“This editorial has resulted from a final project for fashion design studies, which involved designing and creating a collection that I titled: Caboclo.” A KALTBLUT exclusive. Creative Direction by Diego Reis & Fer Guimeráns. Photography and Retouching by Fer Guimeráns. Photography and Retouching by Fer Guimeráns. The models are Tomás Lillo & David Perez.
Caboclo is the search for a unique identity born from investigating my personal history to honour my culture and roots. The title is a term used in Brazil for descendants resulting from the mixing between Amazonian indigenous people and Europeans.
The collection is inspired by “Candomblé” and his variant, “Umbanda”. These are two religions born on Brazilian soil (exclusively) but with African roots. This culture reached the New World through slave ships carrying slaves from Africa. The Afro culture was forced to merge with other cultures to survive through years of cruelty and slavery, all of which contributed to Brazilian popular culture. Candomblé is the religion my grandfather practised; he was a “pai de santo” and one of the most influential people in my life during my childhood in Brazil.
There’s a pain shared by many immigrants, especially those of the second generation, those of us who left our home countries at such a young age that we were raised elsewhere. In our destination country, we’ll always be foreigners, but we’ve been away from our home country for so long that when we return — if we ever do — we’ll be foreigners there too. It’s a feeling of not belonging anywhere, especially when you’re a racialized person from a radically different culture.
This is the search for identity from which my inspiration arises: an Afro-Brazilian religion in which my grandfather was both a practitioner and a priest. This collection is an attempt to pay tribute to my humble origin, an origin of a poor family that had to make too many sacrifices for me to be able to write these words right now.”
Creative Direction by Diego Reis & Fer Guimeráns / Instagram: @reissilva_ & @fer.guimerans
Styling and Design by Diego Reis / Instagram: @reissilva_
Photography and Retouching by Fer Guimeráns / Instagram: @fer.guimerans
Photography Assistant by Juan Ferradás / Instagram: @black_mamba_photo
Models are Tomás Lillo & David Perez / Instagram: @_tomasesquerdo & @davidpesot
Brands used are: Reis Silva, Dr Martens & Raf Simons
Instagram name of each brand: @reissilva_ @drmartensofficial & @rafsimons
