Bohemian Renaissance

With fresh bold colours, sharp architectural construction, fluid drapery, and effortless silhouettes; this couturier charms us with his take on modern fashion.

- Chitman Kanwar Ahuja

A young design prodigy, in a world where we often lose ourselves; Esteban Cortazar is one such force to be reckoned with. Born to a Columbian artist Valentino Cortazar and former British jazz lounge singer Dominique Vaughan, his childhood drifted between Colombia, New York, and Miami. The time he spent as a teen living with his father above South Beach’s News Café, Gianni Versace’s breakfast spot, proved to be a comprehensive fashion education in itself. For his design inspiration, his home was always filled with captivating muses, a fearless female presence, music and laughter. His grandmother’s wardrobe and his mother’s evocative stage outfits formed the diction of his early fashion vocabulary.

But this designer never forgot his roots and aimed to seize every opportunity to display his cultural heritage along the way through his design motifs. For him fashion became a tool of self expression, femininity, modernity and luxury. We speak to him about being the youngest designer to ever showcase his designs at the New York Fashion Week and his uninhibited style. Edited excerpts...

Who is the person, that you have in mind while you are designing a collection?

I love to think about different people when I design, because I have varied personalities of women and men in my life who inspire me. I love to observe their gestures, movements, and attitude. Ultimately I am inspired by one’s sensuality and free spirit.

You spent your early years in Miami, at the time Herb Ritts, Patrick Demarchelier and Gianni Versace were all active there. How did the exposure to these figures shape your creative process as a designer?