The Rajo Store
Rajo Laurel and His Sisters Venisse and Gela Expand Their Fashion Empire
08 November 2025
When Rajo Laurel ventured into the ready-to-wear space with the opening of his RAJO store in 2015, his creative vision and design process broadened to serve a wider audience of diverse perspectives and priorities.
CLICK the photo to view the FULL image.
Through merging the ideal with the real, he gets to connect with a larger public whose style concerns enrich his design vocabulary.
“As this dialogue deepens, so do the collections that cater more intently to the style necessities and yearnings of the modern woman, man, and the little ones they love in ways that are mindful, meaningful, and motivated,” the celebrated designer says in a “love letter” to Fashion.
(Front Center) Venisse Laurel-Hermano, Rajo Laurel and Gela Laurel-Stehmeier with (Back) Paco Laurel Sanz, Olivia Banzon, Matt Laurel, Asia Palanca Go, Nicole Asencio, Chema Laurel Marquez, Angia Laurel, Samant
“It gives me joy to constantly be challenged to explore creative ways fashion can better serve the changing context of the individuals who walk through our doors. As a designer, I fully believe that listening is the only way to grow,” Rajo shares.
On October 14 at their flagship store at the Power Plant Mall, Rajo launched the brand’s Holiday Collection 2025, lovingly designed in collaboration with his sisters, COO Venisse Laurel-Hermano and makeup maven Gela Laurel-Stehmeier—a first in the brand’s history.
Here, Rajo shares his insightful thoughts and creative process:
Venisse Laurel-Hermano, Rajo Laurel, and Gela Laurel-Stehmeier at the newly reopened RAJO Store in Rockwell
Why the need for a revamp of The RAJO Store, if the business model isn’t broken?
“Fashion by its very nature should be a constant update and a constant refresh that is what makes a brand relevant and always exciting. So I think, since it’s our 10th year anniversary it would be more important to use this as a time to actually refresh, update and keep it exciting. After 10 years, I think it's about time.”
What took you and your siblings this long to have this conversation to collaborate?
“I guess because we were really working in a way that we essentially respected our own boundaries, each one of us, you can say, had our own responsibilities. For instance, Venisse has always been in charge of operations, I was always in charge of creative while Gela was always in charge of visuals and merchandising. Although we work independently, we would always sort of ask questions and show what we do for approval but we always respected these boundaries. I think for this particular collection we just decided to create this wonderful confluence of activity and creativity in order to do this.
“The collection actually started with Gela and Venisse wanting to do a small capsule collection for their clothes for travelling. They wanted pieces that would sort of like used for travelling. Then it dawned on me, you know, because the ideas were actually quite beautiful and ideas were actually quite relevant, I said, you know what, let's not do a capsule collection, let’s do the entire collection using your ideas. And from there it began.”
How conscious was the decision to make the clothes gender-neutral?
“I have always believed that clothes don’t have any gender. I mean, that is more exciting. And with the advent of the first RAJOMAN collection show last year, I have realized that more and more people were actually buying from the RAJOMAN regardless if they are a woman, or a man, or a transgender, it did not matter. Clothes don’t have a gender. Therefore, what we did for this particular season and for the seasons that will actually go forward, we will not have gender for the clothes, we will just say it’s RAJO. And from there, I think people will shop and buy what resonates towards what they like. And I think so far, it has been an exciting response.”
Where do you source your fabrics?
“For the holiday collection, for the RAJO store, we really concentrated on fabrics that were easily taken care of or fabrics that don’t need to be ironed or wrinkle-free. We wanted to sort of really create a collection and create clothes for people to live in not just necessarily for these special occasions. Clothes that will resonate with their lifestyle; whether it be at work, or at play, for travelling or even for occasion. We wanted clothes that would really have that resonance to our clients.”
Who are the real-people inspirations for the names of the pieces? Marpessa, Donnie, Ned, etc?
“The real people, really, it's them, Venisse and Gela were the inspiration. And their friends, our friends, our relatives. We didn’t really have a person in mind, we looked into ourselves, into our lives. And essentially that began the quest, what do we need, what do we want, what we actually needed from our wardrobe.
“So, we discussed it from a very personal perspective. What are the items that we would love to have in our wardrobe? What is missing in our wardrobe and what can we create for ourselves that perhaps other people would actually need. So, in terms of the personalities, the real people, it’s us. We are the real people we were designing for.”
With an illustrious and legendary family name, do you consider yourselves nepo babies?
“I think we are all nepo babies. At the end of the day, we all have family and we all use our family as a point of reference for networking. Yes, we are nepo babies and we use it in a positive light. Being a nepo baby is not really a bad thing, it's just that nowadays, if you are a nepo baby sadly, you steal and sadly it’s given a bad light because of all the people who use this word as an anchor towards corruption.
“If you think about it, how can we go on in this world without the help of our family, without the help of our parents. I mean that for me, is what it means by a nepo baby wherein we use the resources that are given to us in an honest way and from there we grow and that’s why the fashion show is all about that.
“My host is my cousin, Gela was part of the makeup artist team, some of the models were my cousins and nephews and nieces, kasi as a family that’s what we do you help each other. You help each other realize your dream. And I am very lucky that I have a family that realizes this. And that’s how we were and that’s how we are. And that’s how hopefully we will be able to teach our children on how to move forward in this particular world.”
How defined are the demarcation lines? You’re the fantasy, the reality (Gela), and the execution (Venisse)?
“Well in the beginning the demarcation lines were actually quite defined, essentially with how we work as a family. But now we have begun to listen to each other because sometimes the people like Venisse who would always execute, would also have fantasies and also have dreams and Gela who would always resonate with reality but sometimes often have fantasies.
“So, it’s this sort of like new voices from our own perspectives that created this incredible harmony towards all of us. And I think that creates a wonderful, special, I guess reaction to all of the things that we normally do.”
Were you in any way influenced by Giorgio Armani (who also has his eponymous couture line, Armani Exchange, Emporio Armani and A/X)?
“Yes, I think Giorgio Armani is a huge influence. In fact he was the one who started to sort of really explore the different levels of what it means to be a brand. You know, from his Armani Prive, which is his couture, his Emporio Armani and all that. I think as a designer you are just able to sort of like your desire to touch lives and be able to really share your narrative to different demographics and different price points. I think all designers dream of that because we would like to sort of express our thoughts and express ourselves through the different variants of fashion.
“So, thank you for saying that I am influenced by Giorgio Armani because I think he’s just a wonderful creative human being with an empire. So, if I can just be a quarter of Giorgio Armani, I would be really already happy and blessed.”
Versions of this story have appeared in PhilStar Global and BusinessMirror.
Who do you think should be the next National Artist for Fashion and Design? Patis Tesoro or Kenneth Cobonpue?
“I think the next National Artist should be Dolphy. Really, he deserves it. Now, for fashion and design, I would like to nominate Joe Salazar and of course Patis Tesoro should be up there and Kenneth Cobonpue. I think all these names that you have mentioned are deserving to be National Artists. I think they have proven what it means to be a Filipino artist in the most excellent light. So yes, Patis Tesoro, Joe Salazar and Kenneth Cobonpue are worthy to become National Artists.”
As a designer, how important is it to listen (to clients, collaborators, critics, etc)?
“Very important. I think listening is such an important tool for you to design because it makes you really digest and really think of how you can design better. It’s a skill that I have learned and constantly learn by listening to all of these voices you learn to distill and you learn to actually make sure that your voice is devoid of noise until you essentially distill your own unique voice. So I think listening is important. It’s key to good design.”
Laurel Siblings - John, Venisse, Rajo, and Gela
Iza Calzado Wintle
Anthony Constantino
Iya Villania-Arellano
Solenn Heussaff