D.N.I – Mi Ciudad Natal S/S22

D.N.I travels to its native hometown in Peru for its S/S22 collection that materializes their childhood through new artisan techniques. The Peruvian twins immerse us in a journey into their most intimate sphere, through a collection that is born from all the colours, shapes and volumes with which they grew up in their home at Casa Grande in Peru. By means of the usage of new manual techniques, the collection entitled «Mi Ciudad Natal» includes pieces turned into a canvas that represents a walk through the streets that gave rise to the firm.

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Nostalgia often allows us to make a long-awaited trip to our past. Suddenly, you feel invaded by images, resonances, words or sensations of yesterday when arriving at your place of origin. It is no longer a mere exercise of memory, and just like suddenly waking up from a dream, all the past lived is summarized in a picture of your hometown.

D.N.I transports us to their most intimate sphere: their childhood, through a collection that takes place in the district of Casa Grande, located one hour away from Trujillo, Peru. The twins Paulo and Roberto Ruiz Muñoz travelled to the place where they grew up, to observe themselves: two children dressed in uniforms ready to go to school. This is how «Mi Ciudad Natal» –in English «My Hometown»– was born, an encounter with the visual codes that were part of his childhood.

The designers lead us on a tour of their entire hometown through garments that reveal another vision of men’s fashion. “The collection, inspired by the Casa Grande flag colours, represents a beginning, a transition and a future for the firm”, the twins explain. Using new manual techniques, «Mi Ciudad Natal» includes pieces made with linen and cotton – Pima and organic– directly bought from luxury fashion brands, but re-invoiced and hand-dyed by themselves.

When we immerse ourselves in their abyss of time, we are able to find garments stamped
with handmade drawings that revive the memories of that district, representing a walk through the streets that originated the firm. New designs are born from this proposal that will become key pieces within the D.N.I. universe. Like the “Encyclopedia” stamp, which is an immersion into Peruvian nature through typical iconographies of the country, which refer to the curious awakening of the twins’ childhood with all these elements. Finally, “School Memories” is the print that takes up elements of the school and singularly small messages.

“The inspiration for the collection comes from all the colours, shapes and volumes with which we grew up. Memories turned into paintings that were translated into prints, which were made from an artistic and mature point of view ”, they add. As a result, the colours used for the garments do not have a uniform hue. On the contrary, thanks to the artisan dyeing technique, they maintain tones that range from turquoise greens and iridescent yellows to more lively colours characteristic of the firm.
Following a sustainable line of thought, in terms of materials, the “Mi Ciudad Natal” polo shirts are made with organic cotton and all their prints are OEKO-TEX certified, which means that they are not harmful to the environment nor the skin. On the other hand, wanting to create a shared value with artisans from Peru, “this same collection will feature leather bags entirely made by one of the last saddlers from the Peruvian city of Ayacucho, contributing to the continuation of his family legacy”, they affirm.

The collection is an allegory of a Casa Grande boy passing through all the streets of his district on his way to school. It is for this reason that the collection campaign was carried out in that town. “For us, returning to our birthplace and telling a story through clothes is a mise en abyme, giving a double dimension to the story of our childhood through fashion”, they conclude.