Hot Mexican Winter

Antonio Ortega Paris Couture Week AW19

It was right around the time of this show during Paris Couture Week that I had begun to realize that aside from seeing couture fashion I have also had the best tour of foreign embassies in Paris. Montreal based Mexican born designer, Antonio Ortega, showed his AW19/20 couture collection on July 2nd at the Canadian Embassy. The venue was perfect. A beautiful sunny day welcomed a guest list of the fashion forward. The garden of the embassy was transformed into runway that felt like a manicured jungle. The show producers have thought of everything, even furnishing the audience with bright orange umbrellas to block out the rain or shine. I took my seat and one by one orange umbrellas opened until I was sitting under a canopy of orange that offered much relief from the sun.

The show began with a model in a wine colored fur headpiece that had a white antelope head perched on top. The black gown she wore was a mix of sheer netting, lace and hair. This was the beginning of a collection rich in textures. Ortega mixed Mongolian fur with lace and metallics freely. His use of basket weaving techniques in the shawls and coats were a design detail that emphasized the cultural undertones of this collection. The rich Mexican culture with its colors and intensity are meticulously integrated into the haute couture style. Since Ortega’s premiere show in 2014 he has garnered much deserved attention for his bold and unapologetic style.