Jhoan sebastian grey

Jhoan Sebastian Grey, this 34 year-old designer is pushing boundaries and creating fashion with a purpose under his eponymous brand, Jhoan Sebastian Grey. The Colombia native gained the essential skills of precision and customer satisfaction while working at his family’s leather business and later pursued fashion at the Academy of Professional Drawing in Cali. Bravo TV fans will recognize Grey as the winner of Project Runway season 17, when he endeared judges and viewers alike with his warm personality and raw talent.

At home in South Florida, Grey crafts pieces focused on texture and detail at his Fort Lauderdale studio. He describes his aesthetic as minimal but intricate.

The purpose of Jhoan Sebastian Grey is to educate customers in every aspect of our process and offer them the knowledge to understand what they are buying and why. We want to bring awareness about what sustainability and being sustainable really means.
Grey’s 2020 NYFW collection entitled “Lineage” consisted of 3 major components…Knit Leather, 3D Knit Wear and Traditional Tailoring.

Knit Wear: Leather is the legacy of Grey’s DNA. Grey made an organic fusion finding a new way to use this material and mixing it with the artisanal heritage of Colombia, creating a knitting leather that works as a sculptural and elegant textile.

3D Knit Wear: Normally, each part of a garment is produced separately from the others. 3D knitting is produced as one tridimentional entire piece. This technique prevents the waste of materials, as in cut loss or seam allowances.

Traditional Tailoring: The fascination for this technique came from my grandfather who was a tailor maker. After being trained by one of the best men’s-wear designers from Colombia, the brand made the suit-making practice one of the most important aspects of its DNA.

Grey’s color palette’s of neutral and natural tones has a timelessness and quality that transcended trends and indeed seasons. A luxurious use of sheen throughout the collection gives many of the vibrant garments – done in ,yellow, burn orange and green sage , and dusty lilac colorways – an edgy, nearly-metallic finish. The use of texture and material gives the monochromatically-presented outfits a daring and modern finish. The warmth and neutrality he explains comes from the landscapes of Colombia in the travels he made with his family as a child.

The inspiration comes from a fusion of two experiences: Classical Ballet and Salsa Rhythms. Grey decided to mix these two forms of expression to invite the audience to be aware of how our bodies communicate with others by movement. Also, Grey wanted to empower his roots, folklore, and artisanal work through the entire collection.

This collection proposed a sophisticated, timeless, and honed sustainable ethos. Lineage returns to detailed craftsmanship and to the art of making it appealing for a discerning minimalist who values longevity in an increasingly fast-passed world.

Rustic tailoring, loose layerings, and an organic palette of colors are the main characteristics of the collection. Grey wanted to focus on better quality and refined fitting, encouraging individuality and freedom. Grey’s signature style envelopes the body in precisely constructed quilted silks and hand-woven leather.

Grey being environmentally conscious wanted to bring sustainability to the forefront of this collection. Since sustainability is one of the main drivers of the brand, he wanted to mainly work with natural fibers and natural dyes for the collection and implement different techniques that did not leave material waste such as 3D knitting. Also, he wanted to embrace the heritage of his country. All of the manufacturing and sourcing was from local origin helping the Colombian community to grow along with the brand.

The global environment crisis and the pandemic that we are experiencing has lead us to explore a more sustainable, resilient and regenerative path through innovation in fashion. THIS IS THE NEW NORM!
We all have to be part of this change and can’t forget where we have come from, where we are and where we are going.

In addition to pursuing a master’s degree in luxury brand management at the Istituto Marangoni in Miami, Grey is keeping busy with his design work, including a recent collaboration with Black Vision Collective on a T-shirt inspired by racial equality. He plans to debut his latest collection, “Grey, by Jhoan Sebastian Grey, Q3 of 2021.