Esteban Cortazar (Q3064)
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Esteban Cortazar is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Esteban Cortazar |
Esteban Cortazar is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
2002
creative designer
Since his last show, Esteban Cortazar has been applying his creative energies to various peripheral projects. There’s been a sneaker collaboration and a custom dress for Beyoncé when she performed at the Global Citizen Festival. There was the pop-up in Cartagena, Colombia, a charming lifestyle store (judging by his Instagram posts) where he debuted an accessible, permanent Resort collection (more on that later). And 10 days ago, he revealed his role as guest curator of Sotheby’s Now! auction for young collectors.All these pursuits have not distracted him from producing the Fall collection, a buoyant affirmation of his multi-inspirational vision. Consequently, as he explained from his showroom across from the Louvre, he harbors no regret in taking a break from the runway this season. “The thought process was to scale back in a certain way and be more focused on how to get this collection out there,” he said. “In the end, somehow you have more freedom by doing it this way.”Enter “Caribbean Holly Golightly” with her updo and hot pink opera gloves, the streamlined city gal, and Michelle Elie playing her eccentric, exuberant self. Photographed by Cortazar’s longtime creative collaborator Jaime Rubiano (who also shot the Cartagena background images), these three characters personified his followers more dynamically than a linear runway procession.So, whereas the first shows off her “Latina glamour” in brightly hued, ultra-flattering dance dresses, the second wears the collection’s most understated yet persuasive look: a ribbed sweater tacked naturally at the sleeves with a pair of shorts with a geometric overskirt. Elie, meanwhile, shows off Esteban Cortazar at its most experimental with skirts over coats, sweaters styled as turbans, and miscellaneous layerings of T-shirts, tailoring, and lustrous silver pants. On the brand’s Instagram, this look was referred to as “Haitian jazz Hammer time.”Cortazar drew our attention to three noteworthy elements: More than any previous collection, this one features pieces reworked from his archive, even if they don’t date that far back. Some of the reworked jackets and coats made a strong case for pushing his tailoring more deliberately. But then the knits were also thoughtfully developed with sultry, plunging backs and the aforementioned romantic sleeves.
Lastly, his use of both a humble wool stripe and a decadently beaded fishnet resonated nicely with his equal-opportunity approach that extends to his reasonably priced offerings.Buyers can complement their edits with printed shirts featuring authentic kitsch Colombian graphics or illustrations by Cortazar’s artist father. Oh, and Shala Monroque shows up in a single image that appears at once elegant and offbeat (her necklace is made from two kinds of pipes). Whatever Cortazar decides to do next season, he might consider doing more of this.
4 March 2019
No matter how advanced our smartphones become, no matter the verisimilitude of virtual reality, an image of a sunset will never match the moment. But a personal translation is different; it’s infused with memory and emotion. Esteban Cortazar’s collection this evening was his impression of summer—an I’ll-go-where-you’re-going evocation of breezy days and sultry nights. He favors Ibiza, if you’re curious. Yet as he explained backstage, credit also goes to his dad, artist Valentino Cortazar, who is always reminding him to contemplate nature. “Pay attention, understand the feeling; the most beautiful colors are happening all around you,” said the designer, reiterating the fatherly advice.Cortazar seemed to be creating on a slightly different wavelength than usual—mellower and maybe also more mature. The opposing forces of tailoring and draping were both well represented, from flattering dusty rose trousers and a softly structured sleeveless blazer to a tent dress and a full-length pajama shirt both covered in creases—the sign of a real vacation. The designer has been ahead of the curve with his spin on sports bras and body-contoured knits; this season, they were enveloped by ample pajama layers and integrated into a slinky black off-the-shoulder dress. Gradient sunset hues were a recurring motif, and if they appeared painterly, that’s because they were first done on paper before being digitally printed. Someone in the crowd was already wearing the version in tinted recycled mohair and the coloration stood out vividly.Knits, meanwhile, were developed distinctively, whether the lustrous rounded sleeves that balanced the minidresses or a beautiful full-length dress that crisscrossed the chest and flowed downward as though paying subtle homage to Madame Grès. This look, like many others, was completed with a curvilinear accessory that seemed cryptic in form. As one example, Cortazar said the clear acetate pieces represented fragments of water turned solid—not ice, of course, but a moment of suspended time.Essential to a summer vacation message is a swimsuit (his featured a crystal-clear image of Es Vedrà) and a relaxed attitude. In less reductive terms, these looks were desirable because of the woman they evoked: someone who is successful, sexy, and self-possessed.
The decision to cast only black models came after, apparently, although Cortazar mentioned close friends (fashion insiders) Azza Yousif and Shala Monroque and muses such as Carmen de Lavallade as women who inspire him. “There is just such an abundance of black beauty,” he said, as though marveling at a sunset.
1 October 2018
After his show last night, Esteban Cortazar didn’t just take a perfunctory bow: He sprinted the entire length of the U-shaped runway, beaming and waving to friends and colleagues in the crowd. It left a smile on everyone’s face. Good vibes are a key ingredient in Cortazar’s collections, which tend to reflect his sunny, upbeat demeanor, as well as his literally sunny upbringing in Miami and Colombia. Given those tropical locales and Cortazar’s penchant for primary colors, graphic embellishments, and sensual cut-outs, spring is no doubt his season. But several looks on his Fall 2018 runway honestly felt like they were made for the humidity: slinky slips, oversize poplin shirtdresses, strappy beaded bodysuits. Perhaps Cortazar was thinking about when these clothes will hit stores, right in the heat of summer. His show wasn’t the only one that made us forget what “season” we were looking at this week; many designers are leaning toward a flexible, year-round mode of dressing to keep up with a challenging retail calendar.The first look out was essentially a patchwork blanket, clutched snugly to the chest. Cortazar said it symbolized his own life’s tapestry: After growing up in Colombia and Miami, he studied fashion here in New York and now works in Paris. In fact, he’s been hosting Paris shows for more than a decade, making last night’s one-off event a homecoming of sorts. “As a Colombian, I came to New York to make my dream come true, so I wanted to come back, even if it’s just for one show. I wouldn’t be in Paris if it wasn’t for what happened here.” (For the record, New York was happy to have him, especially with so many of Cortazar’s peers decamping to Paris.)There’s always more than one story “collaged” in Cortazar’s collections, though. He also spoke about how his favorite summer destinations transform in the winter, becoming moodier and darker; he envisioned the cozy wrap coats, sweatshirt dresses, and cashmere pants in front of a chilly beach bonfire. Tufts of mohair on a double-face coat and tulle skirt reminded him of terra-cotta being tossed in the breeze, and there were touches of magical realism in his usual sculptural draping. He said he was inspired by friends’ apartments too, where eccentric rugs, objects, and furniture plucked from all over the world make their own unique story.
Our tastes aren’t one-note; in the same way we assemble our homes with seemingly disparate things, Cortazar’s weaving-together of stories and themes (from mohair and beading to tiger-striped jacquards) reflects the personal, impulsive relationship we have with clothes. His show was a warm addition to a quiet, somewhat lackluster New York Fashion Week. He’s welcome back anytime.
15 February 2018
Esteban Cortazar doesn’t just explain a collection, he takes you on a free association–style guided tour of seemingly random yet personal references. Suspended within the lattice that connected these 30 singular looks were the patterns of butterfly wings; a disco club in Cali, Colombia; fragments of his recent collaboration with Colette; salsa dancing; his five-week summer vacation among family in Ibiza; Werner Herzog’sAguirre, the Wrath of God; and a sincere desire to reflect diversity (check out his casting).It’s safe to assume that guests—and you, as readers—would pick up on some of this, but not all, and Cortazar would never expect that of you. He’s far more concerned with what the clothes express, which is why he opened the show as an exhalation of white poplin, sheer veiling, and textural knits in preparation for a heady immersion into seductive alternative suiting and luxe sportswear, followed by a final celebration of graphic impact and slinky form. All the while, in the spirit of collage, he toggled between assembling items irregularly by instinct and painstakingly seeking symmetry, as with the leather pieces puzzled into a bra and ample top. But if you’re wondering how everything relates, consider a continuum of gutsy at one end and graceful at the other. It’s probably a good sign that most of the looks, despite their assorted compositions, would land toward the middle—whether a stiff neoprene-backed trench worn as a dress, or the sculpted layers of butterfly-pattern intarsia that riffed on the Colombian flag colors as a poetic close to the show.Meanwhile, Cortazar’s accessories offered quite the juxtaposition: prayer beads in hand versus store security tags as clip-on earrings. Here, the implied message was that you can exist as both spiritually observant and the property of consumer culture. Digest that one for a while. And once you do, you’ll likely arrive at Cortazar’s range of denim, masterfully bleached to evoke a cloud-filled sky. It seems like a winning commercial idea; he has imagined the most universal, democratizing clothing of all as an elevated, escapist daydream.
2 October 2017
If the tartans that swept throughEsteban Cortazar’s latest collection seemed out of left field, it turns out that he has British roots through his mother, whose maiden name was Vaughan; hence the black label on a cricket sweater boasting an eccentrically long back. What the show notes alternately described as a “cyber landscape” and a “digital quilt” was a massive mosaic print of Cortazar’s Instagram feed. His collections typically emerge from personal points of departure; this time, whether the intention was conscious or not, they emerged as a nuanced variation on branding.This was Cortazar’s most eclectic and buoyant outing to date—certainly compared with Spring ’15, when he debuted seductively constructed looks that were pared-down and to-the-point. His description of this season’s woman as “Gitana punk” couldn’t make the contrast any clearer. The funny thing, though, was how core pieces from collections past girded what he showed today. “For me, it’s like, why can’t older pieces come back reinvented and be shown in other ways,” he explained. Point taken. Where’s the logic in starting from scratch each time, relegating all previous designs, no matter how good, to an archive?And so, for all the applications of plush fun fur, painted XXL denim, and transparent knits, Cortazar’s flawless-fit leather (how to choose between the pants, the skirt, and the trench?) and poet blouses made an encore, reimagined just enough from their originals to prove he wasn’t dialing it in. Combined, the looks made a strong case for Cortazar’s “lost and found” premise, which he treated with the characteristic playfulness that now defines his brand. It wouldn’t be surprising, though, if some fans and buyers question this expressive direction—the absurdly oversize shearling collar and cuffs pushed the limits. But they need only look to Faye Dunaway, who wore the navy tuxedo dress to the Oscars, to understand that Cortazar’s long-term objective is diversity. In any case, people will be pleased that he reprised the openwork peace sign marking the back of the final white dress. It’s an idea worth getting behind for seasons to come.
6 March 2017
Esteban Cortazarcomes across as an eternal optimist, so it seems only natural that this quality would be crocheted, bonded, and layered into his clothes. Consider, for starters, the lines of a peace sign hand-threaded in Rasta hues down and across a model’s exposed back and connecting to the circular cut-out of her little white dress. It was the clearest message of a collection that superimposed exuberance with savoir faire.Backstage, Cortazar listed a recent journey with his mother to India; memories of growing up surrounded by surfers and skaters in Miami Beach’s South Beach; and his favorite ’90s music divas, Sade, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu as inspirations. “A kaleidoscope of personal ideas,” he summarized. The goal, he added, was to capture the spontaneity and unpretentious swagger of the schoolkids he observed while riding a bus from Tiruvannamalai to the holy hill of Arunachala. On the runway, the tying and draping implied that influence, even more so when hugged in place by silver sequin bandeaux. Cortazar’s workmanship scaled up from subtle (a white shirt dropping back from the shoulders) to complex (the one-sleeved knit dress pieced into Tibetan script). Now try to imagine the challenge of delicately stitching the mantras into a leather patchwork top—“an analogy of the interconnectedness of life,” to quote the program notes.The seemingly oppositional forces of spiritual, sensual, and sport meant that some looks read more flattering than others; women will respond to the body-contoured, graphic surfboard-inspired dresses instinctively, vs. wrapping their heads around the crochet pants and sari interpretations. Retailers make their orders with Cortazar during the pre-collection periods (his innovative strategy has since been followed by other designers), so one can only hope that they loved the novelty of the frilled wetsuit leggings, color-blocked leather bra tops, and Paula Mendoza jewelry—not just the cool bias-cut jeans. Add in the deftly modified varsity jacket and stylized Tevas and you get the impression Cortazar delights in elevating the ordinary.
3 October 2016
Esteban Cortazar’s collection this evening gave the impression of a zero-sum game: His gutsiness in creating these designs will be matched by the gutsiness of those who gravitate toward them. From the first look (a sharply asymmetric leather gilet and bouncy velour knit skirt) to the final (a DayGlo pink duffel and fur-fronted skirt), the tight lineup defied any single statement. Perhaps this is to be expected when mid-’90s hip-hop divas Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliott figure as an inspiration alongside what the program notes referred to as the “anatomy of a pommel horse” and “the intricacies of a jockstrap.”Cortazar, who cited Berlin’s KitKat sex club as additional source material, might be the most uninhibited designer showing in Paris. If there’s rigor to the way he tailors a black jacket, there’s also raunchiness to the way he’ll place peekaboo holes on either side of the sacrum (i.e. the upper butt cheeks). While he flirted with streetwear, the baggy Swarovski crystal fabric jeans and displaced leather overalls still proved he operates within a luscious realm of luxe. Occasionally, his intended duality of “freedom and restriction” faltered: floor-sweeping ribbed knit pants the shade of Big Bird turned nonchalance into a handicap.As with his three previous collections, Cortazar completed this one in time for the pre-collection buying cycle, so retailers have already placed their orders. He always lists them at the bottom of his show notes; the list keeps growing. He revealed that the deconstructed denim and knits were widely favored—certainly both were more commercial than the jackets regally ringed in Mongolian fur. One wonders whether Cortazar has a sense of his real vs. envisioned clientele: how they spend their days/nights and whether they’d splurge on his statement pieces. Consider the editor who gushed with a caveat: “I would wear everything if I had the body.”
7 March 2016
This time last year,Esteban Cortazarpresenteda collectionthat he’d already sold to retailers during the Resort season—orders were placed even before the press weighed in. While rethinking the industry cycle might not be half as sexy as Roos Abels’s abs—she being the very young model who opened tonight’s show—it does help explain how Cortazar seems to have settled into the fashion firmament so fast.And now that his brand is viable, he can start having fun, which meant channeling an “otherworldly creature” as his latest muse. Hence the python bra top, asymmetric metallic leather gilet, and platform sandals encrusted with Swarovski crystals. Compared with Cortazar’s past two go-rounds, this collection felt less mannered, more “spontaneous,” as he put it. He credited the ideas to night-long parties in Ibiza this summer, and how the clubbing impulse dates back more than half his life, to when he was a precocious teen in Miami. Beyond flaunting youthful vibes, the pieces boasted savoir faire. Laser-cut skins were backed in metallic jersey; Lurex knit was developed to resemble a surface of jewels and then lined in cashmere so that it would feel soft, not scratchy; and metal rings were affixed onto coats like contraband watches, creating a clanging chorus with each step. “It was about not being afraid to just play,” said Cortazar. “The past two seasons I was building her universe; this season I just wanted her to be brave.”A clingy jersey dress slashed with shimmer has already proven a retail favorite, as has an oversize shirt that billows from behind. Tellingly, they represent two of Cortazar’s easier looks; yet they’re sure to get heads turning from dusk to dawn.
5 October 2015
If Esteban Cortazar's latest collection seemed steamier than the one he showed in October, that was exactly the point. Not long after designing his Spring collection—the one that marked the relaunch of his namesake label—Cortazar traveled with his family to Taos, N.M., where they sought out an authentic sweat lodge. Rather than hallucinations, the designer experienced clarity.From the blackened setting to the frizzy hair, the ambient clues were all there. Of course, the clothes signaled strongest of all, often swirling around the body via rigid neoprene undulations and bouncy baleen-like strips of bonded jersey. For Cortazar, defining sexy on his own terms meant developing a red-hot wavy guipure lace and a sulfuric yellow T-shirt cape that revealed an arc of midriff. Given his starting point, the theme of clingy transparency conjured up beautiful girls wilting within an earthy tent, attending a ceremony far different than a charity gala. But then the vented tunics and blanket layers projected a serenely ceremonial message—with the high-necked suede version most striking of all.While not without its bumps (i.e., the final grouping of dresses that took braided fringe to the nth degree), the collection offered a clearer sense of Cortazar's luxe vision and ongoing muse, a woman governed by "Latin sensuality and Parisian sophistication." The designer revisited last season's sculpted jackets, patterned with hardware, no doubt because they have universal appeal. Gauging by the high-wattage attendance and palpable anticipation preshow, Cortazar maintains no shortage of influential believers. Program notes indicated that Barneys, Printemps, Net-a-Porter, Lane Crawford, Holt Renfrew, and others have already placed orders. Small lookbooks were handed out postshow. Clearly, Cortazar is working extra hard to meet the high expectations placed upon him. He's working harder still to make it look like it's no sweat.
9 March 2015
Esteban Cortazar completed this collection early: specifically, back in July. In announcing that he would be expanding his namesake line beyond a successful collaboration with Net-a-Porter, Cortazar also revealed a new strategy in which he would present to retailers during the Resort market, then to press during the normal runway calendar, and then prepare his first delivery to select stores for mid-October. Today, moments before Hanne Gaby walked out in a multi-buckled evergreen suede jacket and little else, Cortazar was at ease. "It's great to feel the business side is done," he said, listing Barneys New York, Joyce, and Holt Renfrew among his stockists. "Now I get to show it to the world."As an odd twist, Cortazar already knew which pieces the buyers favored: a streamlined knee-length white dress in ottoman cady, and the leather miniskirts that put more emphasis on a gently jagged hemline than a glimpse of thigh. Buyers also gravitated toward his exploration of fringe, whereby elongated strips of technical organza, jersey, and chiffon were hand-affixed to jersey loops so that they floated to and fro like sea fronds. All good choices, and yet the exaggerated proportion of a white "poet" shirt or the undulations of two skirts rimmed in an interior horsehair structure were better gauges of Cortazar's vision. The brilliant carmine lining bonded to his rigid leathers felt equestrian in origin (Cortazar has been riding horses since childhood); it will also feel nice against the body. The applause that swelled for the 30-year-old showed approval of his matured aesthetic. Surely, though, people were also acting off their gut instinct that the collection looks wearable. In a few weeks, when clothes go on sale, it'll be known if that instinct was correct, which is part of what makes Esteban Cortazar 2.0 more than just a sophisticated and sensual progression of seasonless pieces.
27 September 2014