Carla Fernández

Fashion designer Carla Fernández, based in Mexico City, works creatively with over 187 artisans from sixteen states in Mexico. Her fashion house advocates for textiles as the fabric of civilization. Fernández explores the squares and rectangles of traditional Mexican patterning for the loom and sustains long-standing creative partnerships with artisans, who preserve the rich cultural heritage of Mexico’s indigenous communities. She believes that tradition is always changing and developing and says it “moves the way the earth does — slowly and beautifully.”

"Another fashion system is possible," says Mexican fashion designer Carla Fernández (AIR 2013). She creates haute couture designs throughout Mexico. Fernández's work preserves and celebrates centuries-old textile techniques belonging to Indigenous communities and other popular and urban collectives in Mexico. At an early age she traveled with her father, then the director of museums and exhibits of the National Institute of Anthropology and History. Through this she learned about Mexico's diverse heritage and began collecting garments made by Indigenous and mestizo artisans. After studying art history and fashion design, Fernández turned her attention to traditional techniques of clothing construction in Mexico. Maintaining these techniques and imbuing them with innovation became the root of her practice. As she says: "To be original is to go back to the origin.” The Fashion House that she heads together with her partner Cristina Rangel, collaborates in the design and production processes with artisans across Mexico, by celebrating their living cultures, and by using the house’s global platform to promote social justice and fair trade.