A beautifully intricate womenswear and menswear collection made in thoughtful intention.
A beautifully intricate womenswear and menswear collection made in thoughtful intention.
For Gabriela, it all started with a dream of a chieftain woman on a horse, on top of fire mountains. From that, the beginning of the color palette was extracted. In this equine world, abstract swirls shaped from Gabriela’s sketches came through the debossing on the leather. Her signature abstract spiral, accompanied by a three-dot pattern, quickly morphed into a constant symbol within her sketches. In the previous Fall/Winter collection, these symbolic swirls were used as leather lace cutouts and became the identifier for a collection that uses no logos.
By channeling the deep waters of femininity in combination with her Uruguayan equestrian heritage, her designs truly reflect upon her intentions. With lace dresses made of 100% cashmere, hand-crocheted by women in Italy, every shape is made individually, then pieced together using her signature abstract swirl pattern, inspired by Gabriela’s hand drawings. Her love for the equestrian sport is shown through the leather pieces, such as lean coats, jackets, and tie wraps which are woven throughout the collection. The leather was artisanally crafted through a debossing technique, sharply punctuated with a double debossed metal button detail, wrapped and secured with a leather cord, devoid of traditional fastening elements, then finished on seams that are whip-stitched and bound to complete and refine the clothing. A deep v-neck dress carries an armor-like bodice in the same debossed leather, contrasted against a blouson sleeve detail and lean ankle-length skirt shape in silk cady.
Though sometimes it seems as though Hearst may just float away in one of her silk dresses, she chose to take a more grounded approach regarding menswear. In an interview with W.W.D., she said that though she’s willing to take more chances with her womenswear, she is “‘very, very respectful'” of her male consumers and is extra cautious when it comes to making any changes. The menswear section of this collection is clean-cut, stunningly minimal, with a monochromatic palette.
With the intention of creating a level of grounded beauty within her collection, Hearst joined in collaboration with E.L.V. Denim to create individually authentic, upcycled post-consumer waste denim pieces. The denim is patched into abstract curved lines on flare-leg pants, contrasted with graphic shapes on shirts. E.L.V. DENIM stands for East London Vintage Denim, as all products are designed and produced in East London.
