048: A 5-bedroom pensión in Mexico City
Magasin and Either And reflect on fashion from the cultural capital.
In late April, I arrived in Mexico City to stay for a few nights at a family-owned pensión where Nicole Steriovski and Jenna Saraco of the photo and moving image company Either And had set up shop. The 5-bedroom house was one of those places that’s immune to the passage of time; the only signs of the 21st century being the digital photos that had been printed for the gallery wall, and appliances updated once a generation, if that. We also learned it was part of a greater compound held by the family, with various relatives living next door and to the rear, where a small hidden gate in the fence connected their garden with the grandparents’. It reminded us a lot of the houses in Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.
It was a a sublime fit for our project of shooting Mexico City-based fashion. Some of the designers we were in touch with for the editorial I had been in contact with previously (I’d covered aspects of it in a profile for Nylon a few years back), and others were new connections who proved invaluable to the portrait ultimately expressed.
Within this special edition of Magasin, you’ll find four Mexico City-based designers whose pieces I’d highly encourage you to consider for your next “occasion” outfit or shopping whim—Ayanegui and Avec Joyeria effortless and dynamic additions to your daily wardrobe, and Valerieesses and Gabrielle Venguer easily and instantly becoming the most interesting things you own.
Thank you to all of the Mexican creatives, talent, agencies, and advisors we connected with!
AYANEGUI, Giuseppe Ayanegui
Ayanegui is the name of my brand and also my last name, I'm the only founder but I believe in teamwork, so I'm very thankful with my whole team. Even if they are not working on the design side, they help me a lot to make my designs a reality.
The brand has been trademarked since 2016, but I started working on Ayanegui in 2012. I started working on pieces so people would have different options to wear in Mexico.
I would describe my work as aesthetic and also esoteric. I put effort into my designs to create a whole atmosphere of minimal classy/street environment, I can say my work helps people to explore or potentiate their creativity with sexiness and confidence. Also, to help people to clear their mind with clothing.
The world, life, the way we are living, love, and all the beings we are living together inspire my work. I design imagining a story of certain people and the issues they have. I start by thinking how they dress in that reality/dimension, then I fix some parts of that clothing, thinking about how they can change their life by changing some elements of their looks.
Ayanegui is working amazing in Mexico, I think people are more open now to wearing different pieces to express themselves, and I'm very happy to see how the concept of masculinity is changing, probably because there are more brands like mine.
People can come to the showroom in my apartment in Condesa, Mexico City, and take a look of the process we have for creating the brand. Also, we have certain sales points in Mexico City, Tulum, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Miami in multi-brand stores. Visit www.ayanegui-online.com to find which stores are closer to you or you can order online with free shipping.
VALERIEESSES, Valerie Esses
My brand, Valeriesses, has been around since 2021. My intention is to explore how clothes and objects are an extension of our identity and how the spaces where we live can create infinite worlds of inspiration and creativity. The fashion and clothing that we wear have the capacity to express an outward message of our internal self.
What ignites me about fashion is this transformation and constant evolution that, without a doubt, helps and inspires one to create and change in turn. It’s the act of demonstrating who you are and who you want to be, the act of making an image real through one’s internal self, the act of understanding that one can create things, that one can make out of fabric something that represents another, greater thing that gives someone a sense of belonging in this world.
The brand encompasses many aspects of the incredible diversity and authenticity of the beings that live in Mexico City. On the topic of multiculturalism, Mexico is a country that will always be in evolution and undergoing change, it is rich, as is the intention of the brand! But the pieces intend to form part of the world of art, not just part of Mexican design.
Every piece from Valerieesses is unique and incomparable, which is why they are available custom directly with the team.
GABRIELLE VENGUER, Gabrielle Venguer
My brand, Gabrielle Venguer, was founded in 2021. I would describe my work as an ongoing thread of experimentation with ideas, materials, and techniques that appear and disappear, those that are in constant flux.
It's sensorial. It's textured. It's expressive. It's bold. It's sensitive. It's brutal. It's delicate. It's eclectic. It's colorful. It's personal. It's contextual. It's counter-intuitive. It's intuitive. It’s full of contradictions. Every piece is different. Slow fashion. I'm interested in the unexpected, in extreme comfort, in empowering bodies through sensuality.
Concept, materiality, and composition inspire my work. Having a narrative. Immersing myself in a world external to my own, in which I can explore and translate my fantasies. Creating textiles through weaving and knitting, manipulating and misusing pre-existing materials. Chance. Exploring and conversing with the piece I'm creating.
My work relates and it doesn't relate to the Mexican fashion landscape. It fits and it doesn't fit. It relates in the way I work: the time frame, materiality, folklore, color, and texture. It doesn't fit in that it doesn’t make a nostalgic use of culture.
For example, I collaborate with diverse artisans from around the country, without appropriating their culture. It's an exchange between the brand and the artisans, encouraging their freedom to be artists and not just artisans. Fair work is important.
My pieces are available by appointment in my studio.
AVEC JOYERIA, Georgina Prieto
The brand was established 10 years ago. My work is passionate, fun. I’m learning every day from the design process to seeing the finished pieces. I am inspired by situations, feelings, trips, art…
I have been a part of the evolutionary process in Mexican design. From living in Mexico City, we have been able to find inspiration here, from all of its essence. A lot of friends are designers, and I believe we’ve grown together little by little, being a part of the fashion landscape.
You can find the line on our site, www.avecjoyeria.mx, and at Moda Operandi.
Photography: Jenna Saraco + Nicole Steriovski / Either And
Styling/Production: Laura Reilly
Model: Julie Fuentes / Guerxs
Assistant: Anggela Bueno