Oscar Carvallo In His Words

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Just before presenting his new collection at Miami Fashion Week and taking the catwalk with his models, Venezuelan designer Oscar Carvallo spoke with Ponte Bella about his inspiration.

“I am very happy to present in Miami. We want to do a performance like the ones we do in Paris,”he said. “We are presenting Free My Soul, Release my Soul. This started with the revolution in Venezuela. We presented a collection in Paris called SOS -Save Our Souls or Save Our Souls- which was inspired by the entrance of communism in Venezuela so the dresses had bullets, they had embroidered like jails. Sure, everything very couture and sophisticated. I always like that the collections have a more important background than just a beautiful dress”.

The artist confesses that he gives his soul when designing. "It's called Free My Soul because I think that what young people want today is to be free," he adds of this new ready-to-wear collection. The heart is a symbol that we see in many of its pieces. “You see the heart on the side of the chest, they are embroidered. There are more luxurious haute couture embroidery and the Free embroidery, which is the new cotton collection”, he adds.

Choosing the materials you work with is an essential part of your art. "The materials are many brocades, there are many tulles, there are transparent meshes", he details. "The colors are white, black, red and silver."

What is it inspired by? “The Latin woman has always been my inspiration. I got used to the Venezuelan woman who is a very beautiful woman and also very elegant, very refined. I hate vulgarity in women”, confesses laughing Carvallo, who has lived 20 years in Europe.

His path to success has taken effort and learning. "In France I learned with the French what simplicity is because we Latinos like to recharge a lot, but I have purified myself a little," he admits. "With the Italians I learned how to develop a collection, I learned about textiles, about designing fabrics."

Your advice when choosing a dress for a red carpet? "A cleavage is good but neither is it that we are going to go out naked on the street. Women should always keep an elegant part, "he says. Who is one of your muses? "I was very inspired by Hollywood cinema in the 40s and 50s, I love Bette Davis, " he confesses.