Behind the Scenes: Reviste LaCalle Photoshoot

Hace aproximadamente un año mi querida amiga Majo Arévalo, directora de Viste LaCalle y de Reviste LaCalle en Chile me preguntó si me interesaba dirigir una producción de modas para un editorial que saldría en su edición de aniversario. Las fotos tenían que reflejar el alma del diseño de modas del país (en este caso de Panamá) y de su autor, y me pareció una buenísima oportunidad para hacerle un pequeño tributo a la industria creativa panameña que aunque ha tenido una historia paulatina hay que reconocer que ha crecido y que ha tocado muchas vidas.

La idea germinó al ver fotos de familias del siglo 19, tan amplias y tan misteriosas estas fotos registraban tantas generaciones en un solo instante, siempre me han llamado la atención, he aquí que se me ocurrió retratar las familias de diseño panameño. Hice una selección de los diseñadores más disruptivos en la historia de nuestro país y junto con mi mejor amigo y stylist, Guille Montiel, nos recorrimos todos los ateliers de todos los diseñadores en la ciudad buscando piezas de hasta 10 años de historia y otras más recientes, formando entonces una antología de diseño panameño.

Approximately one year ago, my dear friend Majo Arévalo, founder and director of Chilean top magazine/website VisteLaCalle and RevisteLaCalle asked me if I was interested in directing a fashion production that would eventually be published in the Anniversary issue of the magazine as a fashion editorial. The photos had to portray the soul of Panamanian fashion design as well as his author’s; it was for me the perfect opportunity to pay a little tribute to our creative industry that has been growing steadily over the years.

The main idea started building up. It was then when I came upon these pictures of 19th-century families. They were so mysterious, somber and they had this magic that made me stare at them for hours trying to figure out each one of the family’s members stories and I thought, “the industry of fashion in Panama is made up by so many families; every business, every atelier is run/supported by the designer’s family,” so I asked my best friend and top stylist, Guille Montiel, to help me develop this concept of generational shifts and how it has influenced the new young designers we’re seen more and more.

We went to every atelier of every designer and compiled pieces from decades ago, together with more contemporary, we gathered a Panamanian fashion anthology.

Otras fotografías que me sirvieron de perfecta referencia para explicar mejor la dinámica entre las modelos fueron las de Deborah Turbeville, específicamente las que compuso para Vogue Italia. El misticismo, erotismo, nostalgia de sus fotos es tan cinemático que me hace pensar nuevamente en familias, esta vez de otras eras geológicas que me llevó inmediatamente a pensar en el perfecto escenario para la producción: el Biomuseo de Frank Gehry. Este edificio es un compendio de toda la historia de nuestro país, desde el momento en que sus tierras yacían sumergidas en ambos océanos hasta el día de hoy, representa un emblema de evolución republicana más que de su soberanía.

Another visual reference I already had in mind was Deborah Turbeville’s body of work, specifically for Vogue Italia. These photos were so raw, evocative, nostalgic, they had this cinematic appeal that added so much to the storytelling of the editorial, these references were perfect when it came to thinking of a dynamic for the models, to pose, to walk, to present in front of the camera. Turbeville’s work was also extremely mysterious, each beacon of light or shadow represented something, it was so raw that it started to mess with my head and I started to imagine these different genealogies, families from other geological eras and then it clicked: there was no other place to host this production like the Biomuseum by Frank Gehry.

The building guards the most complete history of our country starting from the days when it was ocean ground until today, when it is a metropole connecting a whole continent, to me this museum is more than just an edification, it is an emblem of our evolution as creatures/humans more than a symbol of Republican history.