GAZE OF OUTLINES

      Paula Aragonés's vision for her Fall-Winter 2022 demi-couture collection was always clear: understanding, challenging, and accepting her perspective of sex and power. How both concepts relate to each other, differ, and merge. Comprehend the correlation and relationship such strong words have and, more importantly, why. "The Gaze of Outlines" is a play on words. Gaze refers to how perspective and angles are crucial in topics as personal as sex appeal. Outlines refer to how each piece has been designed to play on the body's contours.

 

       "There is no right, wrong, rule, or trend that can honestly tell women how "sexy" should feel for them. But we can't ignore how women have been taught to portray sexiness and arouse desirability with an innocent stare. How the male gaze overtook advertising, making marketing completely one-dimensional. How great painters brushed off women's realness, or how trousers were once a feminist statement; illegal for any women to wear. Any fantasy was for men from men; women were just a character, a face to help move along the story. The lessons learned throughout the years are too valuable to not be discussed, especially with sex on fashions brain again in 2022. The power must be in our female hands. When speaking about women, allow no romanticized version of us, no objectified version of us. Just us, in our skins, with our interpretation of sex appeal, whatever that might be to each and every one of us. My designs are not for everyone; that makes them beautiful; it wouldn't be fashion if they were.

 

      My fashion muse could be found behind a dark wooden door on the top floor of an apartment overlooking the city of Lima, Peru. My grandmother's closet. Growing up, I would admire my grandmother's style, her ever clean-cut and radiant smile. She was never dull yet never over the top. My Mamama would pick me up and sit me on the white island in the middle of her closet; she had outfits styled, hanging around, and ready to wear for the week, one more eloquent than the other. As she taught me the dos and don'ts of fashion, I got distracted by my grandfather's corner of the closet. His monochromatic suits, simple button-ups, and handsome ties. 

 

Left me in awe. 

 

     To me, elegance stood associated with power, and power is sexy. Power in the way one confidently walks in a room, head up high, undoubtedly knowing self-love and worth. Now, THAT is a compelling image, and that makes my head turn. 

 

     My instant intrigue forced me to dive into the return of sex in 2022. What are people doing, thinking, and how are we acting? Before I could grab paper and pencil to start sketching my designs, I had to know more. Allow me to tell you some of my findings. 

 

    For starters, we simply must mention Covid19 and the deprived sexuality it caused us. But, fashion being a cyclical beast, the influence of the 90s and Y2K was bound to make a comeback. For Millennials, it's about nostalgia, and for Gen Z, anemoia: nostalgia for a time never known. We see the trends: minis, cargo pants, cut-outs, bikini suit-ups, and the lower rise. However, let us not forget how that period, with all the steamy and seductive feel it brought, also caused women to be over-sexualized and objectified, eventually driving women away from sex, from that sexy and hot, in-your-face approach. Today's seismic shift towards sex reminded us of the 90s and Y2Ks, and personally, I am all for it. I am all in because, unlike 25 years ago, sexy nowadays has no parameters; there is no one specific aesthetic driving the trend. It's 2022, and let us be raw when speaking; toxic masculinity is a no, and women not supporting women, no. If you want to dress showing every inch of your body, that is sexy and powerful. If you're going to cover it all up and show us all how to layer, that is sexy and powerful. If you want the in-between skin and fabric, that is sexy and powerful. 

 

    Own your look and own your skin while respecting the person next to you. Such a simple concept, yet so hard to fully follow. I had no idea what sexy was for me; I loved loose clothes with colorful patterns, a bohemian look; then, as I grew up, I realized my intensity and sexy feeling came from a blazer, a casually elegant attire. I didn't wanna allow my sensual side to be associated with clothes that connote masculinity. Would that make me less titillating? less pretty? too manly? No. Sexy comes from within, not the style alone. You feel sexy; you dress in what helps you enhance that feeling and then irradiate sex appeal. 

 

    It wasn't until I sat down to draw my concept for this collection that I accepted my type of seductive style; my edgy look derived from classiness. These two concepts might seem to juxtapose one another, but I happen to think they add value to each other. I grabbed inspiration from the 90s, the glam, the "model-off-duty," and -truth be told- Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. In my body, in my skin, I feel powerful and sexy when I embrace my feminine and masculine side. In a way, I'm combining the two influential people who taught me fashion, my Mamama, and Papapa; I'm merging the closet behind a dark wooden door on the top floor of an apartment overlooking the city of Lima, Peru. 

 

    A quote that stuck out to me from an article from Dazed by Daniel Rodgers was: "...Provocative not in the hemlines they shaved off but in the lines, they had crossed." Referring to how showing skin, for its sake, sometimes is not necessarily what makes someone feel sexy or arousing. Instead, the unexpected, the weird, and messy is because that's what sex in real life is really like. To me, sex is contradicting; it's edgy and hot, fun and subtly vulgar yet romantic and elegant, so if that's sex to me, let's turn it into clothes. Let's outline it. 

 

    "The Gaze of Outlines" is my take on sex and power. My ever-cleaned-dressed grandparents represented notable figures in my life, and now, it's my time to turn their suits, straight lines, into curves, into sex. Give my edge to it. "The Gaze of Outlines" is taking that which connotes elegance and power: a vest, a suit, a blouse, a formal dress, and twisting sex into a subtle, in-your-face juxtaposition. 

 

    I am proud to present my favored collection piece, where I subtly throw boobs in people's faces, called the Arousing Vest. It's versatile; wear it with a blouse underneath or with nothing. I don't care. Grab it and interpret it as you wish. That's the purpose of sex and power in fashion. That's what "The Gaze of Outlines" stands for. "