Designers

This Past 2011 Fall Season; Exhibit Ambush transformed the runway into an extravaganza. Think of an avant-garde show with a twist. We highlighted the oeuvre of awesome fashion and accessory lines that haven't been seen. Our contemporary artists and graphic designers relish in taking risks and will leave you in awe when you see their work. Our staff draws most of their inspiration from their surroundings, social networking, street fashions, research, and the classic underdogs. Fashion and art are an integral part of our culture and lifestyle. This event gave both the artists and designers the creative freedom to express themselves. From the moment you walked out of your car; there was a story unfolding as your enter the venue. All talent was simultaneously interacting with each other. The fashion industry is constantly changing, and therefore it's important for our designers to keep up with the status quo. The garments in this show will have that shock value that will leave you wanting more. Be ready for Ambush Phase II coming up in January 2013. Prepare to be Ambushed!

Haus of Estrada

Born in Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico, identical twins Jesus and Antonio Estrada, 23, always dreamt of becoming young and famous fashion designers. Growing up in a fashionable family, they were inspired by their mother, who was a model. At two years old, the Estrada's moved to Tijuana, Mexico and shortly thereafter moved to San Diego, California to live the American dream.

After graduating high school, Jesus attended Fashion Careers College where he first learned how to thread a sewing machine. Following college and being featured in several fashion shows in San Diego, he was selected to participate as a season 7 contestant on the Emmy- nominated "Project Runway". In 2010 Antonio was done filming a documentary for Discovery en Español called Norte a Sur where he traveled Latin America for 30 days as a designer leaving a mark behind for himself. Jesus decided to take it to the next level and welcome Antonio to Haus of Estrada. In 2010, they did their first collection together for Spring 2011. The two brothers collaborated to create RTW looks inspired by their Mexican heritage and the story of Alice and Wonderland. They called it "wonderland meets sexy Latina punk", and had the opportunity to present their collection in NYC fashion week. For the Spring 2012 Haus of Estrada collection, the Estrada twins made a drastic move to NYC to create a collection inspired by mermaids as a tribute for Maria DiLeonardo, who opened her doors inside her women's boutique, Siren, for a little studio where Jesus and Antonio can be creative and design their hearts out.

Antoinette Love Ransom

In 2001, Antoinette moved to Los Angeles, CA and experienced a massive culture shock; as she moved from her less vibrant former surroundings. Antoinette was successful as she pursued her dreams in dancing and acting but her true "a-ha" moment came when she started bartending and getting recognition from her exotic martinis. She drew from this inspiration and from that point on started sketching and creating garments based off of the drinks she created. With the guidance of the Art Institute California-Hollywood campus she embraced her artistic talent and was recognized for her creativity and discipline in fashion design.

She later became the president of F.B.I (Fashion Bureau Incorporated) Student Chapter while interning for Tyra Banks' "Project Runway" experiment on the "Tyra Banks Show" and IMG for three years (handling the PR for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Los Angeles, CA). After graduating from the Art Institute; she interned for clothing companies as assistant designer and freelance patternmaker. She has since created her own clothing line, "LoveNote Couture", and produces her own fashion shows. Antoinette has been featured in several publications including the Apparel News, MODA, LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times.

Antoinette's garments are made from recycled fabric that is donated and sends messages of hope, creativity, perseverance, and thinking outside of the box. Many fashion designers consider themselves artists, but Antoinette thinks of herself more as a scientist. She likes to unravel the mysteries of garment construction. As the Executive Producer & Owner of Ambush Events she is living her dream of having a production company that caters to all genres of artists; and using their talent as an outreach to raise money for charity. The key is to embrace change, and merge the diversity of styles and trends that will change our future in fashion.

Andre Soriano

Andre Soriano channels the high fashion and high art; with influences from cosmopolitan cities worldwide such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Milan and Tokyo. Andre Soriano's interest in the fashion apparel and design field began back in his origin Metro Manila, Philippines. His mother "Josephine" designed clothing and draperies for her family and taught André basics of clothing construction as well as arts and theater exposure.

In 1986, the Soriano family migrated to the United States in Milpitas, California. While in high school, Andre became vice president of the fashion club and educated his fellow schoolmates with fashion news, clothing construction and trend forecast in the Fashion Industry. Andre pursued his interest in fashion apparel and design, moved to San Francisco and attended FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) and graduated in 1991.

Andre Soriano opened up his first store in San Francisco and designed all type of garments from active wear to classic evening wear, and specializes in elegant wedding and couture gowns. Andre Soriano only selects the best luxurious fabrics on the market such as satin, velvet, chiffon, cashmere, knits and the crochet with bread-work materials that come from Asia and Europe. As a Fashion Designer, Andre Soriano highly believes in giving back to the community where he joined and conducted non-profit organizations to benefit fundraiser for HIV/AIDS orphans living in Africa, City College of San Francisco College Fund and other charities.

Andre Soriano's Vision and fashion interpretation is inspired by old Hollywood glamour for today's women and men in mind.

Karelle Levy

Karelle was born in Paris, and raised in Miami by a Swedish mother and Tunisian father. As a child she was surrounded by arts and crafts, music, dance, and fashion which all play a role in her design. She studied textile design at Rhode Island School of Design. This led to the beginning of knitting fabrics as wearable garments and costumes. As a performance artist, making costumes for her progressive performances cultivated into the first fashion forward pieces of couture and ready to wear lines. A two-time Style Wars champion recently featured in the New York Times and the cover of Ocean Drive Magazine, Karelle Levy has also been named Best Local Fashion Designer in the Miami New Times in 2010 and 2005 and showcased as a Gen Art Fresh Faces of Fashion in 2004. KRELwear has garnered exceptional praise in The New York Times, Women's Wear Daily, Lucky, Ocean Drive, 944 Magazine, The Miami Herald, Noise, amongst other fine publications.

KRELwear was launched as an innovative knitwear brand in 2004, at the GenArt Fresh Faces of Fashion, debuting its first collection of one-of-a-kind, hand-knit "deconstructed" dresses and separates made with tubular knitting techniques- all executed in a wide array of yarn and texture combinations. Since its inception, KRELwear has cultivated an astonishingly loyal following, developing its line by combining minimal cuts with unique textiles, creative construction, and a mixture of fibers. Each season, the line is completely reinvented while maintaining sexy, yet sophisticated silhouettes.

DiscGlo is the most raved about KREL collection. Inspired by 24 hour party people, club culture and chameleon-like characters, DiscGlo brings you from night to day with a playful palette of hot neon's and nudes. Characterized by altered states and heightened perceptions, the entire collection is glow-in-the-dark & black light-reactive, each unique piece will adapt to its environment, with patterns& colors shifting and transforming with varying degrees of light & dark. This is collection this is composed entirely of one-of a-kind pieces.

Crivette Clothing

"Crivette Clothing" is an independent clothing brand founded by Cris Ryan and Evett Navarro, emerging artists/designers from North San Diego County, California. "Crivette" is a play on words combining the names Cris and Evett. It phonetically resembles the word 'shrimp' in french "Crevette". Crivette's artistic movement is heavily influenced by geometry and Asian culture; providing their shrimp nigiri origami logo. Crivette Clothing guarantees one of a kind garments that can be worn on or off stage, making their style difficult to catagorize or label. From Spring to Summer of 2010, we had the honor to create an entire image for emerging music artist Zhao Enshi; our designs were debuted and televised internationally on "Super Boy", the Chinese equivalent to American Idol. By the end of Summer 2010, we carved a name and image for our partnership for the whole world to observe. In February of 2011, we were given the opportunity to work with Maystar; notorious for organizing and hosting "Fashion Whore" and countless unique parties in San Diego County, California. Our first independent fashion show debuted in late March 2011 at "Anime Conji"; a well-known anime/media/arts convention, where a variety of our promotional work hit the runway. Presently, we continue to persue our passion by collaborating with various photographers, personalities, and artists world-wide.

Molly B

San Diego fashion style emanates a casual beach feel. The styles worn here are classy, yet laid back. It's not uncommon to see a little black dress paired with flip flops. San Diegans like to be fashionable and keep up with trends but want to be comfortable at the same time. You never know when the beach will start calling your name!-- Molly Goforth

Annalynn Luu

Annalynn was born in Los Angeles and raised in San Diego. She was introduced to sewing at a young age while watching her grandmother make household items. Growing up, she experimented with various art forms from drawing and painting to creative writing before realizing that underneath all the images and creations, there had always been a primary focus on designing costumes for the created characters. She then enrolled in the Art Institute of California – San Diego's Fashion Design program and took part in their annual fashion show where she won the Innovator Award in 2010 for her avant garde collection, "Civilized Savage."

Annalynn is acutely aware that inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere. She seeks to design without boundaries adhering to the philosophy, "If you can dream it, you can create it." While her interests span a broad range, she is most attracted to the new, the different, and the whimsical. She thrives in being surrounded by things that challenge one to think differently and by the simple yet profound impact that a bit of lightheartedness can bring to life.

Combining her love of stories with garment construction, Annalynn aims to make statement pieces in which the audience would not only be able to see the stories unfolding, but to also inspire them to create their own stories and expand their imagination. Ultimately, she would like to work as a costume designer, contributing to the visual aspect of bringing stories to life by creating clothing for characters.

Suzzette Baltazar

A California Girl with an American dream. She was obsessed since childhood, discovering her love for fashion at a very young age. From recreating her grandma's church dresses to dazzling up her Barbie Dolls' wardrobes. Puttting on backyard fashion shows for friends and family was her weekend favorite.

While attending design school she landed a head design position in the garment industry learning all aspects of the buisness. In 2008, Suzzette lauched her brand "Love Material Girl" world wide. With her company expanding and growing, she reaches out to new clientel all around the world, dressing one girly girl at a time. "Fashion is confident sexy and fearless".

Whitney Francis

Company: Creative Fashionista

Creative Fashionista believes in bringing a more divergent sense of creativity to the fashion industry. The delicacy of the colors, fabrics, and shapes CF chooses, is aimed at women who prefer a fitting and playful look in every situation. These modern, self-confident look for women, aims at subtlety and artistic freedom in their appearance. Thus, the collections of Creative Fashionista use natural tones, organic embellishments, and diverse prints.

From every single stitch that graces the fabric, to every style that hits the catwalk, we prioritize in not only creating custom art, but providing quality-incomparable items for our customers to enjoy. Exceeding the highest expectation of our customer is what inspires and motivates our team.

Tea Ninkovic

After graduating from high school for design in Belgrade, I came to San Diego to study fashion. Creating art and designing is what I love to do. I chose this field because I am able to express both my mood and emotions. Using the idea of colors and texture is what has influenced me to create Pop Street. The inspiration for my collection has come from my experiences with Pop Art, as well as from metropolitan areas, signs, architecture, graffiti, street art and all aspects of urban life. By looking at the styles on the street and what people are wearing, any artist can find a wealth of stimulation for any kind of design.