Alquimia Feminina Runway Show

Who are you? What is the show? Just talk us through it.

Yes, my name is Nova. I own IAmNovaZo, and today we are doing our runway show for Alquimia Feminina, or Feminine Alchemy in English. It's my love letter to women, tying in my culture and my heritage as a Panamanian first-generation in this country with my family. So, I wanted to do an homage to the fashion I saw growing up [which is] the whole thesis of the show.

How long have you been designing? How long have you had your own company? Let's get into this.

Yes, so I've had this company for, or I've had my brand for almost six years now.

Damn, congratulations.

I've had it since I was- no wait, is that right? Since 18. All throughout me being a young adult, I've had my crochet brand. It started very small, but runway has always been a [concentration] of mine. Growing up in theater, growing up in choir, I’ve always loved the theatricality of runway; I just wanted to keep doing that. As I got older, it got a little harder to do, but I'm so happy that we're blessed to find this venue. The crew is amazing.

How did you choose your team, and what do you look for when you are hiring people?

What I look for is like-minded people; we resonate with each other. That's my biggest thing. I think my brand is very hyper-specific on what we do in terms of knitwear and crochet, and it's just very homely and kind of very boots on the ground. Even though we grow each and every year, it's still very DIY-coded and like “what can we do with very little” type of thing. And the girls that I find are just, you know, they're amazing. Such an amazing crew, honestly; it's a very concise team. And yeah, it's [mostly] friends of mine that I've met in the industry or people that I've met just online.

Gotta say, we were talking about this; we can feel it. There's a professionalism; everyone is locked in.

Okay, you kind of already touched on this; the question is, do you have a focus? You've spoken about texture, but do you have a focus as far as silhouette, the message, specific colors? What do you look for?

I think my focus is the woman's body. In my day job, I'm in bridal; I'm a bridal stylist. I see so many different types of silhouettes, whether it's princess seams or, you know, drop waist or Basque waist. [Because] I see so many silhouettes in my job, I am genuinely just into women and how they feel confident. You can see when a woman rolls back her shoulders, and she's just like, “I am here.” This is what I do; I work hand in hand with that energy.

So, you've spoken about your biggest inspirations, but how do you come up with the designs? Do you start small, or do you like to start big and work backwards? What's your process like?

I usually start with keywords for each of my shows. With this one, it started with feminine alchemy. And then I was like, “Okay, what does that mean? Like, let's get to the root of it.” So, I kind of did my homework in that way. But with this one, I tried to plan it all out; I tried to design it, which I never really do. I never illustrate. I don't really work in that way, and this just flowed in so intuitively. I [originally] had a board up of what I wanted a hat to look like and this and that, and none of that came true. It just flowed into what it is. My thesis has flowed in parallel with my personal life this summer and creating this collection. It was just how I was feeling in the day, and each of the looks has a story of where I was coming from.

Do you draw your inspiration inwards? Is it a soul thing? Or is it more “I saw this leaf” or “I saw this person smile”? Is it more external or internal?

I think it's more internal, like the colors I choose. Working with my mom, who's my co-designer as well, she's made some of these looks, and she would send me things via mail because she doesn't live up here in New York. And I would be like, “Okay, I can work off of this little granny square and then start from there.” In our thesis as well, it was very like, “I'm gonna do it.” I take a ball of yarn, and I make it into a gown, or I make it into a bridal look. It's very intuitive. There's no structure behind it, I think; it's very free-flowing.

So, your mom was the co-designer. Can you tell us more? What's that like?

She learned how to crochet after I did. I learned how to crochet in seventh grade, so it's been a long time, but she learned in the last three years. She was like, “I want to help you do what you want to do.” Since it's slow fashion, it can be very hard; if I get a commission, you have to give me two weeks to get the yarn in and then also make it. Like, it's not just a fabric thing I can cut up. So, she was like, “I want to help you because I could see you’re stressed out.” So that's how that started.

Okay, so post-show, how are you feeling?

I feel like a weight's been lifted off of my chest. This was genuinely a diary in clothing, and I was able to let it out, and I'm in shock right now. It's just been months and months of prep, and knitwear is slow. This is slow fashion. This isn't your standard, you know, ready-to-wear shirt. So, to be able to do this with my mom and be able to do really cool shit is nice.

What’s next?

Well, I think we're going to be moving into customs and physical stores. I think that's the next phase of our brand here in New York as well as hopefully bicoastal and abroad if it grants itself that way. A lot of things are in the works in private; a lot of people are waiting for the show to come out in terms of vending and merchandise. So, a lot of things are in the works, but commissions are my biggest focus. I think I love doing customs for people, musicians, artists who want to wear cool textiles and wear something one-of-one.

What is your dream?

My dream for the brand? Honestly, I would love to have my own atelier and be able to ask, “Hey, what are you looking for today? Can we make it for you?” I think I want to stay in the customer-facing [world]. I think that's what the brand requires. It's intuitive work.

Do you have a dream location where your atelier would be? Like Soho, Fifth Ave, etc?

Actually, it wouldn't be in New York, I don't think. I think it'd probably be in California or maybe the Amsterdam area. A big dream of mine in college was to be GANNI's head of knitwear. And knitwear is just in the Scandi world, like in their fashion world. Knitwear is their everything, because it's so cold up there. But I do make very summery knits, so it’d probably be in California.

What was the hardest and easiest thing about pulling off this show?

The easiest thing was producing the show. I don't know why I have this switch in my brain that producing a show comes very naturally to me. The hardest part was going off of the illustration board [I made], and then I didn't do it. So, I think following my own designs, like I'm just an intuitive designer and I have to respect that of my mind, I think. So that was the hardest part, like, “Oh my god, this doesn't even match what I was going for.” The new directions and constantly starting over and beginning again, that can be really hard. And it's a ball of yarn, and you can't cut knit; you have to unravel it. When it's there, it's there, you know?

What pulled you into knit originally?

Textile design was never really my gag. I didn't like pattern making, again, that intuitiveness, being able to manipulate yarn and tension instead of boning or flexi boning; that's where my heart lies. This has all come from self-experimentation, like, “okay, if I pull this upwards, my bust will look better.” And it's come from a lot of trial and error. And crocheting has always been a meditative thing for me. So, I was like, “Okay, let's do it. Let's try it.”

What's your zodiac sign?

I'm a Virgo.

See, and I knew it was always going to be this. When you were talking, I was like, she must have a Virgo placement.

And then what's the zodiac sign you would give this show?

Oh my God. I think this show has to be a Scorpio sun, Taurus moon, Virgo rising.

Love.

Like it's earthy, it's watery, but deep water, like Scorpionic. She is feeling things, but she's doing it in a cunt way.

Oh girl, we saw; she really is.