Victor Alfaro Pre-Fall 2016 | Nordstrom Fashion Blog
Victor Alfaro Pre-Fall 2016 | Nordstrom Fashion Blog
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Every once in a while you come across a set of fashion images that you just want to live inside. You want to be the girl, to explore her landscape, you want-most of all-to wear her clothes.
There's something so classically New York about Victor's style, which makes sense-the Mexican-born designer has lived there since the '80s. And he just seems to understand what women are looking for from season to season. He's all about layering, and building a wardrobe of looks that will work together for a nice, long time.
He's also about an edgy jolt and an industrial urban setting. When we asked him to share his evocative pre-fall images with us, he happily complied, then told us all about the collection-and how Taylor Swift figures in. (Or, well ... doesn't.)
THE THREAD: Who were your muses for pre-fall, for both the collection and the shoot?Victor Alfaro: For pre-fall and fall, in general we wanted to depict a very urban scene with an urban woman. I think the modern setting of Manhattan's Flatiron neighborhood for pre-fall, and the West Village for fall, were both really important for me. The Flatiron is a hub of restaurants, tech, fashion, and a mix of creative fields in general. I think of my women less in fashion terms and more in terms of these creative areas of New York that she embodies.
She has many different ingredients that make up the urban woman she is, although I do ask myself, "What does this urban girl look like?" So we created edgy, shaggy wigs (and this was before the Taylor Swift Vogue cover!) that really completed the look I wanted the girls to have.
I remember you telling me that you shot these looks on a super-cold day. Why was it important to be out in the city with these pieces? What was the story that you wanted to tell, and how did you know it needed to be set in an urban environment? I wanted to shoot the models in architectural spaces and out on the street. The girls needed to be moving the entire time, and remain mysterious and elusive. I wanted all visuals of the shoot to be very strong-like the persona of the women themselves-from the short, cropped hair to the very defined, tailored silhouettes of the clothes.
What was important was that she was active and embodied a kind of a survival mode that you have to possess to live in New York. I always pose the question, "Where is she going?"
The idea of layering and building-both in terms of an outfit and an overall wardrobe-is really central to how you work. How does pre-fall build up to fall? What's the common thread and puzzle-like "fit" of the two collections?We are calling this layering idea our "System," and I wanted there to be a synergy between our customers' seasonal wardrobes, rather than a disconnect between the collections and the deliveries. The layering concept is centered around the idea of acquiring pieces over time and between collections. All pieces in this System go together and work harmoniously, such as the fit of the armhole or lapels matching up in the vest and coats when worn together. These pieces are investments and should always work together. Additionally, the colors from pre-fall complement and work with the colors from our fall collection.
