Jaime Alvarez is not afraid of what they will say, he is well aware that not everyone can love him. His proposals are often punctuated by controversy, but that hasn’t stopped the 27-year-old designer from Seville, founder of the fashion company Mann. Proof of this is that it has been chosen to dress the people who will attend this year’s EL PAÍS space at Arco, the contemporary art fair that opens Wednesday at the Ifema site in Madrid. In this issue, the newspaper’s viewer features a work by Canarian artist Concha Jerez, a pioneer of conceptual installations and practices in Spain, that reflects news coverage and the role of the media.
Drawing from one of his designs from his Fall Winter 2019 collection, the La Louisiana, Civilian tailor has created a jacket and pants that reinvent the concept of traditional tailoring while revealing the company’s innovative spirit. One of the most striking details is the cap that crosses the chest, and the cut is more compact than usual in this type of clothing. “When I saw Concha’s work, with her criticism of the media, I thought of the selfishness of the TV presenter, in tight suits,” says Alvarez, who admits he had always wanted to design a uniform.
The choice of white color for clothing was also motivated by the message of the artist’s work. “Given Concha’s suggestion, with this combination of gray and black and this dark, I decided to choose a color with a light that would send a hopeful message that there were still quality media out there,” he explains. The suit hardly presents any differences between the design for women and men, except that the style of the jacket is modified and shortened for them and gives the pants more flare, while the hem is cut short for the men. Both Clothes The shirt is completed with a gray shirt with lapel and matching shoes with a black contrast sole.
“When I started working with the company in 2017, there was a huge gap between classic menswear suits and the most extravagant designs,” says the designer, who has established himself as one of Spain’s most promising fashionistas, receiving prestigious awards for the work. Once again, like 2020 Who’s on Next, he took 100,000 euros which was shown in June 2020 at the digital edition of Men’s Fashion Week in Paris. This void he himself noticed led him to explore barely explored patterns and designs, building on the fine work of menswear tailoring and incorporating innovative colours, prints and shades. His concept of sustainability is strong. “It’s not just about using, say, recycled materials. They can pantomime sell that the garment is made from recycled fabrics and then only last three years. One of our merino wool sweaters lasts for decades in the closet. That is sustainability.” , he argues.
He’s recently been embroiled in controversy as a result of the black suit with pink bows he designed for actor and film director Eduardo Casanova for Goyas, which received homophobic and homophobic comments (rejecting HIV-positive people). “Recently, Bad Bunny starred in campaign Jacquemus in a pink dress, but he hasn’t been as critical as Eduardo. The only difference is that one is heterosexual and the other isn’t. The designer also regrets that this controversy overshadowed the message that the suit hid.” I had the opportunity to design part of the costumes for his new movie, piety. Aesthetics carry a lot of weight in Eduardo’s work, and this time, the color scheme of the work revolves around black and pink, which is why we chose those colors, to give an idea of the film.” Also to go back to pink, Eduardo’s color par excellence. “We are very happy with the suit. We’ve received a lot of compliments, and I don’t care if the four on duty are bored on the grids,” the designer defends. “It’s also a homage to classic Saint Laurent designs, with these massive bows,” he explains.