Johanna Calderón or how to explain the success of flamenco fashion among rich Arabs: "Women wear the costumes at their private parties"
From genderless clothing to new punk or zero waste fashion, these are the bets of the nine designers after the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Talent award
One coat and five looks, image and personal brand expert Amanda Briega teaches how to succeed with a few pieces of clothing
Galicia
seems to have become the new quarry of national
design
, at the mercy of renowned creators - Kina Fernández, Purificación García, Roberto Verino, Antonio Pernas and José Castro among others - and the large fashion companies of our country that extend their domains from Galician lands to the world, with Inditex and Adolfo Domínguez at the helm. Also from Galician lands is the new revelation designer,
Sabela Juncal
(Pontevedra, 1997), whose resume shows that she has already worked on the men's line of the latter company and currently designs for Zara Home.
His latest conquest includes another of the largest companies in our country, Multiópticas, for whom he has created the
'Mó x Sabela Juncal' capsule collection,
made up of six models of sunglasses and four frames for graduated lenses, an initiative that was born following winning the 'Mo x New Talent' contest, which the company organizes to promote young design and fashion talents in collaboration with
Allianz Ego
and within the framework of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid.
Would you have come this far if you had been born and developed your career in a different place, far from
Galicia
? I ask him. "I have no idea," she responds with a laugh, acknowledging that right now his land is the cradle of good
designers
. "If my collection focused more on nostalgia and nature or folklore, the answer would be clearer. In any case, I do believe that the place where you are born determines what you do, because it influences how you are, your
character
and your way to be. Right now we have many schools and
fashion
companies here , there are places to work. And that is super important. Being close to
Portugal
also helps, because it is a good engine for this industry in terms of fabrics and factory remains. Everything What Galicia offers right now is quite interesting, but for me the land is not a source of
inspiration
."
Like a good Galician, Sabela speaks slowly, with a warm and marked accent, and despite her brilliant
career
, she boasts little. "It's not about
muses
or inspiration, it's about work and many hours, even in the office, almost like anyone who dedicates themselves to something else," she tells me. It's not hard to imagine her concentrating on his
sketches
of her at her work table.
For her, dedicating herself to fashion was never a plan B, she always knew she wanted to be a designer, ever since she began
sewing
dresses for her dolls, "as pure
fun
," as a child. In her house they lived among
needles
, threads and thimbles. "My grandmother is a seamstress, but I never really sat down with her to learn the
trade
or do anything; everyone just sewed at home, so for me it was quite natural, I always managed well," she remembers. It was later, when she had "the path clear," that she decided to "get into it, in a very
self-taught
way ." And although the path was well marked, Sabela began to walk along it unexpectedly. "In this world, private schools rule, and it is difficult to access them. So I decided to study Advertising and Public Relations at the
University of Vigo,
but without losing my goal; I thought that at least I could do something related to fashion communication" . She finally decided on the
Master in Design and Creative Direction in Fashion
from the same university. From there came her first professional contacts and her total change.
Sabela Juncal at MBFWM.DANIPAPERBOAT
Innovative design and artisanal manufacturing
Sabela's hallmarks could be seen at the last edition of
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid,
where the designer presented her 'Condominium' collection, a work that represented on the catwalk the process of building a home and which was translated into garments. for men with marked
volumes
that could well fill a woman's closet. "Men's and women's fashion are not that different. Beyond the
pattern
, I do not consider that there should be an inspiration or certain shapes or color palette to focus it on one audience or another," she says.
Coats, hats, dresses and, above all,
shirts
, the garment she likes to design the most. "In that job I experimented a lot from the shirt, it was the first
garment
I made and from which the others emerged, and on which the rest of the things revolve. I don't know if it is my
favorite
garment , but if I had to choose one without doubt that would be it," he confesses without hesitation.
Nor does it do so when pointing out the other axis of its work,
sustainability
. Sabela works completely by hand, with natural fibers, local materials and even
fabrics rescued
from family chests. With them, some old sheets, she made '
Condominio
', the collection that opened the doors to his collaboration with Mó. "I found them in a great-aunt's closet, when they were dismantling her house. They were some forgotten rolls of
cotton
fabric , very rigid, something quite typical in Galician houses. It was the starting point of everything," she explains.
Glasses and cases designed by Sabela Juncal for Mó.
Glasses with their own name
It was also the origin of her new collection of glasses, models with their own names that represent
iconic
household objects and family moments of the designer. "When designing them, my initial idea was that they respond to a completely
open
, unisex concept, although it is possible that more women buy them than men," says Sabela, acknowledging that she is excited to see them on the street and in stores. "It is a
special
product
, for daily use, that lasts much longer than clothing. And the fact that they are covered by a brand like Multiópticas makes it possible for them to reach many people very quickly. I love that."
And what inspires a creator to design glasses? At first glance it seems that there is little margin and that almost everything is invented, isn't it? I ask him. "The fashion collection that I presented at Fashion Week revolved around the
home
, and I decided that the proposal for Mó would follow the same path and would talk about the concept that I have of home and the things that make it up. So I started to pay attention. in the objects of
industrial design,
the lamps, the chairs... From there the frames arise, their outline is similar to that described by the
chair
, it begins at one point, ends at another and leaves hollow parts that simulate the void where the seat," he details.
In his collection, which is completed with cases in the shape of a cylindrical cushion and chamois adorned with the
sketches
that served as inspiration, Sabela transforms the curved legs of the
iconic chairs
of 20th century furniture into frames, specifically those made of tubular steel designed by
Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der Rohe
or
Lilly Reich.
"It's something completely different from what she had done until now and much more fun, from that point of view," explains the designer. "In addition, I had absolute freedom, and that has also been wonderful. In the end the most complicated thing was to reduce all the sketches to just ten designs. For that we took into account, for example, which ones were the most
flattering
."
Sabela Juncal is in a good moment, sweet as her accent. So much so that she hesitates when I ask her what she would like the next few years to hold. "I don't know... maybe do what I like, which is what I do now, but in a calmer way
,
calmly." And already asking, to have her own workshop, "a place to work in an
artisanal
and manual way." She finds it difficult to think about the future: "Now my only way is to continue working and be open to what may arise," she concludes.
Fashion trends
Trends
Articles Marisa del Bosque