely different.
He received his bachelor’s degree in fashion design in 2014. Since then, his work has been seen in various publications, including Avant Garde magazine.
The 29-year-old’s collections would also appear at Tucson Fashion Week. He said his last collection at the event led to the opportunity to make the gown for Jennings-Roggensack.
“Wow, I can barely afford my clothes and you want me to make clothes for other people?
I don’t even know how to sew.” Esteban Osuna, on his first thoughts when he was told he should try fashion design
Contact Star reporter Shaq Davis at 573-4218 or sdavis@tucson.com On Twitter: @ShaqDavis1.
A few questions
There were a few more things we wanted to know from fashion designer Esteban Osuna
Where did the opportunity and inspiration for the gown made for Colleen Jennings-Roggensack come from?
Melanie Sutton, she’s one of the directors for Tucson Fashion Week. Melanie actually referred me to Colleen, she’s doing a lot of stylizing up in Phoenix and referred me to her because she’s seen all my collections every year.
This last collection was called “Casa De Osuna” and from that I created this whole fantasy world mixing European culture with the Western culture.
I love combining different cultures in different regions into one design and from there I took a bunch of trips looking for fabrics and I finally got to San Francisco to check out the garment district.
I saw this Spanish-European fabric, I just fell in love with the textile and luckily, they had it in every sort of fabric I could find. I just bought a whole lot of those and I let the fabric become my inspiration for that collection.
What happened when you first met Colleen and spoke with her about the gown?
When I met Colleen right away you could just sense her energy, she’s such a happy woman, she’s very optimistic for the future. Just taking a look around her office and seeing all the photography she’s taken with all these iconic people, one gets the sensibility this lady lived in such a wonderful but yet tough world but she enjoys everything she’s done.
We just basically sat down and she told me right away she had her eyes set on that gown. That gown originally had a different top but we felt like we had to settle it down just a little bit and make it a little classier for a red-carpet event.
We did two fittings trying to make sure we got everything corrected and overall, she’s been nothing but good to us. It took me about four days to create this piece.
Can you describe the feeling knowing that she’ll be in this gown that you made and put in the hard work to design?
I get the greatest fulfillment for any designer. You’re creating something you feel passionate about.
Overall, getting to see up this point is the fact that you’re able to create something beautiful and someone appreciates your work and is willing to wear it. When you give clothing to any person of any wardrobe something to wear, you’re giving it life, you’re giving it movement. When you create something up on a mannequin it only serves it so much justice.
Going forward, what are some of your plans in fashion design?
Right now, I do love evening wear — I do consider myself an evening wear designer but I’m also trying to mix it up a little bit this year. I haven’t shown a lot of pieces from my new collection yet but I’m also trying to introduce a swimwear collection line. Also, I want to be able to provide something that people can actually be introduced to and be able to afford.
What advice would you give someone who’s interested in fashion design or thinking about what they want to do?
I think just taking the time to realize it’s great to understand the person you want to be. It’s great to have goals but it’s not too much trouble to explore and try new things like I did. I never thought I would be into fashion but here I am loving it and it actually gave me a great direction.
It might not be the thing you might think of in the moment but if the opportunity arises, take it, you just never know. If you don’t like it I’m pretty sure you will learn something and you can incorporate it to whatever you want to do.
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