Sarah Law and Angela Dimayuga, two New York–based creative powerhouses, work in two entirely different worlds. Law is the creative director of the accessories brand KARA; Dimayuga is a chef, multidisciplinary artist, and author (her debut cookbook, Filipinx: Heritages Recipes From the Diaspora, was released this month). So of course it makes total sense for them to collaborate, right? Just look at the apron and lunch bag — comprised entirely of sparkly crystal mesh — they made.
While typically their work lives may look nothing alike, the duo do have more in common than just an appreciation of glamorous pretty things: The experience of being Asian American women with intersectional identities. “Physically and culturally, I don’t fit into society’s singular molds of Chinese, Caucasian, North American, artistic, entrepreneurial, progressive or traditional,” Law explains in the press materials announcing the collaboration. “I am, in fact, a combination of all of them, and my personal experience has made me acutely aware of how identity for many is multilayered. I am drawn to creative expressions of individuality and understanding how people imagine themselves free from stereotypes.”
For Dimayuga, food is her vehicle for breaking down barriers, and the apron and lunch bag are a celebration of that. With the apron, the two wanted to reimagine the everyday item in full rhinestones with adjustable chain detailing, fitting into KARA’s growing collection of accessories that blur the line between clothing and bag.
The lunch bag, essentially a rhinestone-covered clutch, was inspired by her experience of growing up in the Bay Area. “A lunch bag is so related to my upbringing as a Filipino American and my parents wanting me to feel American,” she recalls in the press announcement. “They would give me a brown bag lunch every day, filling it with American snacks like Capri Sun, Doritos, and sometimes a sandwich, because that’s what the other Americans were having. That was them exploring luxury. And of course, at certain times I would have rice and spam in my lunch bag, too, but I know that they found a particular joy in giving me a brown bag lunch.”
Watch Dimayuga read an excerpt, called “Ancestral Whisper,” about her layered identity from her book in the campaign video with KARA below, and shop collaboration here.
