When the idea of legacy and impact comes up, people often have a self-serving mindset and only see that as something to help their own personal journey. Fourth year Natalie Gamino sees this completely differently. As she wraps up her time at Oberlin, she is putting on a fashion show as her capstone in Communications on Sunday May 3 at 7 PM in The Cat in the Cream.
During a recent interview, she said she was inspired by learning about and seeing a show by Mexican American fashion designer Willy Chavarria in her Intro to Communications class. Seeing how he was able to show the lineage of that fashion, she wanted to know what Mexican Americans are wearing and thinking now.
Fashion is one of the best ways to hear someone’s voice without their needing to say a word, and Gamino’s voice is present throughout this show. Especially at a time when being Latino is dangerous in the States, Gamino wants to communicate that they will keep fighting back and will not let this silence their style.
Throughout her research and finding what styles Mexican Americans are currently known for, she has found a way to show the audience her approach. Gamino mixes together the designs of older swagger like zoot suits and the fashion sense of cholos with things that are straight from Mexican culture like embroideries and colorful patterns.
While we didn’t get into a lot of detail about what each of her lines look like, she mentioned her collaboration with third year Sarai Juarez Osorio and the importance of the music in this show. She let Osorio choose the songs that she and the band will play, but she wanted to make sure the songs reflected each era of Mexican American fashion she was going for.
The first line, inspired by 40s fashion with people wearing zoot suits, will feature the band playing the mambo song Como Se Baila to represent what people in that era would’ve been dancing to. Then she moves to a line inspired by 90s fashion with the band playing Selena’s Amor Prohibido, because “her impact on 80s and 90s style goes without saying.” Gamino then closes the show with modern fashion accompanied by the Marc Anthony song Vivar Mi Vida.
At Oberlin it’s difficult to find people who share your non-white identity. Gamino’s capstone is the first Mexican American, or even Latin American, fashion show to be held on campus. She hopes that this is an example for first years and begins a tradition of students performing for their community even in a predominantly white space. While this is her capstone project, it’s also a hope for people just like herself: no matter who you are you don’t have to conform to the majority.
thecounterpoint.org 