The CAMPILLO Effect

The designer wants to create the ultimate Latin American luxury house.

- By Ana Colón

Patricio Campillo at his fall 2025 show.

Patricio Campillo was already years into running a fashion business when he arrived at his aha moment. In fact, he was close to giving up. "I was going through a very tough time in the business before the LVMH Prize [competition]," the designer says. He's sitting in front of a rack in his Paris showroom, pieces from his upcoming season on display. "I was actually going to quit the brand."

He didn't even have a full collection when he was named a semifinalist last year—making him the first designer from Mexico to get the nod. ("I was going to skip that season," he confesses.)

Today, Campillo, his namesake label, is one of the most exciting names on the New York Fashion Week calendar. Campillo has attracted fans across the globe (its biggest markets being Mexico, the U.S., and South Korea) with its distinct influences, dedication to craftsmanship, and ambition to become, as he has put it, the “Mexican Loewe.” The brand has primarily lived in the menswear realm, but 40 percent of his client base is now made up of women.

The self-taught Campillo was always aware of how the way you dress can alter people's perception of you. “My mom was a hardworking woman in a very masculine world,” he says. “She would be pretty fearless...like, ‘How do you look attractive without being sexualized as a woman in a Latin American country?’” He also had opinions on how clothes should look from an early age: “I remember being six years old, saying, 'I want this shirt to be tighter, these pants to be shorter.'

“Even though I may seem very outgoing, I’m naturally a little bit shy,” he says. “Getting dressed was a way to present myself without having to explain it with words.”