Miss Squiggles interviews the incredibly talented fashion designer Elena Garcia [co-founder of the Ecoluxe Fashion Show] and a different world opens up. Miss Squiggles gets on board of the Garcia Express and reflects on sustainability, femininity and being “seduced by fashion“.
Elena Garcia’s collections represent the perfect eco-fashion statement and possibly, the missing link between mainstream and eco-fashion. Her collections are a great example of what fashion should always be: pure, elegant and women-friendly.
All her works tell a story…and here she tells her own…in her own words.
Please tell me about your new collection…
“My new collection is the result of my experience in the business, six years with my own brand and two years with Fisher-Garcia. It’s aimed at the online customer and it’s a streamlined version of the clothes I have previously designed and made. The aesthetics are the same; sexy flowing, romantic pieces that any woman can wear. I have simplified the process involved in the manufacture and treatment of the fabrics in order to make it more accessible to everyone. The collection is a seasonal and I will be adding pieces and colours to it. I get customers asking me to make pieces from previous collections all the time or favourite shapes in different colours and fabrics; so this is my way of saying ‘I have been listening’.”What we can expect from your show @ Ecoluxe 2014?
“The Ecoluxe Show will be the first of its kind. We have been thinking about it for ages and this season we simply decided to go for it. We always team up with a charity in everything we do, so this time we approached Fine Cell Work; they train inmates to embroider and are raising funds to keep a manufacturing unit so that they can provide newly released trainees with employment. [At Ecoluxe 2014] Expect to see great products made with care and great stories behind them; and we will tell them all. We will make sure that everyone is heard. We will also have an auction in aid of Fine Cell Work, so people will be able to bid online and buy one-off pieces and support this brilliant charity. We got model Jan de Villeneuve closing the show and about 20 brands ranging from fashion to jewellery to accessories. It will be a riot of colour and shape and FUN.”
How would you describe your style?
“I’ am quite an adventurous dresser. My style is very eclectic, I definitely dress for the occasion and mood I’m in. I wear both men’s and women’s clothes and I don´t care about sizes, I like playing with different volumes. I also like playing with colour and texture. I have many vintage clothes, jewellery pieces and shoes, I have been like this since I was a child. I like contrast, so for example, if I´m wearing very feminine clothes I shave my hair to counterbalance… that kind of thing.”
How would you describe your woman?
The Elena Garcia woman is someone who has a very sensitive and intuitive approach to clothes. A confident dresser who is proud of her femininity and appreciates cut, feel and handle in fabrics. Someone who is also aware of the thought process involved in garment making and likes to be seduced and surprised by fashion.“
What does eco fashion mean to you?
“Eco fashion [means] quite a few things. It means the desire to make fashion with a minimum negative impact on the environment and it means not being taken seriously by the fashion industry at large as well…it means coming across amazing people with incredible stories to tell and it means struggling to get your voice heard beyond the glass ceiling. Good and bad, I´m not complaining, it is just the way it is.”
Thank you, Elena. We look forward to seeing your work @ Ecoluxe 2014.
Enjoyed reading about Elena Garcia? Then you will just love the other designers at Ecoluxe 2014. Visit their website for more information.
