In a time when fashion has become part of the anatomy of a person’s lifestyle—their aesthetic, their mood, their vibe—the essence of clothing as one’s identity signifier never stood out more. It’s something designer Angela Rachel understands acutely well, manifested through her label One Off Ones.

Established in 2021, the brand takes cues from Angela’s personal style, dwelling within the push-and-pull tension between masculinity and femininity. The founder and creative director shared,

“Even though today’s fashion scene is starting to embrace the fluidity of gender, a lot of people still like boxing it into male and female, whereas I want personal style to be an expression of one’s individuality.”

Battling traditional gender expectations in Indonesia, Angela took a page out of British designer Molly Goddard’s playbook, for whom she interned during her time studying fashion at Istituto Marangoni’s London campus. Known for campy, diverse, hyperfeminine pieces, Goddard’s eponymous fashion house embraces the latter amidst a climate where feminine styles are under scrutiny, capturing that spirit of freedom of expression and breaking boundaries.

“It’s all performance,” Angela explained. “My pieces are designed to achieve a certain look or aesthetic,” and it’s one of vibrantly loud colors paired with unapologetically rich textures. It echoes the idea that gender is performative, displayed by how each outfit is modeled by both male- and female-presenting people.

The outlook on fashion as performance is also apt, considering the current times when it has become intertwined into today’s pop culture milieu, woven into the same thread as film, music, and lifestyle. And that’s exactly where One Off Ones’s ethos resides, sitting comfortably on the intersection of art and the youth zeitgeist.

Each season acts as a time capsule of Angela’s artistic perspective as she draws from different facets of 80’s music, architecture trends, and cinematic grandeur, all while imbuing a radical sense of personal interiority, translating emotions into tailored garments. 

Take the current season “Two of Hearts” as an example, a retelling of her own experiences of love, infused with the fantastical eccentricities of Baz Luhrmann films and the gritty, poetic tension of Blue Valentine (2010). The mood board is capped off with an air of dramatic exaggerations of love and heartbreak found in 80’s ballads, with the collection’s name being a direct homage to Stacey Q’s song of the same name.

It’s synthesized into the duality of romance as the inspiration for “Two of Hearts,” which features intertwining elements in the construction of its pieces—each named after a card game—most evident through the lace-up Solitaire Corset and the twisty Piquet Trousers.

“Working on One Off Ones solidified my own fashion sense. The existence of my brand allowed me to dress more freely and confidently, letting me have this comfort zone for my personal style,” Angela added. “It’s really gratifying to see celebrities like GAC, Raisa, and even Dian Sastro wear my pieces.”

“But what made me happier was knowing people—all kinds of people—resonate with the genderless fashion I designed.”