Bright Young Things was Bea Cruz's second Fashion Week San Diego collection - twenty looks that reached back to the 1920s to answer 2021 - and it won her the event's inaugural Ashley Nell Tipton Special Award. Where VIVIRÁ looked homeward to Philippine traditional dress, Bright Young Things looked to another moment in history when the world had just survived something - and decided to celebrate.
The premise
The name borrows the 1920s label for the young and glamorous who defined the decade's nightlife. The parallel was the point: a generation that had come through the Great War and the Spanish flu chose glitter, speed, and celebration - and in 2021, emerging from another pandemic, the instinct felt familiar.
"It is reminiscent of the time when people, after being struck by the Great War and the world's deadliest pandemic, the Spanish flu, craved for light, speed and celebration of life."Bea Cruz, on Bright Young Things
"This collection is about my vision - the kind of life we aspire to take back after the coronavirus."Bea Cruz
Bea has named the Art Deco era as home ground - the glitz of the 1920s and 30s, the finer sophistication of the 1940s and 50s - and this collection is where that vocabulary runs loosest: fringe, sequins, chains, and feathers, cut with the discipline of someone trained in pattern first.
The making
Twenty looks, carried by handwork. One soft tulle ensemble alone carries two kilos of gold crystal seed beads, sewn by hand. Elsewhere in the lineup: glittered organza with shoulder trains; white sequined peplum tops, skirts, and frocks; a godet sequined tulle dress; black gowns with acrylic chain straps, detachable trains, beaded bust cups, hem tassels, and floor-length robes; a sheer top over wide-leg pants; a gold dress with a high slit. The accessories kept the decade's texture - fringed ostrich feathers, mulberry silk scarves, sheer hand-beaded gloves, chain belts.
The weight of that beadwork is the honest measure of the collection: hand-sewn embellishment is counted in weeks, which is the same arithmetic behind custom commission timelines today.
The award
At Fashion Week San Diego 2021, the collection received the first-ever Ashley Nell Tipton Special Award, named for the Project Runway winner who judged that season - Bea's second consecutive year taking a top honor at the event, after VIVIRÁ's Top Designer Award in 2020.
What carried forward
Bright Young Things is the ancestor of BÉACRUZ eveningwear as it exists now: garments for rooms where presence is the assignment - galas, red carpets, debuts, celebrations. The hand-sewn beadwork, the detachable trains, the conviction that occasionwear should feel like joy rather than costume, all recur in current commissions. The looks are in the portfolio.
Facts and quotes drawn from The Diarist and Fashion Week San Diego coverage, 2021–2022.
From the studio of Bea Cruz, founder of BÉACRUZ · Published July 2026