Justo Ocampo, the Corrientes designer who dresses Argentine celebrities
He was born in Curuzú Cuatiá, and after high school he decided to travel to Buenos Aires to study Industrial Design at the university. Today, Justo Ocampo is one of the benchmarks of Argentine fashion. In dialogue with EL LIBERTADOR, the man from Corrientes told his story as a clothing designer and his style that identifies him. In addition, he spoke about the carnivals and the roots of Corrientes in each confection made.
How was Justo Ocampo trained?-I grew up all my life in Curuzú and when I finished school I came to Buenos Aires to study Industrial Design, which does not have much to do with fashion, but with design.During the career process In the middle I started with some jobs, I made windows for some brands and then accessories. I also did art direction and fashion production, like everything that went around, but not in the clothes themselves. Little by little I got involved and became more and more interested. While I was doing all that work, I continued my career and we ran into Bely Guevara, who was also working as a designer assistant, and we both said: "Let's put together something of our own", because it was time to put together our proposal and ideas with identity and that is how Guevara Ocampo was born. That at first it was very small, it was a project that we worked on in my house, then in hers, and so it grew little by little. Did you dream of all this? -I think it was something that came very naturally, always of effort and perseverance, dedication and very step by step. From small objectives that were being fulfilled and we were growing, from going from attending in the living room of our house to being able to have a first space, which was a minimum place, a very small apartment. After being there for two or three years and trying to go steadily. Guevara Ocampo, what style defines your brand? -With our brand we specialize in party wear. It is a brand where you can find everything and there is a bit of the grace that it has. Like that more daring side because you can have party dresses, but mixed together you can see a camouflaged jacket and more show and theatrical clothes. Also, with artisanal fabrics because we send many things to Corrientes to be woven. In that dynamism and mixture, there is also something of Guevara Ocampo's identity, which is the party dress, but at the same time, it has that other sharper, bohemian and rocker side. What styles identify you personally? the style that I like, which has something like that somewhat more bohemian or rocker side, mixed with the most glamorous part. What I like the most is the mixture. Designs with an identity from Corrientes? -Totally, because it is something that interests us, we love it and we like to reinforce it whenever we can. Either to put a texture that reminds us of Corrientes or add an embroidery that we send to do, use a material or stamp Gauchito Gil. We put all these nods to our roots all the time in clothes and collections, it's something we love. Stefi Roitman's dress had an outstanding impact. so much In addition, the best of all was a good repercussion, everyone liked it, in the media it came out how beautiful she was and the dress. What other celebrities did they wear? -Luckily there are many figures who look for us to dress them, and it is always great because dressing a well-known figure or celebrity is a big showcase where one can show off their work and can show off from different facets. From making a dress for a gala to Guille Valdés or Carla Peterson to being able to make show clothes or video clips. Much more played and different, or less real for daily life for music figure, where we have made clothes for Lali, Cazzu, and Oriana Sabatini. There are other figures that let you exploit that other side that is much crazier, more daring. Do you follow the carnival closely? -I love the work they do in the carnivals in Corrientes. It is a spectacular work, extremely handmade and super creative, it seems to me the best. Every time I see it, the comparsas and the carnivals, I'm always looking to rescue something that can be applied to a dress. How a technique can be applied to clothing, I find it super interesting, it seems that there are two worlds that can even coexist. Project for the future personally-In the future we come from a year and a half quite hard, because everything was very stopped , everything that is party clothes and others. Luckily, half of 2021 we worked very well, now we hope that this year will be the same. We are preparing the new collection and waiting to see how the market responds.
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