Fashion Director: MNLO

Photography: Juan Carlos Ramirez Blanco 

Make Up: Andrea Rodríguez

Hair + Assistant: Alejandro Jimenez 

Orange lobster jacket: Estrella Hidalgo

Shirt + Black spikes pants: Estrella Hidalgo

Pink look: MNLO

Photo Editor: Pablo Rivera

How did you get your start in fashion?

I think I started when I was a child – I was finding myself doing things that, at the time, I didn’t know that’s what I was doing, but I was putting out my most personal fashion feelings. 

I was so inspired by women in my family…my mom always expressed her fashion in a way that people from the small towns where I lived growing up didn’t – she was different, colourful, and more extravagant and open minded than people normally were.  

I remember her pink bow-embellished mini dress. It was from an Italian brand, and it’s my favourite dress of hers since I was little. I think the courage she had to express herself through clothes also made me braver to be myself and use fashion as a form of expression. Something that, in the end, people in smaller towns didn’t share and ended up bullying me for. But that made me stronger. I started designing freely – making anything from mermaid tails using my grandma’s curtains, to handmade clay accessories.

What is the best part of your job?

I think there’s a lot of ‘best parts’, not just one – from my favourite, designing, to seeing it come to life, to getting to work with people who are brave and feel the same madness that is in my head. I just want people to think that this is not just a costume, it’s not just something superficial, it’s another form of expression using your body to make art. Fashion can do great things, like turning your traumas or feelings into a look that makes you feel stronger and happier.

What do you get inspiration for your designs?

I find inspiration in infinity, like the sea. I think my mind is infinite, I can access it in a thousand shapes and colours, and feel very different and contradictory things at the same time. 

I think this gives me a lot of freedom – some of the designs of my final degree project, that has not yet come to light, were designed in a minute. In fact, the first thing I did was buy the cheapest and most inspiring fabrics I could find. I wanted to make it difficult for myself, and it was something very spontaneous that became something very fresh. 

What I’m trying to say with this is that you don’t need the most exclusive and expensive fabrics in the world to make something “fashion” – the most important thing is the concept, followed by execution and creativity.

Top 3 artists/designers/creatives that shaped your artistry?

I love Andy Warhol, father of Pop Art, I think he expressed his art in a very different way to what people were doing at the time. He made it POP and broke millions of people’s minds. I Love Pop, I’m Pop. 

I also love Jeff Koons, I identify myself with his art quite a lot, with the way his favourite forms and materials are made out of scale and become giant. I have always seen the world this way since I was little. I would have loved to have tons of coloured clay at home at the time.

And Lady Gaga. When I was a kid, her lyrics helped me a lot. Born this way literally saved my life when I was small and feeling even smaller because of the bullying I received from school to high school. I never felt that I fit in with anyone – in my mind, there were always these crazy ideas that if I shared them, people would laugh at me and call me crazy, or simply “faggot”. She also has a totally free spirit in fashion that made me feel safe.

Tell us about these projects you are launching

I have been working very hard for the past two years on the first studio album (CL34N) of Spanish artist LUNA KI. This has kept me totally busy since I have directed all the fashion, art and concepts together with Luna. 

We continue working together, I think we have a very strong connection and we understand each other very well artistically and I feel very comfortable creating with her.

In the months leading up to summer, I have been working on wonderful fashion editorials with the incredible artist Miguel Reveriego that will be released soon.

You’ll also be able to see my new website soon, with a portfolio of all my work and designs, as well as an online store to buy some of the pieces.

Lastly, I am super excited about my final degree project, which will be released in September with the launch of the new website: six looks, six pieces of art. As well as an incredible Fashion Film – totally autobiographical, where I express my traumas and perhaps a darker mental moment. And well… many things that are yet to come that I can’t talk about yet!

What would you change in the fashion industry?

I think the problem today is how quickly everything is consumed, and it’s only increasing. Three times as many collections are made every year now than a couple of years back. 

We are so connected to social networks and we see so many new things being made – some that are not for artistic or social purpose, simply for commerce – that we find new collections and clothes every second on Instagram and other platforms (there’s so many of them!), and we go through them so fast that an hour later, we’ve forgotten most of the things we saw. It’s a bit sad. I would love for everything to take on a more natural rhythm, and for people to not need to see more and more every time just by mere consumption of content.

What do you want your pieces to communicate ultimately?

FREEDOM.