Nacho Lamar is the first Aragonese to win the 2021 National Fashion Design Award for Young Designers in 35 editions. At 27 years old, he promises to revolutionize the fashion world with L’amar, genderless fashion that will be sold online on demand.
How does it feel to receive the National Young Fashion Award?
Everyone tells me, you’re on a high, aren’t you? But I’m facing my brand and I’m a little tense. It’s very complicated, I’m getting workshop, labor, people, fabrics … I’m struggling to achieve what I want. The success of the award would be to continue in what I want. This award is a palm on my back, maybe I am a non-conformist by nature and I always need more. I am happy and tense at the same time.
You are the first Aragonese to win it in the history of the award.
Yes, in 35 editions. Maybe I’m happier for that merit, for representing Aragon than for anything else. Maybe before in Aragon the contest didn’t have such a big impact or maybe since 2018 it is being seen that in Aragon there is talent in fashion, there is a different atmosphere. Through social networks you see more interest in fashion, through Hacer Creativo design is being promoted more and there are works of boys and girls that are quite strong. This year the Young Designers Contest of Aragon Fashion Week is going to be very good.
What collection did you present for the award?
I submitted Esto no es una colección (This is not a collection), with which I wanted to transform objects into garments. This was something that was already done in pop art, Andy Warhol, who worked with the silhouettes of objects and drew them. For the name itself I was inspired by Magrite with This is not a pipe, which gave a glimpse of a whole philosophical state. I wanted to play with that and open that question to the viewer and surprise him. It is a collection that I designed and produced in two and a half months. This leitmotiv will be present in my work this year. I have many more designs in my head and I want to play with them: this is not a coffee bag, this is not a cap….
What is this work going to consist of?
My brand L’amar is going to consist of two lines: Contemporary, garments that we have seen on the catwalk redesigned for prèt a porter through irregular launches of a garment, an accessory… and another more classic line of tailor-made tailoring that we will start with bridal fashion on request. In the case of Contemporary we will sell the clothes through the online store and the tailoring will start once the order is placed through the web.
Is it all menswear?
I don’t want to label myself, I’ve always been told that I design for me, and it’s true that I see myself in those designs. But my collections are genderless, I’m not looking to find people, I’m looking for people to find the clothes. All my fashion is closely linked to art, I drink a lot of contemporary art. With L’amar I want to go a little further, I want it to be a little anti-fashion, I want to experiment with the garment. My public will be comprised of men, but I’m going to play with the diversity of people, I’m not looking for models, I’m looking for people who have personality. I want to make an experiment and try to revolutionize. I don’t want to make a conventional brand.
That art you are inspired by is centered in Aragon.
In 2017 I signed up with a partner at the Aguja Goyesca and I was inspired by Goya’s Tauromaquia. In 2018 I entered the Certamen de Jóvenes Aragoneses that was held during Aragón Fashion Week and I was the winner. I had to talk about something that was ours, I wanted to talk about Aragon and I made a reinterpretation of the XX years, giving them a twist of forms and aesthetics. With Legado XX I tried to approach tailoring, taking inspiration from José Beulas, Luis Buñuel, Miguel Labordeta, among others; and in each outfit I pay tribute to them. In the photographs of the models I try to link the outfits to places in the community.
In 2019 I create the Francis collection, inspired again by Goya. Every time I investigate more and more and I am even more passionate about the figure of the Aragonese painter. This time I make an ode to his career from beginning to end, I drink from his work, life and work… and I take the pictures in Fuendetodos and in the Monastery of Veruela. In 2020 I do my final thesis, I wanted to create a concept from scratch, Lamarismo, a kind of religion.
Are you in Zaragoza pursuing your career?
I am re-establishing my project. I’ve been several months at FITCA working tailoring with Fernando Marco to specialize. I am very grateful to his teachings and I have reflected it in my latest collection. I work with basic materials that have tremendous interior constructions that I have not done before and I wanted to bring it closer to the prèt a porter. I want to bet on that tremendous care in the garments.
How do you combine creativity with commercial and business interests?
During this time I have gone against the current of myself and my possibilities. I have created 4 collections externally outside my career. It has been a challenge for me and as a designer I wanted to create more and challenge myself. During my studies the concern for my business was less because I was training and the wings of creativity explode. Now you are faced with a brand that you want to sell and you have to land. I’m still learning from this, I’ve made mistakes with certain things like time management, the purchase of materials … no one has taught me and you learn stick after stick. As time goes by I will learn more and more, I still keep saying: what a crazy thing I’ve gotten myself into. It’s a very difficult industry and the making is very laborious. When I have everything tied up, the two firms, the website and online store, social networks … I will try to go to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid because I know I have passed the level of young designer and I have to climb the ladder.
What are your next steps?
The first thing I’m going to do is to show my collection in September at Aragon Fashion Week as a designer. But I am aware that labeling myself as a designer means that years go by and your business works. Now I am an entrepreneur who is very excited about what he does. Above all, I am putting all my strength in making all my production in Aragon. It is more difficult to get the materials here, but I try to make all the production in my land because I need to support my city. That is part of making a project sustainable. It is also true that I want my client to be outside Aragon because I want to internationalize the firm.
