"Riachuelos" is Spanish for "streams."
People are like "streams" of communication, sharing knowledge and wisdom with one another.
"Riachuelos" is a sustainable fashion collection that examines the potential of human achievement through a water-powered lens, applying concepts of hydrology as analogies for social anthropology.
Such as drops of water fuse into pulsating, flowing rivers that empty into the ocean, so too can people unite to create massive waves of positive change in our increasingly globalized, yet agonizing, planet.
Each look in the collection is inspired by a different body of water from around the globe and meticulously handcrafted from textile scraps, vintage fabrics, and other discarded material.
This 5-look collection follows the progression of water as it grows – from river, to waterfall, to confluence, to delta, to ocean – and imagines it as a symbol for how people can come together to do good in the world. Taking inspiration from waterways of both personal significance to the designer, and ecological importance to the regions surrounding them, each ensemble conducts a detailed analysis of the breathtaking wonders water creates and how they have impacted society through time.
One of Colombia's vital waterways
With unmatched strength, the river's tan waters rush through ample valleys and constricting rapids, varying their width and velocity to match their surroundings. Nearby protected forest land interspersed between crops of coffee, bananas, cocoa, and cattle farms are reminiscent of quilts when viewed from above.
This dress is made with textile scraps collected over the years and vintage fabrics from the 80s, using patchwork and appliqué techniques.
It features a novel sleeve shape and a concealed zipper opening at the front.
Largest waterfall system worldwide
Situated on the border between Brazil and Argentina, these 275 individual cascades attract around 1 million tourists each year, who cross from one country to the other to experience the full view. In this way, strict political borders are softened by water's majestic, entrancing flow.
This ensemble includes a one-shoulder dress made from a wedding gown, scraps of satin, and a bedsheet. The shawl consists of a wedding gown skirt, chiffon backing, and miniscule fabric scraps hand-stitched between. It is attached to the dress by a delicate string of flowers.
A jewel in the Brazilian Amazon
The deep, dark Rio Negro collides with the pale Rio Solimões, but due to the rivers' differences in pH, temperature, density, and dissolved sediment content, the waters do not mix for 6 km, after which they unite to become the mighty Amazon River.
Often dubbed "the lungs of Planet Earth," the fragility of the lush Amazon rainforest is echoed in the delicacy of an open-weave vintage textile, the main component of the dress. The two waterways are abstracted into cording, encased in fabric scraps, that wraps around the sleeves and downward into the deep of the forest.
Network of swamps and mangroves
Containing wetlands, estuaries, and islands, the Delta Region is a critical hub for migratory birds and a wealth of species. Deltas absorb runoff from flooded rivers and storms, acting as a filter by accumulating sediment while sending water off into the ocean. Unfortunately, due to extensive human efforts to control the Mississippi River, this potent natural formation is now rapidly disappearing.
This halter dress is supported by a cage crinoline
of 18 yards of steel boning, shaped to extend into
seven godets of varying lengths.
It was carefully crafted using vintage fabrics, bedsheets, pre-owned pants, and textile scraps.
Shores that wash up on 3 continents
It connects a plethora of countries, allowing for the interaction of peoples, exchange of cultures, and trade of goods in a complex layered history. The ocean's 5 major ocean currents unite as one big sea that winds around the 5 continents, bringing debris with it that spirals into the 5 Garbage Patches. Each year, 4.12 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean and kill upwards of 1 million sea creatures.
This outfit is a spin on the traditional dress used to dance cumbia, a unique, elegant musical genre that originated along the Atlantic Coast of Colombia. It was made with a bedsheet, scraps from the rest of the collection, and a 24-yard long strip of leftover material, gathered into the skirt ruffle.
Refined shape, rich color, elegant design...made from trash.
Bedsheets, vintage fabrics, a wedding gown, three pairs of pants, a discarded student project, and mounds of tiny textile scraps – from
satin to canvas, crepe, taffeta and more – found their way into a
new life in this collection. Through countless hours of exploration
and experimentation, this wide variety of materials were joined
together via patchwork, appliqué, topstitching, gluing, draping,
ruffling, pleating, cording, handstitching, and more.