inland empire community newspapers • july 12, 2012 • page...

Inland Empire Community Newspapers • July 12, 2012 • Page A3

Colton High graduate brings Hollywood fashion to IE

By Cynthia Mendoza

Born and raised in Colton,fashion designer and styl-ist Jesse Guillen, 26, is lit-

erally bringing Hollywood fashionto the Inland Empire; on Saturday,July 7, Jesse J Collections, as hisbrand is called, celebrated theopening of a new boutique inRiverside and the event drew sev-eral celebrity stylists and JesseCampbell from NBC’s The Voiceto the store and more importantly,to Inland Empire talent. A fourth generation South Coltonboy, Guillen attended Wilson Ele-mentary School and graduatedfrom Colton High in 2004. Even asa young man he was always inter-ested in fashion and dressed wellbut never took it beyond that untilafter graduation when he went onto attend the Fashion Institute ofDesign & Merchandising in LosAngeles. Guillen describes his style asedgy but classy. Guillen worked hard, paid hisown way through college and hasgone on to work with Hollywood’selite like Akon, Chris Brown, JesseCampbell plus numerous otherclients including producers, doc-tors and lawyers. He also has ashowroom on what’s simply re-ferred to as Melrose and at theNewmarc Building, which accord-ing to Guillen is “the” fashion des-tination in Hollywood. “I chased my dreams, invested ina clothing line and bartended,” herecalls of the sweat and sacrificesit took to get where he is. “It tooka lot.” While he enjoys styling celebri-ties and working on movie sets,Guillen also wanted to make aname for the Inland Empire in theprocess. When asked where he’sfrom, the most common questionhe gets is “Where’s that?”“I wanted to bring Hollywood tothe Inland Empire and create

trends here instead of just waitingfor the trends from L.A. or NewYork to come here,” he said. Guillen also welcomes the oppor-tunity to provide other Inland Em-pire up-and-comers with their ownchance at fashion greatness. “There is so much talent in theInland Empire but nowhere to go,”he says. “I use interns. I want toshow [them] if I can do it, you cando it.” And no matter how far he’s goneor will continue to go no doubt,Jesse Guillen knows and loveswhere he comes from - Colton. “I love the strong family andfriend support system,” he says ofthe town he grew up in. “I felt thatI could go to college and pursuemy dreams.”You may visit the boutique Mon-day - Friday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sat-urday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and closedSunday. It is located at 3772 Ar-lington Ave. Riverside, CA.92504, just west of the 91 freeway.For more information or to make astyling appointment contact JesseJ Collections at (424) 273-0412.

IECN PHOTO COURTESY ICONIC VISIONJesse Guillen of Jesse J Col-lections, right, is personal stylistto Jesse Campbell, left, a sea-son 2 finalist on The Voice.Born and raised in Colton,Guillen, 26, is making his markin Hollywood fashion and bring-ing it to the Inland Empire.

IECN PHOTO COURTESY MARSHA

FEINBERG PHOTOGRAPHYJesse Guillen, 26, is a ColtonHigh graduate making his markin Hollywood fashion. He re-cently opened his Jesse J Col-lections Boutique in Riverside.

IECN3_Layout 1 7/11/12 9:27 AM Page 1