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It is evident why contemporary designers seek to evoke traditional Mexican crafts and folk art in their collections.
The brightly colored embroideries and the worked beads show a trade transmitted from generation to generation, while the shapes have a meaning that goes far beyond modern patterns.
In the recent Mexico Fashion Week in Mexico City, designers highlighted their collaboration with local artisans, displaying embroidered dresses and garments with emblems and historical motifs.
Lydia Lavín worked with Huichol artisans to create garments. Credit: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico City
They were garments created with modern techniques, but with a centuries-old tradition behind. Designer Lydia Lavín, for example, worked with artisans from the Huichol community, an indigenous group from the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in Mexico, to create dresses adorned with embroidery and beads.
The brand, which was launched in 2004, has cultivated partnerships with more than 3,000 artisans from 14 indigenous communities throughout Mexico.
“The most important thing is to be able to understand the artists' thinking and all rituals, the importance of preserving the techniques and showing the world what they can do,” says Lavín.
Traditional methods from Oaxaca, a Mexican state famous for its textile traditions, hand embroidery and woven materials made on waist looms, were mixed in the Sandra Weil collection. Embroidered pieces included representations of the bird of paradise, a flower native to Mexico.
Not only did he seek inspiration in Mexico, but he worked with artisans with roots in Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Peru. "I think we have a very contemporary vision of the traditional heritage of embroidery," says Weil.
Weil works with a team of approximately 16 people each season, including several local artisans. "It is very rewarding to give back to the economy and the local people who work with us," he says.
Last month, he showed his collection in Paris for the first time. "I think we have so many things to contribute to the rest of the world that have not yet been seen in the world of high-end fashion," he says. "I feel very honored to be one of the people who share these beautiful techniques."
Lavín has worked with 3,000 artisans from 14 indigenous communities throughout Mexico since the launch of his brand in 2004. Credit: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico City
“In Mexico, indigenous artisans have a long history of collaboration not only with fashion designers but also with creators in general,” explains Tanya Meléndez-Escalante, principal curator of education and public programs at the Museum of the Institute of Fashion Technology from New York.
According to Meléndez-Escalante, at the beginning of the 20th century, after the Mexican Revolution, the government of the country promoted public projects to combine pop culture and fine arts. "A good example is the work of Mexican muralists, who portrayed indigenous Mexico in many of their works," he explained.
"Fashion designers also participated in this momentum ... there were designers like Ramón Valdiosera who worked with artisans and many designers were avid textile collectors," he added.
Known as the "Mexican Rose," Valdiosera was not only a fashion designer but also a cartoonist, author and artist whose work delighted in traditional Mexican art.
The fashion house Pineda Covalin continued this line of celebration with its show at Mexico Fashion Week, which focused on Mexican emblems and designs. "The main objective has been to promote Mexican wealth and Mexican culture, not only in Mexico, but worldwide," says co-founder Ricardo Covalin.
“It was in 1996 when we created the brand. In the global situation of the world, Mexico had just signed a free trade agreement with North America. The Mexicans wanted everything from the outside and forgot about our roots, our heritage. And so we started our brand to be proud of who we are as Mexicans. ”
The spring 2020 collection of this stamp incorporated Aztec and Mayan prints, with a recurring motif of the skull as a reference to the Day of the Dead. The conclusion of the show, meanwhile, was inspired by the Aztec ritual New Fire.
The conclusion of the Pineda Covalin show was based on the Aztec ritual New Fire. Credit: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico City
At that time the attendees were asked to light some candles, while the artisans and designers who worked in the collection walked the catwalk to bow. "It was important for everyone to go out and then light the new fire," says Covalin. "In the old ritual, you burn old things and then light a small fire and share it with all the people."
The incorporation into the fashion industry of Mexican indigenous design has generated controversies: Take, for example, the Resort 2020 collection by Carolina Herrera, which was based on embroidery from the Tenango community of Doria de Hidalgo, as well as on the shawls associated with Saltillo, in the state of Coahuila.
The Ministry of Culture of Mexico sent a letter to Herrera and creative director Wes Gordon, asking them to "publicly explain on what basis (the brand) decided to use these cultural elements, whose origins are documented and how this benefits communities."
Gordon allegedly responded that the collection "pays tribute to the richness of Mexican culture." Others say it was a clear case of unnecessary cultural appropriation given the willingness of Mexican artisans to share their experience.
Meléndez-Escalante emphasized that designers who collaborate with indigenous artisans must respect their creative contribution. "Their creativity is part of the collection and they are paid as equals," he said.
But some collaborations can be exploitative, according to Meléndez-Escalante, as there are designers who use artisans "as labor to produce embroidery or other techniques for their collection." Not all indigenous artisans receive adequate compensation, he added. "Many artisans have to balance life in the countryside with the production of their work, so the fair salary is of utmost importance to them."
In Meléndez-Escalante's opinion, most Mexican designers do not seek to exploit the artisans they work with. "Traditional crafts are part of the artistic and cultural heritage of Mexico," he said. "I think designers constantly seek to honor our past and present, and these collaborations focus primarily on the pride of who we are."