Malou Tabada Cordery has loved fashion from an early age. As a young girl growing up in the Philippines, she would cut paper or shape banana leaves to create dresses for dolls. After starting her own family, she made her daughters play clothes and designed many outfits for them, as they were growing up, including Filipino costumes to be worn in traditional cultural dances.
Malou was first exposed and introduced to Charlotte Seen during her daughter Genevieve’s reign as Miss Asia Carolinas in 2011. Genevieve was invited to participate in the fashion show as a local pageant winner, and Malou’s youngest daughter, Alyson, walked the runway the following year, featured in one of her mother’s creations.
Because of Malou’s background in arts & crafts, she has been more focused on designing original outfits using recycled materials than in designing high fashion; although her recyclable designs certainly look like avant garde and high fashion couture. Malou likes to challenge herself by pursuing design concepts that appear insurmountable at first, and then figuring out ways to execute them utilizing a variety of materials that interest her, materials that have a unique texture or can be used in a novel way to create a beautiful recyclable outfit for the runway.
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According to the designer, “One has to be practical in one’s approach, and not let artistic license carry you away to the point where a design is unwearable or not functional. I also like to improvise and try to introduce different elements that add dimension, style, or visual interest. I am really into the details and love embellishing my designs. I try to go for the wow factor. The audience likes to see what new ways these materials have been put to creative use, so it is only natural that fashion, as an art form, be utilized to promote awareness about important issues and support fundraising for charitable and worthwhile causes. Most of the shows I have done were to raise funds for various charities, or to support cultural programs.”
Malou has been a participant in Charlotte Seen, which includes Passport for Fashion and Charlotte Fashion Week, since 2012, and has won 1st Place by the judges and People’s Choice awards for her designs, including Best Recyclable Designer in 2018 for her Nordstrom design.
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Malou has also participated in many other fashion shows, including the first upcycled fashion show, Color Me Goodwill, held at the Diana Wortham Theatre in Asheville North Carolina, where she won the People’s Choice award for her “Blue Collection.” She has also been a participating recyclable designer for The McColl Center for Art and Innovation and Opera Carolina, for whom she designed recyclable gowns for La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, and Turandot. These gowns were displayed in the lobby of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, as well as being featured in the Elysian and Carolina Women magazines. Her Marriage of Figaro gown was also showcased at ImaginOn in downtown Charlotte. Most recently, her Aida design walked the runway in Paris Fashion Week 2019.
One of the highlights of Malou’s career was going to New York City to participate in New York Fashion Week 2017, where Opera Carolina featured the many designs created by local Charlotte recyclable designers.