Ivone Juárez / La Paz
When the designer Alejandro Cartagena received one of his clients in his atelier on Kollasuyo street to try on the skirts, blouses and blankets that he designed, “with all due respect” -he clarifies- his imagination would fly when he saw her so concentrated In this ritual that the La Paz chola converts the moment of dressing with all the garments and accessories that make up her traditional costume.
He confesses that the sensuality that these women exude when little by little covering their nudity with the transparency of the centers, before putting on the skirt, led him to imagine them with those traditional garments but showing more skin, especially in the upper part of their bodies, completely covered with the blanket and almost sealed with an ostentatious mole. This idea was reinforced by seeing them turn while contemplating themselves in the mirror after finishing dressing, to check that the lace in the centers are perfectly aligned.
“A woman with so much lace at the base of the centers cannot not be sensual. Seeing the upper part of her body so covered, generating too much visual load, I began to think that we could show a little skin and achieve a new aesthetic in such a beautiful outfit, ”says the designer from La Paz.
Thus, the sculptor, owner of Las Mayas Glamour, began to design chola paceña blouses with deep necklines and transparencies that show shoulders, arms or part of the back. He also created aguayo corsets and bustiers combined with satin, velvet, tulle or other delicate fabrics, embroidered with gold and silver threads, beads, beads and inlaid with brilliant stones. She combined them with the skirts, without altering them, and high heels, without neglecting the Borsalino hat, the ostentatious earrings and the flirty tullmas.
When the designer, who was born in Sopocachi, talks about his innovation, he does so in the plural. He explains that what he achieved is also the result of the work and support of his partner, William Ventura, with whom he never stops thinking about how to innovate traditional attire with a firm objective: to turn it into a party and fantasy outfit that any woman wants to wear, not only in Bolivia, but in the world.
“In the trips that I made and made to Europe, I realized that although we do not export the La Paz chola dress, there are designers who are inspired by that outfit, as well as Jhon Galliano, who among his collections presented a costume very similar to that of the woman in the skirt; So why can't we Bolivians do it”, questions Cartagena, who currently continues to specialize in fashion design in Spain.
Together with William, she took her first steps in La Paz and launched more than one of her proposals on the local catwalks. But since no one is a prophet in his own land, more than one has criticized him for "desecrating" the traditional women's clothing. "Scandal", "impudence" and "vulgarity" were the terms that some launched against his creations.
“When I started showing the garments I had almost the entire Kollasuyo against them, they called my designs scandalous and warned me that I couldn't start like that, they threatened to expel me and prosecute me. I panic. I also received a lot of criticism on social networks, ”he says. La Kollasuyo is the fashion center of the La Paz chola, a street with more than 500 clothing stores and craftsmen who have kept the outfit intact for years, innovating with trendy colors, textures, and other details, but no more.
“Why can't we modernize this outfit that is so rich in color, texture and shapes? It has such varied and exquisite accessories, such as the hat, the earrings, the tullmas and the centers. Contrasts, analogies and bichromies can be created, generating a strong visual impact. We bet on that and we behave risky because we know that the woman in a skirt wants to feel more sensual, ”says Alejandro.
Your assertion is not gratuitous. He and his partner verified that the woman in a skirt is attracted to innovation in her dress and the idea of showing some skin, although for the moment only in social events. “At the party of the Great Power, with William we are transformed, we are Las Mayas. We rescued the black Chinese character from the brunette she was missing and the next step was to innovate her costume, starting by not designing it so covered, giving it a touch of sensuality. Many folklorists liked it and asked us for similar outfits. There we realized that the woman in a skirt, the one who dances, the folklorist is willing to feel more sensual”, affirms the designer.
She considers that with the garments she proposes to export the outfit, something similar happens to what happened with makeup. “When we began to dance in El Gran Poder, almost no women in skirts wore makeup, only us, as drag queens, but they began to ask us to put makeup on them and now it is common to see them like this,” she explains.
From the suit for a mannequin
Alejandro Cartagena was graduated as a sculptor and had a master's degree in philosophy and art history when he began traveling to Italy for business, and in that country he identified some Borsalino hats that he decided to import to Bolivia. He settled in the Kollasuyo, in a place where, to show the Borsalinos, he put up a mannequin that he dressed in a La Paz chola outfit that he designed himself. It was a red suit. The blanket was decorated with blue halos that ran all over it. The skirt also had the figures, but they were on its edges, hand-embroidered by Alejandro. The model was only on the mannequin for a few days, because a woman determined to possess it bought it.
“Another lady appeared who wanted the outfit, but since it was sold, she asked me for another one and gave me all the freedom for the design. I made three with a gradient fabric that went from blue to purple, with embroidered butterflies. She was fascinated and recommended me to other women in skirts. I started like that and the taste that I proposed, the exclusivity in the designs, was accepted. I sold two or three outfits a week,” she recalls.
The next step was to propose that the La Paz brand woman show some skin.
If in La Paz his proposal is still considered a "scandal" by some, his designs have already successfully reached Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Argentina, as well as a biennial in Panama. The following year they will walk the catwalks in Paris thanks to the specialization that Alejandro does in Spain.
The designer who seeks to export traditional attire clarifies that his designs respect its essence, because when he creates them, he does so thinking of the chola from La Paz, how she braids her hair with the tullma; he also thinks about that flirtation that he prints in the movement that he gives to the fringes of his blanket. “They use the fringes and the skirt to show themselves sensual, that's why when they dance they move a lot, with almost aggressive movements, because when they turn and show their centers they are showing their sensuality”, she affirms.
Zenaida is a chola from La Paz seduced by the fashion that Alejandro seeks to impose, but she only surrendered to a boat neck blouse that shows off her shoulders; he uses it for parties. Although at first she felt uncomfortable with the garment, the feeling went away when she began taking photos, posting them on her Facebook, and recording her Tic Tocs. “I wear the blouse but generally I have the blanket that covers me because we women in skirts are conservative, demure,” she says.
“Catwalks with uncovered cholitas are highly criticized,” she clarifies. Alejandro believes that it is a matter of time, but insists that his objective is to universalize the elegant outfit without losing its identity.
