Carla Fernández

Mexican designer and entrepreneur Carla Fernández has deeply researched indigenous textile and garment design. For this piece, she worked with Mujeres Conservando Raíces (Women Preserving Our Roots), a group of dye artisans in southeastern Mexico known for their expertise in harvesting and working with cochineal. A brilliant pink-red dye extracted from cactus-eating insects, cochineal was one of the most valued and exported materials of Mexico’s colonial period.

This garment is a reparative act of indigenous reclamation: Nahua women in the workshop dyed it as an expression of their heritage; the uncut sleeveless-poncho style refers to pre-Hispanic silhouettes; and the embroidered text (“ya llegaron las flores que causan vertigo” / “and the flowers came that cause giddiness”) is from a poem by Nezahualcóyotl (1402–1472), a poet and ruler in pre-Columbian Mexico.