Li Jvula'al [Visitor] Unpublished 2021 / Design Week Mexico
Fashion has always been a fundamental part of protests and/or social movements, as it is one of the most immediate forms of expression for each individual. When you meet someone, even before listening to them, the first thing you notice is their clothing. That's why, when designing each piece, I place particular importance on considering the message I want to convey through my designs.
And it so happens that at some point, it was imposed on us that fashion and language are spaces full of rules and that tradition must always come before innovation, when the reality is that both are nothing more than an expression of art and are constantly changing and evolving. In art, there shouldn't be many rules, as that limits creativity. With that in mind, I present my design for Inédito 2021.
Li Jvula'al (the visitor) It comes from the idea of breaking paradigms, because despite the opposition of many to the evolution of language, inclusiveness in it comes from ancient times, Li It is a genderless pronoun in the Mayan language Tsotsil and it is used to refer to any person without distinction, that is something very important that I want to raise in my proposal, a functional genderless design for anyone.
On the other hand, each garment is a visitor During a stage of our life, with the passage of time it deconstructs, and part of our duty is to take care of it and welcome it like any guest in our house, or our closet in this case. At the end of time, a garment can be a Jvula'al (visitor) infinite, because the memories we have with her will endure, that is part of the experience I want to convey.
For five years we have been collaborating with artisan women from the ANSETIK MOJEL AMTEJIK group, in the town of Talonhuitz, in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas.
In these collaborations, I seek to create connections that go beyond productivity, as we forge long-term bonds of friendship and generate a horizontal and respectful exchange of knowledge, thus achieving the same goals for the common good.
The two genderless pieces designed for Inédito explore the relationship we have with our waste, especially with plastic bags and their excessive use in everyday life, as well as the lack of garbage collection systems in communities far from the city, which makes people look for a way to "get rid" of garbage and the only alternative they find is to burn it, producing harmful gases that put them and those who live around them at risk.
We propose a solution to transform plastics into multifunctional garments using a zero-waste methodology, producing no waste in their production. Our fabrics are woven on a backstrap loom and handcrafted. We also apply our traditional indigenous pattern-making methodology, using rectangles and squares that adapt to any body type.
Collaboration with María González, Elena de la Cruz, and Martha Hernández. From Talonhuitz in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas.
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Fashion has always been a fundamental part of protests and/or social movements, as it is an immediate and universal form of expression. When you meet someone, before you even have the chance to speak to them, the first thing you notice is how they're dressed. This is the reason why when I design any piece, I think of the message I want it to convey.
What happens is that at some point, the notion that fashion and language are spaces full of rules and norms, and that tradition must always come before innovation, when in reality both of them are true expressions of art that are constantly changing, evolving and thus should not be limited by rules. Having this in mind I present my design for Inédito 2021.
Li Jvula'al (the visitor) comes from the idea of breaking paradigms, despite the opposition of many to the evolution of language, inclusiveness comes from ancient times. “Li” is a genderless pronoun of the Mayan Tsotsil language and it's used to refer to anyone without distinction. This is something I'm raising awareness on with my proposal, a functional genderless design for everyone. On the other hand, during certain times in our life's garments are “visitors”, this means the passing of time is deconstructed and part of our duty is to care for it, welcoming it, like any other guest in our house - or our closet in this case. At the end, a garment can become an infinite Jvula'al (visitor), because the memories we create with it last forever, that is part of the experience I want to convey.
Since five years ago, we had collaborated with artisan women from the group ANSETIK MOJEL AMTEJIK in the town of Talonhuitz in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas. In these collaborations I seek to create links that go beyond production, creating long-term bonds of friendship, and generating a horizontal and respectful exchange of knowledge, leading us to achieve objectives for common good. The three genderless pieces designed for Inédito explore the relationship we have with waste, especially with plastic bags, their excessive use in everyday life, and the scarcity of systems for garbage collection in communities outside of urban settings that lead to alternatives such as burning the material in order to “get rid” of it. This solution generates harmful gases that put the people of the community, and the environment, at risk. The solution we propose transforms plastics into multifunctional garments under the zero waste methodology. Using handmade fabrics woven on backstrap loom and our patternmaking methodology that is based on traditional indigenous techniques that use rectangles and squares as a base and which can adapt to any body type.
Editorial x Rodrigo ÁlvarezStyling and creative direction Rodrigo TenorModel Huitzili EspinosaHair Aldo EkMUA Rebeca Hernandez
