A Conversation with Designer Caro Gomez
18th June 2020
This is the first in a series of conversations with creative and inspiring humans, the aim being to not only promote their work but to uncover their journey, learn about techniques and pass on tips and advice.
Carolina Gomez is not only a vibrant designer but incredible inspiring woman who’s connected to her inner goddess ! I was drawn to her on instagram and couldn’t help but be mesmerised with her Friday night boom of energetic dance that can only be described as tribal … she summons her goddess and she arrives blazing!
Caro is originally from Argentina and now lives and works in London. She’s know for her vibrant prints and iconic vulva doodles … Since our conversation she has successfully organised and run goddess workshops that encourage women to connect with the power of dance and creativity.
We discussed a whole manner of things ranging from not fitting into fashion college, cultural appropriation and much much more … Here’s a snippet from the conversation and a link to the full IGTV .. definitely worth a listen.
Top Take Aways
Stay true to yourself, just because you don’t fit into someone else’s taste doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.
Consumers are seeking connection more than ever, they’re looking to find their tribe and are less worried about buying into a fashion trend
* Typed verbatim*
When you tap into your culture what does that actually mean to you ? How does that come through you, into your sketch book and into your clothing ? Tell me about your process ?
To be honest I didn’t have a mental understanding of why certain colours would come out or certain pattern would come out , it was very innate , very from within. For years I had a thing about I couldn’t draw because I couldn’t realistically recreate like a tree or flower, and that’s what I thought drawing was. But of course no, look at so many artists out their that do splats of paint, look at Pollock where they are considered master works of art. There were all these restrictions that I placed on myself and I didn’t understand where all these colours would come out, these strong lines, all my work is very powerful in the sense that I don’t work with light lines or watercolours, I use markers and oil pastels like “Here I am’ sort of thing, it came out again in my photography like all the colours are bright, this high contrast, saturation and I started thinking where did this thing come from, because it’s fascinating to me. I think in part because when I close my eyes and I see whats going on in my head I always see colours in a very saturated way, growing up in a country that has sun like 80% of the year means you see colours in a very saturated way … like midday shadows are like black you know on the floor and the person is bright ! I think that that is in my brain , thats the world, and so it comes out in that way.
And I know coming here and bringing this aesthetic especially in my textile course I always got the feedback, you have to be more sophisticated with the way you use colours and tone it down and that meant dial it back but of course 20 year old me was like you know, so maybe I’m just not good enough.
We talked about fashion and the machine … how’s it a game and the compromise you need to make to be taken on by the larger department stores.
You know, to be honest and I think this is really interesting, I think now after corona after being on lock down and after the environment issues were facing and the social issues we’re facing and maybe I’m just being hopeful but I think people are ready to let go of big brands, there’s always going to be a mass of people who say give me my brown leather bag and that’s totally fine, there are enough brands out there to deliver that. But now especially with social media you are able to connect with groups, small groups that want to connect with something deeper.
Now the way things are moving and coming from a fashion background of so many years there was this very structured model of this is what you do , you go to trade shows you approach buyers you produce a collection … try to get your stuff on a celebrities, you get your PR. That was the structure if you want to be successful , you’ve got to work hard and this is the model .
Now it’s totally changed and its been turned on its head .. and quite rightly and that why with social and you are promoting yourself, its about your energy and your work so people are going to connect with you and who you are and what you stand for .. its about connecting with your tribe and bring them to your platform .. which is what you’re doing .
Precisely, and honestly in a nutshell thats what I’m doing and its taken me in lockdown to realises that, before that it wasn’t exactly what i was thinking, I was thinking the celebrity, I had this thing that if just one person wears it, you know !
The customer is much more savvy nowadays anyway, and we as people are much more savvy as to A what we want or B what actually means something to us. I was speaking to my husband about personal development and it’s become a bit more mainstream than 10 -14 years ago when i was in my twenties and it was very kind of weird, and now its not so, and that has allowed people to connect to a more meaning part of themselves through trauma, through social changes happening. I guess the people I connect with are interested in more.
Find Caro at @carogomez_london
