Bagasáo’s CO-ED Collection No. 7 Is a Meditation on Memory
Creative director Joseph Bagasao revisits his youth while urging wearers to simply slow down and feel.
Published on Oct 2, 2025
There are moments in life that feel caught between frames—halfway between the blur of childhood and the weight of adulthood, where time seems to stand still. It is in this liminal space that Bagasáo’s CO-ED Collection No. 7: We Were Once Young takes root.
Following a deliberate production pause, creative director Joseph Bagasao looks back on his childhood years with a sense of nostalgia, a reflection on what remains when days pass too quickly and only fragments endure.
In an exclusive interview, the Preview BFFD 2024 honoree recalls how conversations with friends stirred the theme of his comeback collection:
For him, this collection serves as an invitation for wearers to pause, listen, and latch onto memories.
Bagasáo’s CO-ED Collection No. 7, “We Were Once Young”
At the heart of We Were Once Young is stillness rendered as a form of presence. In the press release, Joseph notes, “The collection made me pause. Like those before it, this body of work invites wearers to slow down, feel the garment, and listen to the emotions evoked by each carefully considered piece.”
A photograph of his grandparents is the collection’s guiding compass—an image that continues to shape how he designs garments as vessels for remembering. From the interview, he described this collection simply as “a way to experience life more fully.”
The clothes themselves carry a note of playful restraint. “Many pieces echo my childhood, what I wore, what I wished I could have worn, and a way of reimagining the restrictions placed on us when we were younger,” Joseph explained.
To communicate this sense of stillness through his garments, Joseph softens cotton-linen to mimic moleskin, and shirting cotton is spun to feel like silk.
“We explored different weights and weaves of cotton,” he adds. “We also incorporated technical, water-repellent fabrics.”
Joseph draws from an amalgamation of references. He injects trompe l’oeil details inspired by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois into his designs, along with floral tailoring influenced by the softness of Takahiro Hara’s paintings.
“It feels much lighter, both figuratively and literally,” Joseph shared, describing not just the garments, but the spirit that shaped them.
Pau is Preview’s go-to fashion girl. On most days, you’ll find her with headphones on, coffee in hand, and likely dressed in an oversized blazer and floor-grazing jeans.