True to his name, Filipino-American fashion designer Mark Bumgarner has been steadily making his mark in the world of high fashion. He’s used to creating classic feminine pieces and red-carpet dresses worn by select local and international clientele, taking into example the heiress to the luxury crystal brand Swarovski, Victoria Swarovski, who wore two of his dresses during a trip to Italy in December last year.

PLAINS and Prints ambassadress Anne Curtis Smith. When the press found a chance to have a little chat with Mark during a launch, the young designer didn’t hesitate on giving his two cents regarding personal style and tips on fashion sensibilities.

“It’s better to be overdressed for me than underdressed. But, it’s more of my rule. I try to follow myself or tell some of my friends to buy quality over quantity because if you have the right basics, it’s easy to mix and match,” he said.

ANDREIA top and Ella pants. Mark is also the mastermind behind Heart Evangelista’s showstopping dresses for the State of the Nation 2018, where some parts of the gowns were heavily inspired by Filipino symbols.

“The first look she wore in the morning, the one with the palaspas (palm leaves) as belt and a bow detail — those were my inspiration. For the sleeves, it was like an inverted tulip flower. I kept it sleek and elegant. I’ve nothing against it because we just followed the rules that were made recently ever since Duterte has been president — to not overdo it. We have to veer away from the lace or beads because it’s not the event to show off. We just kept it crisp.”

VEERA dress. Achieving that look was easy for Mark because the actress gives him complete freedom every time they collaborate. “For her second outfit I had to figure out a way to tone it down more, be more business attire but still fashion-forward. But she pulled them off, which is super good. She’s effortless,” he said.

Mark doesn’t want his influence to be limited to the red carpet, which is why he decided to bring over his red-carpet aesthetic for a collaboration with ready-to-wear brand Plains and Prints.

LARRA top and Andreia skirt. “Personally, I wasn’t looking for it, but Plains and Prints came in. No-brainer, I said yes right away,” Mark admitted.

The Plains and Prints x Mark Bumgarner collection features 13 designer pieces that include four dresses, five tops, one pantsuit and three bottoms that are more casual and wearable. He says some of the pieces from the collection were given by a dash of local style, where he incorporated recognizable Filipino symbols.

“We took inspiration from the Anahaw because it’s our national leaf and is endemic to our islands. We also chose the Waling-Waling prints because it’s considered as the ‘Queen of Philippine Flowers’ and one of the most prized orchids in the world,” he explained.

OLIVYA dress. Along with Plains and Prints, Mark was able to interpret elements into something wearable, laid-back and modern, pieces that you can wear from office, daily events to even cocktails.

“This is my first time collaborating with a ready-to-wear brand. There was a small one a few years ago, but nothing scaled. I mean Plains and Prints has more than 70 stores nationwide and they have a really huge market. You have everyone from businesswomen wearing them.

The challenge for me was to tone down. I used to do gowns and couture so the challenge was to make it wearable and kind of blend it with Plains and Prints, which was not that much of a struggle,” he said.

The process of creating the collection took almost seven months, but the experience was smooth.

TAMMARA SL dress. “There were no delays. Almost all of our meetings happened earlier, ahead of time. There was just a bit of back and forth because we’re not used to the ready-to-wear process so when we created the prints we had to kind of digitally resize certain stuff to make it look good on the garment. That side was all Plains and Prints’ part. That was the hardest to do, in terms of looks and stuff. (Plains and Prints owner) Roxanne Farillas basically approved everything on the first meeting. I did the prints myself, but they rendered it in a way to make it look good on the fabric like resizing the flowers, orchids or the Waling-Waling and the Anahaw. Everything is inspired by local, very Filipino. The target was to have daily wear that you can wear day to night, and I think we accomplished that,” Mark shared.

The collection is available in all Plains and Prints stores nationwide.