We’ve made it this far.
No hurricane, earthquake, war or sickness prevented us to reach this moment and face a new year — so many people can’t say the same thing.
You are here; for some reason you care for what I have to say, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
This year, while trying to prepare a decent Christmas dinner for my family, all the ghosts of special dates gone wrong, paid me a visit. As I went through the drawers, trying to find elements to create a pretty table set-up, I remembered how much I dislike the process of trying hard to make a day feel special. Not trying to be grinchy, but life tends to be a bit cruel to me when I get excited regarding special dates.
If I could choose a super-power, it would be being able to let go. I used to think that mind-reading was a better option, but what good would it bring me if I’m not able to let go of all the information I get? It’s actually counter-productive.
Posing.
It’s not a matter of vanity.
It’s not a matter of beauty.
It has nothing to do with being superficial.
It’s simply that photography has become our canvas. We discover ourselves through the pictures we post.
One thousand Instagram posts ago, I was a very different person. As I welcomed my first child to this world, I found myself torn between the absolute desire to build a profesional career, and the beginning of my journey through motherhood, while being a nomad with no roots, fully dependent on my husband’s work opportunities, and living in Sweden.
Being alive is a fatal condition. The moment we are born, we basically begin to die. I’ve always been intrigued by Death. Every year I honor her, and the effect she has in my experience of life by celebrating ‘Day of the Death’ with my family.
Freedom is formlessness, yet we are all contained inside our bodies. Showing on the outside what’s inside is liberating. That’s what fashion is for me.
I’ve always been intrigued by the possibility of a different reality. Through science fiction and surrealist art, I’ve found the perfect escape: Remedios Varo, René Magritte, Leonora Carrington, and obviously Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dalí, have transported me to worlds that cannot be, yet are so very real.
Fashion has that power as well.
I was discussing the current state of the world with a friend not long ago, and she said that the more she felt the chaos around us, the more she wanted to stay inside her bubble with her son, not caring for anything else.
I used to be her, and my bubble was so very beautiful.
You see a cliff. You know you can’t go back to where you came from, but you are terrified of jumping. You look down, but it’s impossible to see where it will take you.
There’s only darkness.
You are not comfortable where you are, but you know you can stay there (if you want), slowly shrinking and forever wondering what there is beyond that cliff.
The jump is imminent…
I’ve been struggling the last couple of days to use the right words to express how I feel. If you follow my stories through Instagram, you know what I mean. First it was Irma, who threatened to destroy Miami.
She taught me what fear was.
We read daily stories regarding natural disasters, war, or dictatorships and see them as something so distant. It’s the first time I live a natural disaster of this kind, and I was pretty impressed by all the feelings and emotions I went through. Even with such little damage, I know I was changed for life by fear. Here is my story.
Media companies, advertising agencies and retail are suffering. Insta-sensations are thriving. We are addicted to our phones. No one really knows how to price, or market themselves any longer.
I have to confess: I fill almost every short gap in my life with instagram. Elevators, street-lights, lonely lunches…It has become a friend to me.
Have you ever felt as if you’ve missed up on important memos regarding, well… life? Perhaps someone got your address wrong, the media got in the way or something happened to the messenger that was supposed to deliver the right messages.
I grew up in Mexico, a city drowned by myths, legends and ghosts, celebrating death with music and bright colors, and believing that the spirits of the departed co-exist among the living with their own role in the life of those who love them, and won’t let them go. I would attend mass, and look at the terrifying images of saints with empty stares, and extremely bloody representations of Jesus, (trust me: those figures can only be this scary in Latin America).
Objects: Man made items that own us. They contain emotions, and they have the power to freeze certain moments of life while reminding us of who we were, who we have become, or who we want to be.
I am a feminist. No, I don’t burn bras, and I do love make-up. I wear lipstick almost every day. Red. I have nothing against men, quite the contrary…
You know how there are days when nothing really makes sense, and the simple act of getting out of bed requires an extra effort?
When you feel sad, braid your hair. As you do, the pain gets trapped between its strands, preventing it from reaching your body. Then, wait for the wind to blow hard and run. It will take all of your sadness away. Yes. Whenever you are sad, just braid your hair…
We all have a couple of quotes that are present in our minds in special ways. When I was a little girl, I remember someone said that ‘life was nothing but a chain of deaths’. The first time I heard this statement, was right after witnessing the death of my grandfather, taken away by a couple of waves on a virgin beach in Mexico one day before Christmas. I was six.
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