LATIN FLAIR: A sun-drenched Paris Fashion Week took a Latin flair as Venezuelan entrepreneur and philanthropist Carmen Busquets gathered industry fixtures and friends for a cocktail honoring Latin America’s rich creative scene.
Delphine Arnault; Mytheresa’s Michael Kliger, and Ian Sielecki, ambassador of Argentine in France, mingled over bite-sized empanadas and Champagne with designers including Gabriela Hearst and Esteban Cortazar, but also Vetements’ Guram Gvasalia.
Busquets’ soirees are a regular occurrence during show season, but it’s the first time it came formally billed as a celebration of “the powerful voices of Latin America’s creative community.”
“I felt it was important to establish during [Paris] Fashion Week a party that always includes voices that are perceived as a minority,” she said. “Because they aren’t a minority, it’s quite a majority.”
At a moment where divisions are on the rise, Busquets felt the world could learn from the region.
“We are bold about who we are. We don’t apologize about it, we are very much colorful, loud and bold,” she continued. “We have given to fashion a little boldness…pride in who we are but in a way that [doesn’t feel] exclusive. We are completely inclusive about everybody. In Latin America, we love everybody, we love variety, we love spice.”
And Constanza Cavalli Etro, who cofounded the biannual Latin American Fashion Awards with Silvia Arguello in 2023, wouldn’t disagree.
“It’s time for Latin America to be heard, and there’s a lot of Latin American diaspora all over the world, and nobody thought about uniting them and celebrating them,” she said.
The showcase, which hands out gongs to the best brands and designers but also fashion filmmakers, stylists and makeup artists, will be holding its second edition in November.
Willy Chavarria’s January show in Paris read as a positive sign, said Mexican designer Patricio Campillo, who was a semifinalist of the 2024 LVMH Prize for Young Designers.
“What he’s doing, is just relevant and it’s interesting,” he said. “I think it’s also the first time that Latinos have had a voice because we’ve had many talented Latino designers before — Carolina Herrera, Maria Cornejo — but their references were more European, they were not referencing or recontextualizing their own culture.”
For those already present on the international scene, like Achaval’s cofounders Sofia Achaval de Montaigu and Lucila Sperber, there’s a keen awareness of the challenges.
“We’re ambassadors of [Argentinian] talent in the world, so we are very proud to celebrate this and to be able to show what is best for us in Argentina [translated] for the modern woman, for international women,” said Achaval de Montaigu. “Our identity is what we think is the most beautiful part of our country.”
“Speaking about ‘our roots’ is too theoretical,” added Sperber. “But when you have a product you can touch and you can feel, and you make it desirable, it’s a way of gaining that path [to present.”
But their efforts are recognized abroad — and at home.
“Creators like Sophia and Lucia [of Achaval] display not only the potential of the Argentine economy and creativity but also the power of Argentinian tradition — they mix both dimensions really well,” Sielecki said. “We need more innovators, more entrepreneurs like them.”
