The overused phrase that crisis is synonymous with opportunity is never quite true, but there are exceptions, such as that of Mexican fashion: if in 2019, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), it meant 2 .8% of global GDP, three years later and with a pandemic in 2022, it rose to 3.4%. The surge in tourism and revival of support for locals that arose during this period (partly sparked by Trump’s defamatory policies toward the country) prompted many Mexicans to consider national labels. “It depends on the socio-economic level, but the buyer of international luxury or mid-range brands now also buys fashion from the country as long as it can arouse desires,” says editor and businesswoman Anna Fusoni, the great pioneer in promoting Mexican fashion of the last 20 years of various private and public platforms. The country has learned to capitalize on that desire by focusing on its competitive advantage, the craft.
Vest by Yucatan designer Daniela Bustos. Photo: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico, courtesy of the company
In 2020, 490,000 textile artisans were working in various companies, but it is estimated that today there are more than two million doing so individually or distributed among indigenous communities (the Ministry of Culture is testing methods to be able to count them). In January 2022, the government enacted the first law regulating cultural appropriation after protests by some leaders, most notably the First Lady, Beatriz Gutiérrez Muller in recent years against various international brands exploiting rural textile traditions had. The law not only penalizes foreign brands that plagiarize inherited techniques, but also provides tools and legal support to regions and communities that denounce that third parties benefit from their livelihood.
Handwoven bag from the latest Zurce capsule collection. Photo: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico, courtesy of the company
However, many have criticized this law for being too commercial and unformative, a way of denouncing the various unions but not effectively supporting them. “It’s a contentious issue because it’s a concern that often focuses only on protecting the craftsman who wants to make a living from his work and not be a ‘protected species’. We must protect the tradition and the origin of the idea, but not only denounce that a famous company copied a serape from Tlaxcala, for example, but also use the visibility to talk about what a serape is, how it is made and who uses it today,” says Fusoni. The alternative path of the industry is therefore, in addition to legal protection, to promote synergies with characteristic design and thus bring tradition and innovation together, in short: to turn craftsmanship into fashion.
Long face decorative object. Photo: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico, courtesy of the company
“We’ve been used to buying North American brands for many years, but now buying something from the country makes me proud, the idea that I’m using something that dates back to the craft communities. In addition, designers are not only creative, but also entrepreneurs. They know how and with whom to create their product, but also how to communicate it,” argues Cory Crespo, director of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Mexico, a catwalk with 16 years of experience, but now, after the pandemic, if it changed its format. “Thanks to government support, we managed to hold parades in the Ángel de la Independencia itself, because in the end what counts is the noise and the photo, but we are also looking at other alternatives,” he comments. As of 2021, the catwalk is no longer held exclusively in Mexico City; He travels through different regions of the country, highlighting its creators and local traditions. To date they have hosted editions in San Miguel de Allende, Puebla, Oaxaca, Guadalajara and more recently in Mérida, with a format that mixes design with the gastronomy and folklore of each region. The invited brands rotate (almost never the same) and present collections that are usually available in stores days later. It’s something we import from Colombia Moda, although they only make one season. It doesn’t make sense anymore because there is no winter there. In our case it’s similar, it’s not about showing trends to the world, it’s about showing an identity or the different identities that make up the Republic,” argues Crespo.
Zurce transparent blouse. Photo: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico, courtesy of the company
It is clear to the new Mexican fashion that internationalization can only be achieved through national consumption: “There is no point in coming up with innovative ideas, because there will be people in the fashion capitals who will do the same thing 50 times as you do. I realized that I’m not aiming for that, I want the clothes I make to express something that has an identity, but was designed for any type of person who wants to wear it, clothes to live in,” says Francisco Cancino, one of the most revered Mexican creatives today, who presented in Mérida a collection inspired by something as worn as the character Frida Kahlo, but with a completely new approach would dress in 2023, considering that it was Kahlo who taught us Mexicans to respect our folklore”, she explains. A folklore that the new generations have assimilated in order to develop it. Ana Holschneider, founder of the textile jewelry brand Caralarga, in 2014, rehabilitated an old textile factory in Querétaro, allowing various artisans to create pieces based on knots made from leftover cotton thread ellen. “The technique may have come from our grandmothers, but the product has nothing to do with all of that anymore,” explains Daniel Herranz, a very young designer who, in the midst of a pandemic, created the Zurce brand with his mother after ancestry. without a catch. Her fluoro-colored garments, which are very much in keeping with the centenary aesthetic, are sold, she says, “mainly on Instagram, not even on the website. People see them and come into the workshop. Now we even make wedding dresses from these fabrics.”
Image of Casa Tho (Mérida), the largest Mexican design concept store. Photo: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico, courtesy of the company
There is already a growing national market, ideas, a platform to make them visible and a flow of tourists putting Mexico on the world map. “Now we need a governing body like the ones in Milan, Paris or Spain to bring us together and make us a guild,” comments Fusoni. “Creators can’t do it alone because if they don’t, the international pavilions outside will continue to be tequila and mariachi booths.”
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