From Peru to Maastricht! Designer Annaiss Yucra Mancilla unveiled a stunning womenswear collection at Fashionclash Festival 2018. A modern view on heritage and style of her home country. We had a chat with the designer about her work.
Name: Annaiss Yucra Mancilla Age: 26 Hometown: Lima, Perú
Menswear or Womenswear: Womenswear
KALTBLUT: Fashion – My Religion.. what does this means to you?
I believe religion is such a personal statement, such as the connection I have with my work. Both of them give me empowerment to connect to myself in a way that defines me.
KALTBLUT: Hello. Welcome to KALTBLUT. Why have you decided to participate at FASHIONCLASH Festival?
FASHIONCLASH is an upcoming contemporary platform, that embraces emerging designers and gives them the opportunity to share their work with the world. I feel very lucky and grateful to be part of this year’s selection. I really want to land to an Asian platform and I believe this event will really help me to grow as a designer and help me achieve my dream
KALTBLUT: Can you tell us something about the collection you presented at the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018? What was your inspiration?
I take duality in senses such as myth and reality, tradition and modernity. Taking the myth to a contemporary Peru and take inspiration from the short films : MEET MY WORLD, by AMANTANI ONG. They work with the children of Corcca community in the highlands of Peru and created a boarding school so the children wouldn’t have to walk more than 10-15km everyday from their communities to the nearest public school. This year short-films that 8 indigenous children of Corcca produced was about ‘HOW TO HAVE FUN WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY’ in modern times this children embrace their traditions and live with excitement and dreams. The collection wants to express their spirit and how although all the adversities they faced , they find beauty and balance in their environment.
KALTBLUT: What kind of material did you used for the collection?
I used digital printing in Peruvian cotton, I develop prints that combined the sense of tradition and technology. I also worked with knitwear, collaborating with Peruvian artisans to create my knitted garments and combined with digital embroidery on top with the political statements of the collection. There is plenty of intriguing pattern cutting that combined wadding and knitwear and mostly oversized silhouettes.
The materials that I used for it, are 100% Peruvian, from my pima cotton digital prints, to my baby alpaca yarns, it was all put together with the combination of tradition and technology. The colours were taken out of the LLICLA ( traditional Peruvian weaved fabric ) and I took this as an inspiration and digitalized it to create one of my colour block patterns.
KALTBLUT: What challenges did you face during the design process?
Trying to balance my creative work and make it more wearable. I believe I’m in the process where as a designer I need to be able to combine both without loosing my personal aesthetic, is very hard to compromise an idea and make it more commercial.
KALTBLUT: How would you describe your self and your work?
A cross over between colour and heritage defines my aesthetics as an emerging designer. That the garment I am making will transmit the message I want to tell, I find that my pieces communicate advertities in social aspects of my country, but empowers to believe that there is hope.
KALTBLUT: What would you say that is the biggest influence to your design process?
My biggest muse is my country. I found so many sorts of inspiration. I have indigenous heritage, so my background was also a big part of how I define myself and my garments. As a third generation of Peruvian immigrant to the capital, I always lived with this huge problem in Peru about racism against their own for their skin or heritage, so growing up I had to deal with this problem and I had to go through a shame of myself and lack of identity, to embracing it and really capturing this beautiful part of myself in my pieces.
KALTBLUT: If you had not become a fashion designer, what would you do instead?
Potentially either carrying my economics career in Peru and become a very mediocre one, or giving up that again and become an archeologist, I always had a fascination about history and investigation about the past and to re-discover an link in history that helped us understand their way of living.
KALTBLUT: Who’s your dream client?
For sure Willow Smith for so many reasons, her aesthetics, her freedom, her feminist strong side.
KALTBLUT: What was the first item you have ever designed? And who was the lucky one to get it?
Will be the collection I did for Bolongaro Trevor, for a menswear competition at my university, which I ended up winning and working with them that summer in London. My brother ended up keeping all the samples and he wears them till today!
KALTBLUT: What can we expect from you in near future?
At the moment I am collaborating with a non profitable organization called PURE ART (Canada) I had the opportunity to go to the jungle with the crew and start working with the shpibo ladies in their sewing initiative making a 3 days creative workshop that helped them combine their traditional techniques with the modern market. I also just finished a collaboration with Peruvian artist Rafael Lanfranco and created 3 outfits to one of his sculptures (LA FELINA) that were exhibited fr in MAC-Lima( Museo de Arte contemporanea). I am now running my family small factory, were I have been working for a year now exporting and developing knitwear products for boutiques and retailers around the world. I will carry on doing this and hopefully start a small production of ANNAISS YUCRA MANCILLA. My biggest dream is to be able to show at Tokyo Fashion week, and land in an Asian fashion platform for selling my products.
KALTBLUT: Where can we buy your fashion?
I definitely want to open an online store that hopefully will be able to achieve this year. In terms of selling on a store, I will love to be able to show at spaces where clothes is curated and is small production. I do use my Instagram a lot to communicate with my followers, mostly as a way for them to understand the process of my pieces and I believe it has been such a great tool in my career as an emerging designer.
Follow
IG: @annaiss_design
Website: ANNAISSYUCRA.COM
Artsthread: www.artsthread.com/profile/annaissyucramancilla
FACEBOOK: Annaïss Yucra Mancilla
Special thx to fashionclash.nl
