Mexican Ricardo Seco's 'migrant pride' takes over 080 Barcelona Fashion

Madrid – Following the heartfelt tribute to Adolfo Domínguez, 080 Barcelona Fashion was once again filled with emotion on Thursday 16 April for the presentation of Mexican designer Ricardo Seco's latest collection. This was a committed and activist proposal, in keeping with the designer's creative codes. Seco arrived in Barcelona to make his debut on the city's circuit and to celebrate his 25-year career in the fashion industry.

A surprise star of this 37th edition of 080, he took the honorary position of international guest designer. This role was initially reserved for the American creative of Dominican origin, Raúl López, founder and creative director of Luar. As scheduled, Ricardo Seco made his debut on the revamped Barcelona catwalk this Thursday, April 16, the third day of official presentations for this edition of 080 Barcelona Fashion.

Seco, one of the most acclaimed and recognised voices in the Mexican and Latin American fashion scene, closed the third day of presentations at 080 as the international guest designer. Under this banner, he presented his activist collection “Migrant Pride”. It was constructed from newly created pieces, as well as reissues and updates of designs the couturier considers iconic and particularly representative of his 25-year career in fashion. This combination of new designs and pieces from previous collections added depth to both the proposal and the messages Seco aimed to convey to the audience. These were more than just protest statements. The designer delved into migration, drawing significant inspiration from the work “Borders” by Mexican-American photographer Mónica Lozano. He explored how the migration process can affect how we see ourselves and how others see us as individuals.

Although initially presented as a retrospective collection, Seco now clarifies that “Migrant Pride” is “more than a retrospective collection; it is a manifesto, a narrative of identity, resistance and visibility,” the designer noted in a statement from his fashion house. Combining new pieces with others “from various collections where I have maintained a constant commitment to sharing this pride,” the collection “also stems from a dialogue with Mónica Lozano's work ‘Borders’,” which was used to illustrate many of the designs. It “speaks of migrating; but also of what forces migration,” as well as “borders that divide, systems that exclude” and “labels that try to define who belongs and who does not” to a certain place. From this intimate perspective, it also “speaks of what it means to be Mexican, to be Latino,” and of having to “carry that meaning in territories where you are often not welcome.”

Between 'marian cloaks' and protest messages

From this discursive identity, Seco has placed everything that makes up the proposal at the service of this message of protest and awareness. When we say everything, we mean everything. This includes the colour palette used to shape the collection and the very nature of the patterns. These patterns connect with the urban aesthetic prevalent on the streets of Latin American countries or stereotyped as the “uniform” of Latino emigrants. It extends to the garments themselves, which, beyond images taken directly from Mónica Lozano's work, are adorned with messages proclaiming the “migrant pride” that gives the collection its name.

Delving into each of these elements, regarding colour, the collection is based on a chromatic symphony dominated by the green, white and red of the Mexican flag. To these shades, Seco has added “Mexican pink,” a colour associated with the country thanks to architect Luis Barragán in the 20th century; an orange that, in addition to connecting with Barragán's work, Seco presents as a transmitter of “energy”; and black as a symbol of “strength, sophistication and urban intensity”.

As for the garments and designs themselves, which are “genderless”, the designer used materials such as cotton, silk, wool and, above all, leather, which was used to create about 70 percent of the collection's pieces. The designs include jackets, capes, shirts, crop-tops and various styles of shorts. With these, Seco has reinterpreted both urban and traditional, stereotyped clothing from Latin American countries, along with some of the cultural elements most linked to that same attire. This exercise has resulted in powerful pieces and designs. These include capes and jackets whose cuts seem to imitate cloaks like that of the Virgin of Guadalupe—which illustrates one of the key garments of this “Migrant Pride” collection. It also features bags presented as reinterpretations of the bundles carried by migrants, marked with messages like “identity,” “dignity” or “freedom”.

This series of elements has given the proposal a “conceptual dimension”. This is precisely what has paved the way for several pieces presented on the 080 catwalk this Thursday to be incorporated into the collection of the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico. From there, it is also expected that they will be curated and presented by the FIT Museum in New York as part of a cultural programme, although no further details have been released for now.

Presented for the first time exclusively at 080, each garment in this collection “is a statement”. Similarly, “each look is a way of occupying” a space often denied to migrants. From this activist standpoint, the Mexican designer points out, the genderless silhouettes “invite us to reflect in a space where freedom is not negotiated,” such as the street. He notes that streets “represent the true catwalks of the world” and “do not understand imposed rules, only identity.” From this perspective, “colour is not aesthetics” but is reclaimed as a “symbol”. In this case, “green, white and red as roots,” “Mexican pink and orange as living energy,” and “black as the hardness of the city” and “as the shadow that also builds us.” “This collection does not seek to fit in. It seeks to question” and “it does not ask for permission”. It does not do so “because being a migrant is not a weakness. It is an identity that is defended, honoured and worn with pride.”