The opening looks from the Denver Art Museum’s Carla Fernandez Casa de Moda exhibition. Each piece is OOAK, incorporating traditional artisan techniques specific to various indigenous Mexican groups around the country. Carla’s husband, sculptor Pedro Reyes, designed the mannequins and their sculptural headwear for the show.
It’s pretty safe to say that in the world of fashion, a designer referencing each and every person by name who stitched their garments is pretty unheard of. But not in Carla Fernandez’s world. Carla is a Mexico City-based fashion designer on a mission, who uses her collection to lift up indigenous Mexican artisans, while also calling into question fast fashion practices, apparel industry waste, and violations of human rights all the while. I’ve been a huge fan of Carla ever since I learned about her line many years ago. So you can imagine my utter excitement when my friend Jane Burke, Curatorial Fellow of Textile Art and Fashion at the Denver Art Museum, told me that she’d be co-curating an exhibition featuring Carla’s work, along with Florence Muller! What a dream! And, doubly exciting, Jane invited me to help out at an ancillary pop-up event for the brand. A chance to meet Carla IRL? Count me in.
A quick photo op with Jane Burke, collector Tanya Melendez (Senior Curator of Education at FIT), Carla, and myself
Not only was the exhibition of Carla’s work utterly stunning and inspiring, but I was so happy to find how kind and down-to-earth Carla herself was upon meeting her. Truly a gem of a human. And her work… oh. my. God. her work! The attention to detail, the fabrications, the colors, the dance performances in lieu of fashion shows… there’s so much there. Personally, I love Carla’s aesthetic, which I would describe as both modernist and yet also evoking the style of Mexican indigenous garments… Ancient modern, if you will. Peep little snippets from the DAM exhibition below, and also be sure to read Carla’s “Manifesto of Fashion as Resistance” in its entirety here. It’s worth a scroll through if you’re into fashion, or yunno, if you wear clothing in general (cough cough). And, if you find yourself in the Denver area, get yourself to this show at the Denver Art Museum stat. Thank you Carla, you are a true inspiration.
A group of Carla’s garments from the exhibition that really evoke traditional indigenous Mexican craft work
Obsessed with the fuzzy (alpaca?) fabrication on this piece.
Carla created a protest collection specifically for the Women’s March in 2016. Truly powerful work from a powerful woman.