Meeting the director and designer behind Kill Joy Studios before his MNL Fashion Week 2026 show does little to prepare you for Eugene Malabad the person. He’s disarmingly approachable, quick to joke, and perfectly comfortable admitting when he’s not finished figuring things out yet.
Then, there’s his KALYE TREZ MIXTAPE—sharp, sexy, strange in the right places, and so assured in its point of view that the ease with which Malabad talks about his work almost feels like a feint. This is the collection he considers his true debut, and already, his label knows how to look like itself.
Eugene Malabad Is Stamping the Kill Joy Studios DNA
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Malabad fondly refers to his latest lineup as the melting pot of his life, stretching across different periods and influences without treating any memory as its defining inspiration. Even time gets scrambled as he considers his past experiences alongside the person he is now and the designer he intends to become. “It’s more of me stamping my DNA on the industry,” he shares with MEGA.
His memories don’t survive the process untouched. Recognizable silhouettes return altered, while techniques and design codes recur in new contexts. Kill Joy’s bestselling bag turns into a clutch before he blows its proportions up again. In this outing, his archive becomes material for constant revision, allowing old ideas to evolve alongside him.
On paper, it shouldn’t make sense when he draws from everything, everywhere, all at once: the name of his street, his grandfather’s involvement with the Air Force, his hypothetical Letterboxd account that’s apparently full of coming-of-age films from the ’80s and the ’90s, and many more. An imaginary mood board of those cut-out images leaves us scratching our chins in deep thought.
But there isn’t really a need to imagine, is there? It only doesn’t make sense to us because we’re not him. It’s pure, unfiltered “KJ-ism,” a term he lightheartedly coins with MEGA when we point out that KALYE TREZ MIXTAPE doesn’t neatly fit any existing fashion genre. This is Malabad’s genius; he can pull from nearly anywhere because everything becomes Kill Joy Studios once it passes through him.
And he isn’t interested in protecting this newly established identity from change, either. “I treat Kill Joy Studios like a journal that’s continuously evolving,” he smiles. “Change is the most—’yun lang ’yung natitirang permanent [Change is the only thing that remains permanent].”
Authorship. That’s the strongest characteristic he has that belies his relaxed nature. Behind his backstage jests about Atlantis being a philosopher, there’s a formidable young designer who already has a firm understanding of himself. If this is what Kill Joy Studios is capable of for its debut, then Eugene Malabad is definitely headed for bigger things.
Photographed by KIERAN PUNAY of KLIQ, INC.
