The diminutive but immensely powerful Japanese designer instils in her collections a very philosophical approach to fashion. In this essay, fashion historian Ángela Hurtado Pimentel dissects Kawakubo’s creative, cultural and philosophical vanguard

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It's Spring 2017 and Chilean designer Gabriel Vielma will be launching his second capsule collection for Disney, a new entry in his signature feminine and playful style, this time around inspired by cartoons from the 30s and 40s.” Vielma, a London Fashion Week regular, is no stranger to large scale projects: his résumé includes a capsule collection for US department store Neiman Marcus, showing his work in Paris, Santiago and Dubai, and dressing jet-setting celebrities. Nevertheless, when it comes to Chilean success stories overseas, Vielma is the exception.

 

A few months earlier, a select delegation of four fashion designers and five artists made themselves known at London Fashion Week’s International Fashion Showcase (IFS), a yearly gathering organised by the British Fashion Council where the world’s top emerging designers meet. Their installation, named Animita, won a special mention at the event’s awards. The inspiration behind it, the level of craftsmanship in garments and accessories, and the innovative use of alternative materials as textiles, all drew positive feedback on the talented crowd.

 

According to Jon Jacobsen, a multimedia artist and photographer participating at the IFS, “the inspiration behind the exhibition was an animita, or a Chilean popular shrine, which starts as a small devotional monument for a deceased person and progressively grows as a kaleidoscopic display of offerings for what then becomes a saint-like figure.” Animitas, Jacobsen explained, served as inspiration to the four designers (or brands) and five artists attending the IFS. Collectively, the garments, accesories and art pieces exhibited conveyed a profound reverence for Chilean traditions, values and cultural references.

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"The garments, accesories and art pieces exhibited at the IFS conveyed a profound reverence for Chilean traditions, values and cultural references"

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Chilean fashion, with a vision

 

Elisa Rodríguez, co-designer at Sisa, travelled to London to represent her brand at the IFS. Her project, Cochayuyo, consisted of a solid garment made out of Chilean seaweed that evidenced nature’s metamorphic properties. “Finding materials in Chile is not easy,” she said. “But our country is long and narrow, and we have coast from top to bottom, where there is cochayuyo aplenty.” Along with partners Alejandra Cruz and Trinidad Rodríguez, the research and exploration of the material took several days: “We assembled the garment over the mannequin, placing long straps of the wet material next to each other and letting them dry for 48 hours.” The result? A dried up shell full of volume and texture defying traditional conceptions around what a textile is. 

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Founded in 2012, Sisa is presently an established brand in Chile, with its own brick and mortar space located in Santiago, the country’s capital. The brand produces a combination of conceptual pieces – made for special projects such as the IFS –, as well as ready-to-wear womenswear collections. Its philosophy lies in marrying art, design and architecture – its founders professions – to produce minimalistic, yet structural pieces exposing curated manufacturing processes. Now back in Chile, Rodríguez explains: “We aim to be a conscious brand by avoiding careless production, by incorporating the ‘one size fits all’ concept, and by developing our product in Chile and Latin America to maintain close relationships with artisans and technicians, who are remunerated in a dignified way.”

 

Like Rodríguez, Jon Jacobsen was at the IFS exhibiting his project, a fashion film entitled Ekeko. Having already collaborated with big names such as Dazed & Confused, i-D, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, his portfolio includes pieces rich with symbolism and surrealism that have been showcased in various exhibitions, competitions – including Saatchi Gallery’s Moving Photography – and the 2016 Santiago International Fashion Film Festival.

 

At the IFS, Jacobsen explained Ekeko is a popular Chilean god of abundance, joy and prosperity: “I placed him in the contemporary reality of wanting more of everything: money, food, wellness… and the contradicting anxiety that comes with wanting more.” From February to April 2017, Jacobsen was SHOWstudio’s artist in residence, supported by the British Council in Chile. His works have been widely featured both in Chilean and international publications.

 

The love of art, above all, is present in Jacobsen and Rodríguez’s works. Their creative philosophies value research, quality and meaningfulness as key pieces of the production process, and embody what is increasingly becoming the ethos of their home country’s fashion industry. Like them, a growing group of designers, artists and professionals specialising in fashion are building a community that is slowly but surely seducing local and foreign audiences. But more support is crucial to gain exposure. 

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The industry today: what’s good and what needs work

 

Chile is both one of the longest and narrowest countries in the world. Its peculiar geographical shape has allowed for a social, environmental and cultural diversity to develop, and today the South American country is known for its landscapes, economy, education, and literary idols like Isabel Allende, Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda. Its fashion industry, although recently embraced as one, is perceived as a diamond in rough with potential to contribute to the nation’s cultural capital and economic growth.

 

Luz Briceño is president at Moda Chile, an organisation founded in 2013 to bring together fashion designers and professionals with similar views, create a space for members to access industry knowledge, and strengthen the industry by serving as a bridge between members, the government and the consumer. According to Briceño, a few years ago there was a stable textile trade in the country, but it faded. This downfall is mainly attributed to a liberal market economic system introduced after a 1973 coup d’état, which drove many factories out of business after being unable to compete with their foreign counterparts. Accessing materials since has turned into a very difficult task for garment makers, who are affected by their nation’s isolated geographical location and elevated import costs. “These conditions, combined with the local presence of fast retailers, make it difficult to survive as a brand,” Briceño admits. “Even so, Chilean brands continue to develop high quality products with a strong sense of identity.”

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"Accessing materials is difficult for garment makers, who are affected by the nation’s isolated geographical location and elevated import costs"

 

In 2014, Moda Chile launched an eponymous guidebook including general information on the local industry, as well as specific data on designers. Since then, the guidebook has been delivered across libraries and educational institutions nationally and internationally in order to make designers therein more widely known. Other initiatives promoted by Moda Chile include campaign videos prompting consumers to choose local design; an exhibition space to showcase merchandise, hold workshops and conferences; recruiting new members; and the development of industry-specific policies in collaboration with several government institutions such as ProChile, the National Council for Culture and Arts, and the Cultural Affairs Office.

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It is estimated that there are currently 150 designer brands in Chile, out of which at least 30 are affiliated to Moda Chile. Briceño confirms that designer clothes are quickly becoming a key agent in Chile’s social, cultural and economic development, with brands showing particular interest in sustainable methods of production and commercialisation, the application of craftsmanship and artisanal techniques, and the use of environmentally friendly fabrics. Some of the brands that stand out in these areas are Juana Díaz’s Telas del Futuro and the Híbrida project, both of which utilise recycled fabrics in their creations and were mentioned in Sass Brown’s 2013 book Refashioned; Zurita by Gabriela Farías and Francisca Von Hummel’s label Gaviota, both advocates for natural and organic materials; Lupe Gajardo, another IFS participant whose project featured non traditional textiles such as coffee sacks; and the previously mentioned Sisa.

 

Luz Briceño is a designer herself. Her personal projects, The Copper Company and La Joya Design, differ slightly from others in that they focus on science fashion and the development of fabrics that use technology for the benefit of their wearer. Her business ethos, however, also includes fair trade and the use of environmentally friendly materials. Briceño, who studied fashion design in Barcelona, has exported her work to several European countries, has participated in the 2009 Shanghai Fashion Week, and has had her designs featured in several international publications, such as Vogue.

 

According to SOFOFA, a local industrial federation, the contribution of the textile sector to Chile’s GDP was of 3,8% from July to September of 2016, equivalent to approximately £17 million. Chile has one of the highest rates of clothing consumption in the region, though designer clothes are not yet preferred over fast fashion. This represents a frustrating challenge for emerging brands, for whom practical and logistical creativity is fundamental to survive. While approximately 26% of them have their own retail space, the vast majority sells their product at multi brand shops, online platforms, showrooms and designer fairs. But fast fashion is not the only challenge faced by local designers. “Limited access to materials, poor infrastructure, out of date machinery and technology, and inexistent trade policies for these small businesses all contribute to the slow growth of local fashion,” Briceño recalls. 

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Local before global?

 

Most Chilean designers would argue that establishing their brand locally precedes any intentions of expanding internationally, yet they also feel at a disadvantage when competing with neighbouring countries. Elisa Rodríguez, for example, finds that “Peru, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia have more developed fashion and textile industries, both because they produce their own raw materials and because their local designers are being supported nationally and internationally.”

 

A recent survey entitled ‘Economic Diagnosis of Designer Brands in Chile’ showed that only 22% of these business models exports beyond Chile’s borders; between 1 and 20% of their total production is sold mainly to the US, Europe, South America and Asia. Rodríguez is fast to point out that Chilean designers are very talented yet, like Briceño, she feels the fashion industry is still far from reaching a desirable stage and confirms the need for policies that facilitate the sourcing of raw materials and help promote their work.

 

Back in London, Gabriel Vielma is focused on the UK and European markets. When asked about his country’s fashion industry, he observes that Chilean designers are unprotected and unprepared to compete in the current global environment though, in his opinion, they’re not the ones to blame. “I believe perhaps they are being taught to design for Chile and not the world; they focus on one-of-a-kind pieces rather than on commercial ranges” he says.

 

Although his style and life experiences differ from others’ – Vielma has been living in Europe for several years and is commercially driven –, an attention to craftsmanship and strong visual identities unite them. “It’s important to highlight how resourceful and innovative emerging Chilean designers are despite their circumstances,” he tells. “The quality, technical knowledge and artistic creativity they possess puts them at the same level as their European peers.”

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“The quality, technical knowledge and artistic creativity Chilean designers possess puts them at the same level as their European peers”

 

Vielma adds that it is not only Chilean designers, but also photographers, stylists, makeup artists and more, who are exporting their talents. He knows of Chileans working in fashion in the US and the UK and stands by their work. “Whether at home or overseas, this younger crowd of Chileans are accessing real-time information thanks to the internet; they’re capable of producing excellent work and are already changing fashion preconceptions through very interesting points of view, which are nowhere near amateur,” he concludes.

 

Other Chilean designers who have pursued successful international careers include Pola Thomson, who founded an eponymous brand in New York; and Octavio Pizarro, who has collaborated with renowned Parisian couture houses and now runs his business from the French capital. Based in Chile, Lupe Gajardo has presented at New York and Berlin’s Fashion Weeks, and brands Mandaat and Mo-Store are presently exporting their collections to Mexico and the US.

 

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The only way is forward

 

While the modern Chilean fashion industry faces multiple challenges, it is also braced with a sense of cultural identity and resilience evidenced in an already holistic fashion arena, which includes a fashion museum, the Santiago International Fashion Film Festival, the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, several print and digital fashion publications and dedicated educational institutions.

 

Sustainability, resourcefulness, innovation and, above all, all things artisanal, have not only become a common ground for the modern Chilean fashion industry, but are also in tune with worldwide movements for conscious consumption. New consumer patterns are increasingly rocking traditional markets, thus shedding light over alternative models that show strong aesthetics and a progressive mentality. The industry’s potential growth hereafter relies on the joint efforts of the local consumers, government, media and, most importantly, the designers themselves, but Chile’s sartorial perspective may very well be the way forward, and this the queue for the world to take notice.