“We’ve done a partnership with a woman wrestling league this period”, said Paula Canovas del Vas at her Paris display. Kitted out in her henley- checkered mesh physique- pieces, the combatants were tangling on a bed while “her referees” circled the match, sporting the rest of the slide collection.
The Spanish designer is well known for her unusually modified clothing and talent for recognizable accessories, such as Diabalo indented toe trainers and horned ballerina slippers ( the wrestlers were wearing these last ). However, the idea that she might be staging some odd pre-Olympic clothing warm-up on the floor of the Cervantes Institute was off-balance.
“Typically, I tend to go for story and escapism”, she agreed. “But when I was thinking about this lecture, I definitely wanted to expose what the industry is going through. It really is a combat when I consider my discussions with my contemporaries or myself. I felt I had a work, I had to throw it out there. Whenever I speak to all my friends, we speak about the genuine- world damages that are happening. So I thought: this set up a combat”.
Canovas del Vas was coy when asked exactly what she’s wrestling with as an impartial developer: “I mean, with shops never paying”. Payments, slow to arrive, yet after she’s delivered her goods, impose cash- movement agony. Because I have my team I may give, and the craftspeople and providers I am so lucky to have, I must say. Plus, for a young company person, there’s another layer of difficulty. “We’re in an industry that is dominated by males, white men, unfortunately”.
Working with the athletes, she discovered more invisible discrimination in that activity. “They said there’s only people’s wrestling clothing available. They must trim them down to suit them. I usually make outfits that are comfy for women’s bodies”. Her greeny- little multiple- checked layerings of printed bodysuits, t- tops, and shorts met with exceptional reviews from the sport crowd. “They’re very springy and breathable”, and the Diabolo instructors, like sports mary john with their wicked toes, “are fantastic for the wrestlers mat, they told me”.
The referee’s attire was more appropriate for city wrestlers than regular daily life. Plump bombers, stripy tights, and this month’s edition of her Carmen bag, surrounded by a quietly thick air-brush painted bumper, were worn with faux-fur-fronted jeans and soft bonnets, as well as plump bombers, and several layers of exciting off-pale knits.
The designer, who lives in Paris, while producing in her native Spain, uses deadstock materials. “We visit factories all over, do our sourcing from them”. She had discovered red tulle that she used as a flounced half-skirt, which spanned a pink knee-length jersey argyle skirt. “I also wanted to create a sort of, a real violence, because that’s what we face”, she remarked. ” So that’s the red tulle. But also there’s a real lightness as well. A feeling of protection, too”.