The first Argentine designer to parade alongside Dior and Chanel in Paris
He studied industrial design because he wanted to be an architect: as his parents are, he put the idea aside. He did not intend to dedicate himself to fashion, but a situation brought him closer to this world that today adores him.
“When he was 16 years old he was on vacation in José Ignacio (Uruguay) and it was raining torrentially,” remembers fashion designer Juan Hernández Daels, born in Buenos Aires 42 years ago. “I was in the car and suddenly I saw a couple with a dog hitchhiking. I picked them up and they told me that they were dedicated to fashion and had a brand. They were Paula Cahen D'Anvers and Federico Alvarez Castillo, who was his partner at the time. It was only then that I began to consider something about clothing design. However, it wasn't a real idea until much later in my life."
Today, Daels is one of the most prestigious designers in Argentine fashion. He lives between Paris and Buenos Aires. He is independent, he has had his Sadaels store in Palermo since 2015. But his resonance goes beyond the local: he has already dressed Rihanna, Charlize Theron, the Sheikha of Qatar and Máxima of Holland, to give a few names. Her latest muse is Nathy Peluso: the Madrid-based Argentine singer wears a yellow catsuit from her brand on the new cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Vocational training
Shy, kind and sensitive, Daels is a designer trained in the best schools in the world. He first trained in Antwerp and then in Paris.
“These schools were a privilege and a torture at the same time. Very sacrificed and competitive, but it was worth it. The formation of the Antwerp Academy is unique in the world and is an opportunity to unleash creative processes that you cannot afford at another time in life. In Paris, my partner Josefina Roveta organized a program for entrepreneurs that accelerated our entry into the international market at the highest level of networking possible in the industry. That helped us to get the brand incubated in the Sphere showroom of the Haute Couture Federation as an emerging brand: this year we were accepted into the official calendar of Paris Fashion Week“, says Daels.
Although many designers –Ralph Lauren, for example– have built an empire being self-taught, Daels is an example that training is important. “Anyway, there are self-taught geniuses too. Education without other tools is also no guarantee of success. It helps but does not define”, he clarifies.
-And what would define success, at least in fashion?
-It depends what your idea of success is. A funny story is that Pierre Berge – husband and partner of Yves Saint Laurent and undoubtedly one of the most successful entrepreneurs and managers in fashion – was asked if he felt successful. He said that he regretted not having been the creator of fast fashion... I guess success will depend on the limit of your ambitions. In my case, I think it's about finding a balance where you can be honest with your creative vision and be able to sustain it commercially.
-And what do you think was your first success in fashion?
-That one of the most interesting niche stores in Kuwait has bought my graduation collection. It was my first client and they were the designs that I presented upon receiving me. I also think that I can consider it a success to have graduated from the Antwerp Academy with one of the highest averages in many years, with high honors, when my whole time in high school was tortuous and with terrible academic performance.
-Why do you think you are recognized in Europe?
-Because we have a very particular aesthetic, which combines antagonistic DNA, half Belgian and half Argentine. I am looking for the hybrid, which is the richness of the brand.
-To make a name in this industry you have to become a workaholic?
-To be an entrepreneur and be independent, for sure. I work on vacation, day and night.
Between Paris and Buenos Aires
For Daels, living between the two cities, with what it implies at the airport level, is a pleasure. “Buenos Aires is my undisputed home: I was born here. But the ceiling is low; the market, very small for a niche brand, there are not so many possibilities for expansion if we keep our aesthetic vision. That is why we favor expansion into other markets.”
-You are on the grid of Paris Fashion Week: what does it mean to parade on the same catwalk as Chanel and Dior?
-It's obviously an honour. It sounds like a joke, but here we are! We entered through a contest, selected by a super demanding committee of experts and we worked very hard to become the first Argentine brand that is represented in that calendar. It is a spectacular diffusion platform that brings us closer to remote markets such as Asia Pacific.
-Do you think that Paris continues to have as much weight as before? So many markets have opened, there are so many fashion weeks...
-Paris is the oldest, the most prestigious. It is the last of the circuit, for a logical matter, the buyers (buyers) confirm their orders at the end and the last ones they saw are the ones they presented in Paris. That also makes it commercially efficient. Behind there are great professionals, there is the Ministry of Culture and associations such as DEFI, which finances the commercial development and positioning of brands. In addition, the income is transparent and by contest, not paying...
-It is good that you also present yourself in Argentina. Everyone dreams of for export, but you come from there to here, the road backwards.
Argentina is my country, it is part of the identity of my brand and I believe that it is necessary to give back and that it is not just a marketing construction.
-How do you live these online parades transformed into fashion films due to the pandemic that canceled the face-to-face?
-It is a multidisciplinary process with many other artists: from art directors to film directors. Brands today are platforms, creators of content, not just clothing. I think it's a historic, unique opportunity to take advantage of big established brands. Brand communication is democratized since the VIP factor and guest lists are eliminated, both for the consumer and for the brands. It allows simultaneous access to everyone and, alongside the most talented designers on the planet, expose your work. That is very interesting. In the sky.
dael's paradise
For this new edition of Paris Fashion Week, Daels made a video called Paraíso, where he seeks to reinforce the concept of Creole surrealism. There is a singing scene between Virginia Correa Dupuy and Vida Spinetta performing a folkloric song, In what do we look like? The short also has the presence of Fabián Serna (malambo champion in Laborde 2020), and was filmed and produced in the tourist town of Pardo, obtaining the support and cultural interest of the municipality of Partido de Las Flores (Buenos Aires).
The designer says: “The short film is characterized by a debt to Latin American magical realism and an aesthetic rarefaction based on an eclecticism that is very typical of Argentina. It tells a rural fable in which two women's teams dispute the victory of a game of bowls inside a chapel.
-You like to install the Creole, especially the gaucho, in your international fashion messages.
-We want to highlight and enrich the Argentine traditions, materials and typical outfits of the gaucho and Pampas culture, but with a satirical spirit, not solemn or costumbrista, very urban and youthful that comes from nothing less than the Academy of Antwerp. We believe that Argentina is much more than the caricature of a gaucho and a horse, we have multiple layers of influences, amazing and hybrid, that go far back, from ancient cultures to Italian and Spanish immigrant influences that make our culture rich and eclectic. .
-In the logo of your brand there is a Creole horse.
-It's a pixelated horse. We realized that the chakana (cross of the Andes that was inherited by the gauchos in their ornamental weaving and textile motifs) really does resemble the pixel. The “tailoring” rigidity comes from the Belgian school, we believe that women do not need to wear flowery dresses to be feminine or sensual. We actually feel that a lot of our clothing is genderless and that men could wear it too.
-Your collections have original names: Pizza with champagne, Minimalism + Kitsch, True love. How do you bring these abstract concepts to a collection?
-In general, we build a concept with a brainstorming of images. Different elements can be deconstructed to details in pieces. The name comes at the end, when the collection is finished. But we never get out of the theme of the brand: the gauchesco, the Creole, the Argentine.
-And how do you think about your collections, already at the level of the fabric and the realization?
-Each collection is a continuation of the brand identity. Also, for each season I add a theme as a trigger. The past was the flag, then the flag bearer's band and in this, the rosettes or cucardas.
-Do you work with textures that you already consider your own fetishes or do you decide season after season?
-I have textures that I repeat because they are materials that I really like. Now I am incorporating more natural materials and moving away from plastics.
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-Do you incorporate concepts such as "genderless" in your collections or do you like to have feminine and masculine styles well divided?
-We have a large part of the collection that is unisex. Hopefully it will be 100% soon.
-Returning to the international market. Do you accept the Latin, stopped being something extravagant to be something possible to position?
-Certain codes are expected. If they are not, it costs the insertion of the brand in the consumer. Some, I suppose, will be based on some patterns of behavior. A certain "sensuality" that comes from tropical or warm climates, from showing more skin. A certain femininity that will come from the fact that, unfortunately, our Latin American cultures are still heavily crossed by macho views and women grow up under that patriarchal education.
-How do you stand up to those clichés?
-We decided to take care of those clichés and disarm them, pass them through the filter of deconstruction that I learned in Antwerp. So you want to see gauchos and horses? Well, we'll make boleadoras, but they'll be handbags. Do you want to see colors, print and leather? Ok, we will do it, but not in the way that is expected, but with humor and discernment. Taking ownership of them. The clothes I design are for strong women, who are sensual and sexual but possess that sexuality as desiring subjects and not objects of desire. Skin is going to be seen, but not in a neckline, but in an opening in the back, or in a cut in a jacket.
quarantine and after
Even today, in the midst of a pandemic, between closed borders and various protocols, Daels continues to travel, going from one Parisian house to another in Buenos Aires and vice versa. "I am European and Argentine, I can travel," she explains. “Obviously it is complex and certain production issues are holding us back because in Argentina there are materials and supplies that we cannot get. In addition, we were left stranded production in Europe. But you have to reinvent yourself."
-How was your 2020 and how is your 2021 being?
-The first months were uncertain and put a pause to a super interesting growth in Paris. We had wholesale orders from the best stores in the world that were canceled due to this situation. But on the positive side, it taught us the importance of resilience, the flexibility of reflexes. We opened our e-commerce, which was a success, which allowed us to grow and popularize the brand in Argentina, which was a pending account years ago. In addition, there is an expansion towards Asia that is very promising. We are in full progress of a distribution project in China.
-Is the pandemic going to change the way we relate to fashion?
-I think it will bring us all closer digitally. It will help us lose the fear of clicking purchases.
-Do you manufacture the clothes you sell in Argentina here and the ones you sell abroad, there?
-Yes, in general. But much of what is Argentinean also comes from Europe, especially the raw materials and textiles that we use, which are 70% Italian or French.
-What does a global client want today?
-My client is a very particular client, who is looking for iconic pieces, of high quality, to differentiate herself and be able to bequeath these pieces to future generations without discarding them.
-And what does an Argentine client want in particular?
-My Argentine client is the same as the global one. The massive Argentine clientele is not necessarily questioned by my designs, except for specific activations with influencers and celebrities, which trigger specific purchases, but they are not loyal.
-Do you think the virtual sale is here to stay?
-Definitely.
-But do you imagine a future without stores, without tests?
-No, I understand that it will be omnichannel (many sales channels). Except maybe for fast fashion.
-Do you have a showroom in Paris?
-Yes. From Paris it is sold to the rest of the world. I do not sell in Paris for the French domestic market, but for all the shops in the world.
-Social networks are the great revolution, do you think they brought more advantages than disadvantages to fashion?
-I would say yes. It allowed, especially the emerging ones, to appropriate communication tools that were previously very elitist if you were just starting out.
the famous clients
The Queen of the Netherlands, Argentina's Máxima, wore her designs, as did the Sheikha of Qatar, Mozah Bint Nasser, one of the best dressed women in the world. As we can see, the Royalty consumes and exhibits exclusive Daels models. Not to mention celebrities like Rihanna and Charlize Theron, who also wore their clothes: “Rihanna's thing was for a tour, where she used a lot of catsuits. And the Charlize Theron thing was for an editorial. But I didn't know them personally; His dressers came to get the clothes.”
-How would you define the women you dress?
-Empowered women. And seen deconstructed men too!
-Do you dream that a particular woman wears your design?
-Two. An actress: Tilda Swinton. A singer: Grace Jones.
-Small, exclusive capsule collections are all the rage: would you put one together with H&M or a similar popular big box store?
-I should think about it, since I feel that it is supporting very complex and unethical production and business systems from the human and ecological point of view. I fear that they violate the ethics of my brand. Obviously, they must be impressive businesses that would allow me to sustain my business, but there are delicate things at stake.
-Do you feel that your fashion is for an elite that values design and you like to stay there or do you prefer popularity?
-It seems to me that it is important to find a balance that allows us to sustain the creativity and the motor of the brand. Today I have a niche brand, but business growth can be generated that remains ethical. That is the goal.
See also See alsoMartín Churba, the designer who almost went bankrupt with Macri: “I won with the quarantine”
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