Carla Fernández

Performance/fashion

Conception and fashion design: Carla Fernández.
Artistic direction: Art Comes First.
Music: Bagarre.
Production: The Nomadic Nights of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain.

Artisans of the fashion show:

- Leather fretwork: Fidel Martínez (Chimalhuacán, State of Mexico).
- Backstrap loom weaving: Carmela Santis and Juana López Santis (San Juan Chamula, Chiapas) and Feliciana Hernández (Ahuiran, Michoacán).
- Fringe and feather appliqué: Gilberto Nuci (Ahuiran, Michoacán).
- Chain stitch embroidery: Agustina Girón (San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas) and Esther Cruz (Mexico City).
- Hand painted signage: Isaias Salgado (Mexico City).
- Otomí embroidery: Endy López (El Nanthe, Hidalgo).
- Double-sided embroidery: Pascuala Hernandez (Santa Martha, Chiapas).

Many thanks for their valuable help: Trend Union, Mexico, Baku Artesanal, Cruzada Jewelry, Gala is love, Cuata Jewelry, Avec Joyeria, Marchenoir, Odette Lunettes and Exposure.

Inspired by the geometric designs and textile wealth of her country, Mexican designer Carla Fernández, whose ethical fashions have won her international renown, presents her Manifiesto performance for the first time in France. For the occasion, she has invited the supercharged electro-punk group Bagarre to provide the soundtrack to her anti-establishment fashion show, and collective Art Comes First for the creative direction.

For the Mexican fashion designer Carla Fernández, “another fashion is possible”. Based in Mexico City, her fashion house strives to develop close collaborations with local artisans, preserving the textile heritage of the indigenous and mixed communities of Mexico, all the while contributing to their regeneration.
“For over three thousand years, those who have sewed and embroidered have transmitted this important expertise from mother to daughter. If the techniques have survived, it is precisely because they are a form of expression. They are a simultaneous manifestation of the subjective and the collective. Despite everything, tradition is not suspended in time. In small towns and artisan communities all across Mexico, styles change and evolve. Creativity is not dormant; on the contrary, it is very much awake and gives way to new and unexpected designs.”
Excerpt from Manifiesto de la Moda en Resistencia by Carla Fernández.
For this Nomadic Night event, Carla Fernández contributes to the exhibition of her friend, photographer Graciela Iturbide, and presents her work for the first time in France, following a presentation of her Manifiesto performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. For the occasion, she will showcase a selection of her fall-winter 2022 collection, “Ropa de Trabajo” [Work Clothes]. She has invited Art Comes First stylists for the artistic direction and the energetic electro-punk band Bagarre to provide the soundtrack to her fashion show in what promises to be an event to remember! FASHION IS NOT EPHEMERAL AND TRADITION IS NOT STATIC!

Biographies

Carla Fernández is one of the most recognized fashion houses in Mexico. She works at the forefront of ethical fashion, documenting and preserving the rich textile heritage of her country's indigenous and mestizo communities. Her designs are created in conjunction with more than 175 weavers, embroiderers, and woodcarvers from 15 states of Mexico who use traditional techniques and processes that lead to contemporary fashion.
Several museums around the world have presented the work Carla Fernández has done in collaboration with Mexican artisans or have her designs as part of their permanent collections, such as Museo Jumex and Centro Cultural España in Mexico City, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Design Museum in London, among many others. Her ethical fashion project has won many awards such as Design Visionary 2018 by Design Miami or Prince Claus Award, Fashion Entrepreneur of the Year by the British Council.

Art Comes First is an arts collective which houses nine distinctive enterprises, all of them focusing on working alongside talented and independent creatives, charitable organizations, business networking events and consultancy. The watchword is: Artistic expression & cultural craftsmanship For A Redefined Global Style. Founders Sam Lambert and Shaka Maidoh ensure their creative expression extends beyond their base in London and can be found in the cultural craftsmanship in the designed garments, products and collaborative pieces worldwide.

Bagarre is a group made up of Emmaï Dee, La Bête, Majnoun, Mus, and Maître Clap. Outside of the category of the traditional rock band; they are neither a crew nor a collective. They function horizontally and have created their own unique model: all members sing, dance, compose, and share the limelight. Their musical universe takes its inspiration from club music and the vocal gymnastics of rap, as well as a dark and dynamic style of poetry. For Bagarre, celebration is aggressive, open to all, where we are free to be whomever and whatever we want. Each piece offers a message of hope, a struggle for self-liberation. Bagarre’s “self-managed club events” generate the tenacious and idealistic dream of an increasingly diverse and open society. If partying is a political stage, then Bagarre’s slogan is: “No one has the right to tell you who you are!”