Carla Fernández, design label

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.