Opposites Meet with Laura Aparicio
Laura Aparicio captivated us since the launch of her first collection two years ago. Her brand both androgynous and spontaneous, presents meeting places with the work of Faber Franco, that is seen in our first print version. They both speak a language that is expressed in terms of color and form. We entered his space to explore a creative universe, his defined features and his warm personality. The result is electrifying.
Photography: Faber Franco, Styling: Francisca Ceballos, Text: Andrea Uribe Yepes
Clothes: Laura Aparicio
Laura Aparicio likes to know about what she sees through experimenting and touch. The flowers of the cities she visits, the columns of worn out buildings, and the fabrics of all the clothes that catch her eye. Since she was a little girl, she has traveled through places collecting memories with her hands which led her to understand that she was destined to be a designer. She realised that being among textiles, maquilas and figurines was how she wanted to spend her life. In order to follow this dream she went to Milan and was able to become the designer of her own brand. This brand is built between Bogota, her hometown and Europe, the place where the corners she is most captivated by are located.
Laura designs for feminine women with marked masculine features. She says she would like her clothes to be worn by Cher or Amelia Earhart, and that eventually in Colombia they would be more accustomed to her wide and comfortable silhouettes and to her garments based on masculine straight cuts and textured materials. She wears her designs and has her atelier say a lot about her style. A rack with the latest collection is the protagonist, but it shares space with unusual magazines, a book with her collages, a moodboard and a large desk. It is a place that gains amplitude in simple ways with white and silver walls and mirrors.
Once in Milan a professor said that it was always necessary to swim in dualities, that creativity was better if two concepts were taken and united. Since then, she counts in twos, her work is in two sides: two cities, two concepts to merge, two things that inspire her. For the autumn/winter collection she presented in Milan this year, everything also had its opposite: the flowiness of silks, crepes and velvets joined the firmness of materials such as wool and alcantara. Light and dark colors met metallic blues and fuchsias that wove a conversation between distinct elements. The spring/summer collection, which will also be launched in Milan, is a coalition between the cuts worn by teddy boys and the suggestive shapes of Pablo Picasso's Guernica. From Laura Aparicio you can always expect the union of concepts that seem almost impossible to match.
Did you always know that you were going to make clothes?
When I was little I had various paths I wanted to follow: architecture, interior design or fashion design. On a trip I took to London I went to the stores and I could touch the clothes and see that everything I had seen in magazines was real. In that moment I realized I wanted to design for fashion. I remember at school I really liked to experiment with my clothes and create new looks making different things. I didn't know how to use the sewing machine well yet, so it was all very experimental. When I was about 15 I started making dresses for my friends and I even participated in my first fashion show. Taking pieces I had modified and had a lot of fun with.
Having already made it clear that you wanted to study fashion design, when did you decide to go to Milan?
I had already been to Europe and I had connected a lot with the culture, the people and their energy. I didn't want to study in Colombia and I was never interested in the United States. After many inquiries I found that the best thing to do was to study this career at the Istituto Marangoni, and although I had never been to Milan, I decided to take a chance and go there. I had studied Italian before. It was an absolute life changer for me to move there at 19 years old. I had the opportunity to find people with a lot of experience and an institute that gave me a lot of freedom for work. My experience there defined me professionally and personally.
What is the Milan charm?
Everything in that city challenges you. Some people say it's very flat, but I don't believe that. I believe it's a place where you make yourself. I am inspired by the fact that people are very open and that they carry the history of art in their veins. It's also a city where every café or every exhibition tells you a story and helps you build your own.
Why did you decide to return?
I was there for six years, three years studying and then I did a specialization at The European School of Economics in luxury business management. I was able to do 2 internships while I was there and the last one was with the Aquilano Rimondi brand, where I was the right hand of the two designers. In that place I learned a lot about the real business, I was involved from conceptualization to sales, so it was an experience where I realized that I wanted my own company.
Why did you decide that you should form your company in Colombia and not in Milan?
I always wanted to spend time abroad, but my idea was to always come back. I wanted to go out and learn a lot of things that I could take back and bring to Colombia. So I decided to return in 2015, first with the idea of going to Paris but then I saw how the market of fashion and designers were working in Bogota I decided it was time to jump into the water. The first thing I did was collect fabric from Turkey and use them to make my first collection. That's how it all started.
That collection was presented at Bogota Fashion Week, how was that experience?
It was very crazy because only a few weeks before the event they called me to tell me that they wanted me to be one of the two new talents that were participating in the event. There was little time to prepare myself. But it was a great experience, I met a lot of people and it was the first serious platform where Laura Aparicio, the brand, appeared in public. My focus has never been to do catwalks but to sell and position the brand, still that moment was very special to me.
You presented the second collection in Milan...
Milan is my second home and to see that they received my work so good was a very satisfying feeling. Competing in Italy is very difficult, so for me it was great to surprise them with Colombian products. The reception has made me come to the conclusion that that is where I should continue to present and position my brand.
What concept did you have in mind to develop your brand's clothing?
I have two collections and from the beginning people perceive what I think and want to say. I think that more than a concept I have always had a very defined androgynous aesthetic. My inspiration comes from a feminine woman but with very marked masculine features, an active and confident woman with a need to constantly move while looking good.
When choosing a fabric, for example, what do you think about?
I don't usually think about anything, I don't like to anticipate or create a previous idea. But when I start to see the fabrics, a concept starts to form in my head. I go every year to Première Vision in Paris, which is an event to learn about trends and fabrics that are being used, and I have realized that it is by touching the materials and learning about those trends that I get my inspiration.
Once you have the fabrics, what is the process like?
Once I have the fabrics I usually do a lot of tests to see if they have the drape I'm looking for, I wash them to see how they behave and I start playing with them, putting them on, to have more clarity. Then I start making sketches and taking them to the workshop. During the sewing process I change my mind a lot and I realised that what is on paper is not final. Sometimes I make mistakes while cutting and from there ideas come out. I never stop building.
Do you have routines to work with?
On the contrary. I try to make every day different. I like to start my day early, exercise and I like to go to the workshop as much as possible. My creative time is definitely in the evenings: I'm more productive and I like the atmosphere and silence of the evenings better. I like to change spaces because I think it helps me be more productive and to get my ideas flowing.
You say that architecture is an essential part of your conceptualization, why?
At some point in my life I wanted to study architecture and that idea stayed with me. I really like industrial places or places that are abandoned and in the process of becoming something with many types of surfaces. I use those characteristics, for example, to choose geometric cuts and fabrics with many textures. In my work there is also a lot of the combining of materials and I think that is influenced by those architectural references.
You have the hobby of making collages, how do you integrate it with design?
Since I came back from Italy I don't do them as much, but it's a process that I like a lot because it comes from improvising, cutting and pasting and then nurturing digitally. I think this technique suits me a lot because I've always been interested in the surrealist and Dadaist vibe where the theme of improvisation and letting yourself go is key.
Do you think your design process also has to do with surrealist methods?
Yes, I think it is very spontaneous and many of my designs are modified from the process, so one thing is how a garment starts and another thing is how it ends.
Your artistic references are abstract, why do you feel close to this style?
I like abstract because the art that inspires me the most is the one that leaves things for the art of interpretation. I feel much more identified with a work that plays with shapes and not something very obvious. A Miró, a Picasso or a Mondrian tell me much more than a figurative work where everything is explicit.
Your father is an artist, tell me about his influence?
Yes, my father paints, so I've always had a certain affinity for graphic things. When I was a child I loved to paint and go to the studio with him having him take portraits of me. At home there was always that artistic atmosphere of creating many crafts.
What is your relationship with fashion photography?
I go much more with the young wave. Demarchelier, Mario Testino or Juergen Teller will always be impressive and were very important in their time, but I think we have to look at what's coming, pay attention to fresher eyes. In Colombia, Juliana Gomez and Andrea Swarz do it very well.
Do you have colors that stand out the most in your work?
I don't usually limit my designs in that way. I do feel very identified with silver and metallic colors and I try to use them either in accessories or details and even my workspace, but I don't close myself only to those tones.
Why did you decide to use Klein Blue for the brand's logo?
I think it's a color with incredible strength. It's a color that you can´t really discover because it behaves very differently depending on the background. I feel very connected to it because of its characteristics and history.
If you had to rearrange this series of opposites, how would you do it?
Red - Green
Rock - Reggaeton
New York - California
Jane Birkin - Pamela Anderson
Wool - Silk
Snowy - Island
So...
Red - Reggaeton
Rock - Green
New York - Pamela Anderson
Jane Birkin - California
Lana - Island
Snowy - Silk