Growing up, Nicholas Panameno enjoyed shopping for jewelry at Hot Topic. After some time, the items would rust or stain his skin green. He was inspired to start making his own jewelry after watching people online do it.
At 13, on a trip to visit his family in Nebraska, Panameno went on his first shopping spree at Hobby Lobby to buy supplies so that he could start creating handmade jewelry. His aunt had given him $100 to kickstart his new hobby, and that night he began cutting and clasping materials, creating earrings and bracelets.
“When I do my jewelry designing, it makes me feel at peace, doing something I love not just for profits, but just to see people wear the things that I design,” Panameno said. “The personal message into all the pieces I’ve made with social justice topics and behind it all it just seems relaxing in general for me. It feels like going to the gym for my creative brain to work out on.”
Panameno, who has Salvadoran and Nicaraguan heritage, grew up in Los Angeles and learned more about creating jewelry at Fairfax High School in an afterschool program. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that Panameno started creating jewelry more often, and in June 2022, he launched his brand Monochrome X.
The name is inspired by a brand from the video game “Splatoon.” Panameno enjoyed the monochrome clothing pieces the game had and wished they were created outside of the game, so he took it upon himself to create his real-life version. The letter X represents plus-size inclusivity.
“My art and my fashion and my jewelry is mainly based off of my life entirely in a way,” Panameno said. It’s more like a form of storytelling based off of how I lived in a way.”
Each of the colors he uses in his art represents different themes and he makes sure to align everything carefully.
The colors he currently uses the most are white, pink, gray, red, and black. White represents innocence and the formality of religion, pink is a form of revolution, a time of social justice movements and how he lives life as a Latino. Gray, clear and the mixture of white and black beads represents the job industry, as Panameno describes it as “kind of like working till you die kind of vibe– dead corporate office jobs.”
Red represents love, relationships and friendships, but also hatred and envy. Finally, black is supposed to represent the idea of being stereotyped and endangered.
On campus, Panameno, a San Francisco State University student studying apparel with a concentration in design, attends events within the campus and the Mission District to sell his merchandise. In April 2024, he sold some pieces to Matthew Maduli, an SFSU alum.
“Their jewelry is kind of very reminiscent of the 2000s,” Maduli said. “I think the idea reminded me of the handmade jewelry you make as kids, but very good material.”
Panameno met Rolana Erskine, a fourth-year student and the center’s outreach and engagement coordinator, at a flea market held by the Associated Students Environmental Resource Center.
“I like that everything is different and he just does a good job at putting things together color-wise, shape-wise, as well as he highlights his background and his culture into his jewelry,” Erskine said. “We live in California and San Francisco in particular where people are more environmentally conscious. I think that [Monochrome X] is a very ethical consumerism brand that everyone should look to first before going to fast fashion brands.”
Sarahi Rodriguez, an ethnic studies student who co-owns a clothing brand “4Life” with her brother, has appeared with Panameno at events like Lover’s Lane.
“Seeing him build his way up there within his club — he’s on the fashion network association on campus — is something beautiful that I’ve been able to witness, along with even just expressing himself through other artistic ways,” Rodriguez said.
Panameno will be showcasing “Face Everything and Rise” or “F.E.A.R.,” a piece about Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, at the Requiem Runway 2025 show today.
The model will be wearing an oversized T-shirt with a jaw-string skirt, a giant jewelry bodice piece and a helmet while holding protest signs reading “Deportation is Not Hot” and “Don’t Separate Our Bouquets.” The main body crystals and porcelain bead jewelry are called the “Nasty Majesty.”
Panameno will be wearing a light pink T-shirt with two different flowers to represent his culture: hibiscus, a culturally significant flower in Nicaragua, and yucca, the national flower of El Salvador.
The piece is one of three in the event that are about immigration rights and social justice.
“Hopefully, this would be like an ultimate power move for people to see, ‘Wow, we didn’t know. This is interesting. I never thought this would be going on,’” Panameno said. “Higher-ups like i-D fashion or Vogue magazine are not talking about these social justice movements as much.”
Panameno hopes to one day host a runway show with white, pink, gray, red and black-colored clothing designs representing their respective meanings.
