In Conversation with Genaro Rivas: State of Impact S/S27 X Berlin Fashion Week

At a moment when sustainability risks becoming fashion’s most overused buzzword, Genaro Rivas is interested in what happens after the damage is done. Presented during Berlin Fashion Week, State of Impact reframed collapse as a creative methodology, using reconstruction rather than perfection as its starting point.

The London-based Peruvian designer sent out deconstructed tailoring, exposed hardware and sculptural silhouettes built from organic denim, reclaimed leather and experimental textiles, alongside a closing look assembled from salvaged chandeliers. Throughout, garments carried the traces of intervention rather than concealment, borrowing from Berlin Expressionist Walter Gramatté’s fractured visual language to explore the marks left by violence, memory and repair.

Rather than presenting sustainability as aesthetic restraint, Rivas proposes it as an act of transformation, where waste becomes material, craftsmanship becomes resistance, and fashion’s future is imagined through reconstruction instead of replacement. It’s a collection that refuses clean narratives, suggesting that impact is something to be worn, not erased.

KALTBLUT. caught up with designer Genaro Rivas pre-show at his Spring/Summer menswear catwalk on July 4th to chat exclusively on all things Berlin, the purpose of fashion and keeping your identity intact.

You’re showing in Berlin today. How would you sum up Berlin Fashion Week?
Genaro: Emerging energy.

Your collection is called State of Impact. What’s the first thing you hope people feel when they see it?
Genaro: Well, actually, I would like everyone about to see the collection to feel the impact. Whether you like it or hate it, that’s a reaction that I want people to have. Extreme reactions. Because extremes are better than just having some mid-reaction.

What transformed you while creating this collection?
Genaro: I will have to say that I feel much more comfortable when incorporating more practices within one collection. There are a lot of processes, not just material innovation-wise, but also hand painting, hand embroidery, etc. So I’m feeling much more comfortable about doing this mix of techniques and materials to create a look that is unique.

Which piece made you think, “Yes, this is the future”?
Genaro: There are a lot of pieces that can make me feel that this is the future. Mostly because a lot of the innovations textile-wise are seamlessly blended within the collection. You can actually never tell whether this is something that is the future, because the future is now.

What part of your Peruvian identity do you carry with you in every collection?
Genaro: I think that my Peruvian identity keeps evolving, and how I approach my Peruvian roots evolves season after season and concept after concept. Right now, I have the opportunity to collaborate with an amazing Peruvian artist. Her name is Cintia Gutierrez, and she helped me out putting together one of my favourite pieces of the entire collection.

Finish this: Fashion with purpose should always…
Genaro: Be real.

How is Berlin different from London?
Genaro: We’re doing Berlin Fashion Week. We’re going to do a presentation in London. We’re closing with a presentation at Copenhagen Fashion Week.

I would say that each of these three capitals is a major fashion capital. And the most important part for me is how each of them approaches sustainability principles.

Which is so inspiring, as an emerging brand and as an emerging designer coming from Lima, Peru, I believe that the future of fashion should be that. And other fashion capitals should adhere to these sustainable principles.

If people remember just one thing about State of Impact, what do you want it to be?
Genaro: Wow, that’s a really tough question. I would say, what was the first thing that came to your mind when you saw the collection? That’s the impact.