VISTE LA CALLE CATWALK 2024: CHILEAN FASHION FOR THE WORLD

This is an English translation of the original article in Spanish written for The Latin Issue on November 11th, 2024. You can find it here.

All images used in this article are a courtesy of Viste La Calle’s official Instagram account (@vistelacalle)

Chile is, without a doubt, one of the most culturally influential countries in Latin America. Birthplace of some of the main writers in the Spanish language (Pablo Neruda, Isabel Allende, Gabriela Mistral and Roberto Bolaño, just to name a few), an unbelievable amount of cultural and historic museums all over the country, World Heritage places like the Easter Island and a very prolific movie industry with renowned directors (Pablo Larraín, Sebastián Lelio) and actors (including fan favorite Pedro Pascal), it isn’t an exaggeration to say that Chile is one of the cultural powers of the American continent.

While there is an abundance of creativity and talent among Chileans, their local fashion industry is somewhat small, compared to that of other South American countries like Brazil and Colombia. During the last few years, the Chilean fashion scene has increased its efforts to support and promote local talents through different events and initiatives. One of the most well known is Viste La Calle Catwalk, an annually held fashion show that takes places in Santiago de Chile where independent talents get the opportunity to showcase their newest collections.

The latest edition of Viste La Calle Catwalk took place in Casa Almarza, a beautiful house built in 1856 that was repurposed into a venue for cultural events, on October 29th 2024. As it happened before, Viste La Calle Catwalk is a privately funded, collective effort which was made possible thanks to the support of commercial sponsors and the hard work of everyone involved. The brands that participated in this edition were Cris Miranda, Maria Guldman in collaboration with retail giant Alaniz, Valdés Studio, Vander, Rod Lab Studio and Matías Hernán.

Cris Miranda showcased his newest collection called Cris Mi Kei (which can be loosely translated from Japanese as « Cris Mi Style « ) that was a testament to the refinement and evolution of his brand, both in design and technical terms. Cris Miranda’s touchstone is upcycling vintage Japanese kimonos in a completely Latin American, contemporary way. With modern shapes that can be worn daily anywhere in the world and mostly red and pink hues, Cris Mi Kei was an elegant and sophisticated, yet urban collection, that included a contemporary dance performance of a shamisen melody as its opening act for this runway show. This was definitely one the the best collections in the event as a whole, which combined functionality and artistry in a unique way, and that will work extremely well in international markets.

The collaboration of Maria Guldman with Alaniz, the Chilean retail giant, was a capsule collection of womenswear for the upcoming spring-summer season. Using shades rarely seen on resort collections such as navy blue, olive green, along with classics such as black, white and baby blue, Guldman played with asymmetrical skirt hems and experimented with new sides of fashion as, until now, she was known for her shoes and accessories, rather than clothes. This collection clearly aims to the mainstream buyer, and it will most likely meet with commercial success that leads to more collaborative efforts between the brand and other retailers.

Vander, Verónica Neuenschwander’s brainchild, was another one of the brands at Viste La Calle Catwalk that focused on upcycling. Their streetwear collection included both winter and summer items, styling them into the final outfits. Though this could be somewhat confusing at first sight, it is in fact a perfect symbolism of how global warming has unleashed such incomprehensible changes that it can be hard to tell what season it is, thus we must have a ready-for-anything wardrobe. The unlikely pairing of t-shirts and summer dresses in psychedelic prints and warm, vibrant tones with grey plush hats and hoodies, dark tracksuits and winter boots gave a post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk vibe to the entire set. An abundance of brand logos and a completely inclusive selection of models completed the urban character of Vander’s vision and its potential as a brand that can reach the heights of global streetwear.

Valdés Studio presented a fully genderless collection, as it is now a part of their brand DNA. This collection was dreamy and very summery, taking the audience into the relaxed, fun atmosphere of the most exclusive pool parties of Miami’s mansions. With a color palette composed by raw white, bright orange and butter yellow (definitely one of the key hues for SS25), Rich Bitch Energy also made full use of all possibilities offered by experimenting with tropical flower prints and vertical stripes. Oversized silhouettes, mid length sleeve shirts and fresh cargo pants mixed-and-matched with rectangular sunglasses, black leather loafers and the already viral trend of headscarves with caps.

On the other hand, Rod Lab Studio presented COBRA, one of the most visually striking collections of Viste La Calle Catwalk. Opening with DJ Lizz’s performance, the brand offered an abundance of snakeskin prints in pitch black, silvery gray and bright red through bodysuits, bikinis, long, tight dresses and sets of miniskirts and tops, accessorizing most of them with stoles mimicking snakes over the models’ shoulders. The final look of this runway show, a red fishnet bodysuit with multiple holes of different sizes, styled with clear PVC heeled sandals and a red and black snakeskin printed headscarf, proved the brand’s design team’s skills in textile experimentation.

The last brand to walk on the stage of Viste La Calle Catwalk was Matías Hernán with his MH 360º collection. Bringing athleisure to a hyper futuristic perspective, in this collection nylon, Lycra and other plastic-based fabrics were used to create mostly skin-tight looks, inspired by high end gyms, with tops and shorts, cargo pants in various lengths with open zippers and tracksuits with vertical stripes. In sharp contrast, other looks included asymmetrical dresses, pleated tops and miniskirts, and a spectacular finale with black minidresses styled with clear plastic, LED lights-studded corsets.

In addition to the diversity in both fashion collections and models walking down the runway, the upbeat, party-like environment of Viste La Calle Catwalk was remarkable. Even at the beginning of each brand’s show, they were cheered on by their fans, something that is rarely, if ever, seen in other industry events, and a living proof of Chilean fashionistas’ strong enthusiasm and support for their local brands.

Lastly, the effort of Viste La Calle Catwalk’s participants and organizers has reached their goal  of positioning it as one of the must-see events of Chilean fashion industry, for those interested in getting to know independent local talents. This show has had exponential success and positive reception, and hopefully it will continue to grow and show the world the full potential of Chilean fashion to participate in the global scene.