At the Garciavelez NYFW: Men’s ready-to-wear Spring 2017 presentation, beauty truly was in the breakdown. Designer Carlos Garciavelez tapped into his training in architecture for the clothes and set design, exploring the colors and patterns found in weathering minerals, metals, and infrastructure. “We threw a bunch of chemicals and oxidized [copper], and took that idea and figured out how to put it into tops and bottoms into prints,” he told us. “It’s the idea of erosion juxtaposed with nature…it’s beautifying the oxidation process.”
The collection is titled Verdigris, which is the natural blue-green patina formed when copper, brass, and bronze are exposed to the elements (think: the Statue of Liberty’s greenish hue). A few pants had exposed seams, the oxidization pattern was printed onto a variety of sweatshirts and bottoms, and the verdigris color popped up on cuffs and in patterns. “The garments are showing more of the construction, so we’re pulling out the seams,” he said. “It’s a construction component, and the idea of construction in a garment. That’s the underlying idea.” The designer also used footage from a helicopter ride he took to Palm Springs, and screen-printed a birds-eye view of LA on a pair of shorts. Treated copper plates and sections of steel mesh scoured from construction sites were thoughtfully placed around the set to complete the urban jungle meets nature vibe.
