4 Latinx Designers Shattering the Mold

From Gypsy Sports rule-breaking, anarchic looks and Brbara Snchez-Kanes refreshing upending of gender norms to Barragns embrace of body-conscious silhouettes and LRSs take on American streetwear and sportswear, this quartet of brands fronted by young Latinx designers is creating a new vision of what fashion can beas seen through their own highly individual lenses. As part of our partnership with the CFDA, ELLE spoke to all fourRio Uribe, Brbara Snchez-Kane, Victor Barragn, and Raul Solsabout their design influences, the connection between fashion and politics, and how their heritage is expressed in their work. Rio Uribe Christopher Sherman Gypsy Sport Gypsy Sport is meant to be worn by everyone, no matter your race, gender, or sexual orientation. In fact, inclusivity is so embedded in the brands DNA that its part of founder Rio Uribes origin story. Since childhood, the 33-year-old designer has been making clothes for his six younger siblingsfour brothers and two sisters, to be precisezhuzhing up hand-me-downs with a creative flair and transforming them into dapper chic non-binary looks that would earn Harry Styless approval. I remember cutting lace from my moms lingerie and sewing it onto the collar of a T-shirt, he recalls with a laugh. In 2005, Uribe left his home in Los Angeless San Fernando Valley and moved to New York City, where he took on odd jobs like delivering dumplings and organizing Paul Frank inventory before landing a gig in the stock room at Balenciaga. Once he worked his way up to director of merchandising, Uribes role began to include travel, and lots of it. Then, in 2012, like so many millennials during the aughts, he launched a Tumblr and called it Gypsy Sport after the breed of horses he considers elegant and androgynous. Later that year, Uribes brand was born, and he was named one of the winners of the CFDAs Fashion Fund in 2015. Why should we categorize people by their taste in clothing? Uribe asks before stressing that he hopes gender-neutral wares are not just a trend, but a lasting movement. High-profile fans like Lourdes Leon and Jaden Smith subscribe to Gypsy Sports sartorial ethos of breaking all the rules. For Uribe, that means no limitations with fashion choices, especially in regard to his heritage. His spring 2021 show featured Hispanic models of all genders, sizes, and skin tones to highlight diversity within a specific culture. I wish people understood that Hispanic and Latino people in America are part of a bigger diaspora and a lot of us are still trying to reconnect with our roots and understand who we are, he says. We are just as American, if not more native to this nation, than any of the people here. Its important to remind ourselves and each other that we belong. Going forward, Uribe hopes to lead by example and inspire the next generation of Latinx designers to take chances and forge their own path. Were a huge part of the industry, but more so behind the scenes, he says. Im really excited to see what the future has in store.Claire Stern, Deputy Editor Brbara Snchez-Kane Cuauhtemocxin Garcia Brbara Snchez-Kane Mexico has long been dominated by a very macho culture, says Brbara Snchez-Kane, who grew up on the countrys Yuctan Peninsula but has called Mexico City home for the past two years. Its the same attitude that led the designer to pursue a degree in engineering before enrolling in Florences Polimoda fashion school. Careers in art or design are not generally accepted, so I was very afraid to pursue something artistic. Nevertheless, it was her native country, from its colors to symbols such as the calla lily, that provided the creative fuel that Snchez-Kane needed for her senior thesis and subsequent collections. When the designer made her New York Fashion Week debut in 2016 with a collection titled Citizen, which referenced then-President Trumps anti-immigration policies, many critics were surprised to learn that the young talent was Mexican. Thus Snchez-Kane has made it her duty not only to promote mexicanidad abroad, but to examine her culture in both its glory and its faults and challenge gender norms while placing an emphasis on community (all Snchez-Kane garments are made in Mexico, down to the fabrics).Naomi Rougeau, Senior Fashion Editor Victor Barragn Elvin Tavarez Barragn The models walking in Victor Barragns spring 2021 show wore mismatched contact lenses, one with an overlay of the Mexican flag and the other showing the American flag. Its the perfect way to sum up the designers own lens on his two cultures. Barragn divides his time between his hometown of Mexico City and his adopted hometown of New York City, and his brand, Barragn, often touches on the iconography of both placesfor that same spring 2021 show, he referenced the pyramids of Teotihuacan and street clown costumes in Mexico. The Zona Rosa in Mexico City, known for its vibrant LGBT community, also inspired much of his body-con, cutout-heavy aesthetic. I really was inspired by this idea of, Oh, I feel amazing. I want to wear this, I dont care what people think, he says. That sense of body positivity also extends to his size-diverse casting, still an all-too-rare occurrence on the runway. Growing up in Mexico City, he says, I didnt feel like I could connect with a lot of the designers that I saw, because everything was too far from where I am from. After studying architecture and industrial design, he moved to New York, where he found a community of fellow Latinx designers, artists, and other creatives. We felt left out for so long, he says. Now its really empowering to work with each other and show similar faces and shades and colors, like you see in your family and back home. He became a CFDA Fashion Fund finalist in 2019, and as his platform has grown, hes used his brands Instagram, which boasts over 100,000 followers, to post about issues important to his community, like the movement to abolish ICE. Hes judicious about what he uses his platform for: I dont want the brand to become this performative political message all the time.Vronique Hyland, Fashion Features Director Raul Sols Courtesy of the subject. LRS Raul Sols is not in the business of being dishonest. The Mexican-American designer, who hails from Los Angeles and currently works and resides in New York, worked under Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough at Proenza Schouler for roughly five years before starting his own label, LRS. Solss work is post-minimal, post-modern, and deconstructionist in nature, but overall he describes his clothes as American streetwear and sportswear. He is in touch with his Mexican culture, as seen in LRS early seasons via hand-crocheted knits and thigh-high neon cowboy boots, both produced in collaboration with local Mexican artisans. While Sols is incredibly proud of his heritage and loves to use his platform to speak up against injustice, he first and foremost designs from a place of total honesty. Im always very, very proud of my culture, he says. But I also dont want to be forcing my culture for the sake of just doing it. Id rather speak on things that feel really honest to me at that very moment. A recent example that speaks to the authenticity of Solss voice is a red-and-white striped gown from spring 2021 which features phrases like Stronger Together and No Justice No Peace. Designed at the height of the pandemic and the racial justice movement in summer 2020, the dress functions as a beautiful design piece while showcasing an important message that he felt was necessary to broadcast at such a pivotal moment in American history. As far as Latinx-American inspiration goes, Sols mentions a designer who creates from the heart without feeding too much into Latinx stereotypes of design and dress, something Sols prides himself on in his own work. I always looked at Narciso Rodriguez for Calvin Klein as a huge reference of being Latin, he says. [He] really moved forward in his own voice, aside from what design stereotypes people think of versus what Latin designers actually design. Sols recognizes the impact of Latinx designers in America who came before him and did great work by showing codes of Latin style, but he hopes that, going forward, Latinx-American design will not be so tethered to archetypes. I feel like weve outgrown those codes, he says. We dont need to touch on them to show our admiration for [our] culture. We can move forward and have different ways to communicate what it is to be Latin proud.Kevin LeBlanc, Fashion Associate This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io The post 4 Latinx Designers Shattering the Mold appeared first on Patabook Entertainment.

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