Denver Fashion Designer Roces Offers Affordable Chic to Local Scene

Posted by andreamerida on Mar 18, 2009 in Denver, Denver Fashion Designers | 2 comments

by Juliana Echavarría, Fashion Correspondent - juliana@dfbeat.com

In the three years since Francis Roces began designing, he has already become a Denver local fashion staple. His line, Kimono Dragons, offers women in Denver unique fashionable dresses at affordable prices. Inspired by the Asian culture’s choices of color, usage of bold hits of color to make an impact, the Spring 2009 Kimono Dragons line displays a great vision of complementary colors and symmetry.  He does not let his company name limit his designs. As a result, you will be able to find everything from kimono-inspired dresses to baby dolls to strapless dresses for Spring and Summer 2009.

Throughout the production process, Roces dedicates a lot of attention to being able to provide his customers quality fabrics while simultaneously keeping prices low. “I do not have to worry about overhead costs because I only produce one piece at a time; I have become very good at reducing costs and keeping prices low by producing small collections,” expressed Roces as he explained to Denver Fashion Beat.

Kimono Dragon’s pieces did not disappoint this season. Frequently recognized by the irreplaceable versatility that his customers love so much and have come to expect from his designs, Roces’ new pieces are completely up-to-the-minute on spring trends. Nudes and Vintage touches? Check. Skinny belts over flowing exotic fabrics? Check. Bright colors and black/white contrasting pieces? Check. Floral and nature inspired pieces? Check.

photo by Michael Vin Lu An

A crowd favorite is a structured white and purple silk dress with kimono styled arms. Roces incorporated elements of the Yin-Yang concept into this purple beauty by dividing the dress vertically through the middle into two different parts. The left side is solely made of dark purple silk while the right side is made of silk fabric imprinted with white and light purple squares. Cinched at the waist with a purple silk ribbon and complemented with ruffles at the end of the sleeves, the dress possesses an undeniable element of femininity that balances out the strong sharp lines found in the neckline and the vertical line that divides the front and back of the dress.

So instead of destroying the antithesis relationship created by exposing the Yin-Yang combination of the two completely different colored sides of the dress, Roces added femininity to the piece and created a different type of Yin-Yang interaction among the elements of the dress. This new interaction exposes the various conflicting moods and/or situations that women deal with everyday: light vs. dark, romance vs. rigidness, playful vs. serious, laid back vs. dressed up.

photo by Castle

For the Rebelle Salon Fashion Show, Roses was asked to create gothic or creepy, as he likes to call them, baby doll dresses. “I wanted to show that gothic can be pretty,” said Francis as he showed us his designs. Roces’ baby doll dresses are anything but creepy; they are exotic, chic, and full of fabulous prints and bright colors. Our favorite piece of the Spring 2009 collection, also a favorite of Joann Tram – his muse, is a one-of-a-kind chiffon zebra baby doll dress with a fringed yearn collar; this dress is so lovely and fabulous that it was bought within seconds after the model wearing the garment at the fashion show walked off the runway. A floral version of this dress is also available; accentuated with medium and small sized hot pink, orange, yellow, and white flowers, this baby doll dress can be used as a fabulous beach cover-up.

The fringed yearn, like most fabrics used by Roses, was acquired from a vintage shop. “I prefer to use vintage fabrics because they put on their own character adding to design of the piece,” expressed Francis. Most of Roces’ current designs are decorated with silk vintage ribbons or stretch denim. He is also a big fan of incorporating furniture fabrics into his clothes because some of them are “light enough to manage and gentle enough on the skin for women to wear.” For instance, one of the pieces that immediately caught our eye was a sparkly cream ballerina inspired skirt made of sequined mesh and cotton gauze, usually used for furniture decoration, trimmed with a vintage gift wrapping tape colored in a darker shade of cream than the sequined mesh. I can already see more than one fashionista in Denver strutting around the city wearing this skirt with a light cream pair of Christian Louboutins.

photo by Francis Roces

You can expect to find elaborate necklines made of denim or colored ribbons. Several of Kimono Dragons’ Spring pieces are accessorized with cowl necklines. And as his muse raved, “this type of neckline is awesome because it is extremely versatile.” It can be worn in several different ways: left alone loose, the woman’s collar bone is exposed and the cleavage is kept to a minimum allowing each woman to feel sexy without compromising her refined taste or looking vulgar; pulling the neck together in the middle with a fabulous vintage sparkly brooch ups the sophistication factor of the outfit; and wearing the neck pulled back hanging on the backside, completely allows the woman to look chic in the front and, as an element of surprise, subtlety show off her back.

In the near feature, Francis will continue challenging himself by experimenting with different venues. You can look forward to catching his latest designs at a variety of fashion events throughout the city of Denver. He will also be participating at the Forever Darling event in September.

To contact Francis Roces or order from his Spring collection, email kimonodragons@yahoo.com.