Articles by Cynthia Ijelman
Meet Maqu: Sustainable Peruvian label aiding childhood education
15 Apr 2022 - Fashion
Buenos Aires – Maqu is a Peruvian sustainable fashion brand originally established in Berlin. Its DNA is based on nature and works under guidelines of social responsibility and carries out initiatives for the education of children in the Andes of Peru. The brand was founded in 2016 by the Peruvian Marisa Fuentes Prado. It proposes a fully...
Colombian designer Claudia Gontovnik talks sustainable fashion and female empowerment
16 Sept 2021 - People
Colombian sociologist, designer and multidisciplinary artist, Claudia Gontovnik dedicates her work to fair and sustainable fashion. Born in the city of Barranquilla, she is now based in Miami, United States, where she creates unique garments that each hold important social commentary. With prices sitting between 395 dollars and 1,200 dollars,...
Istituto Marangoni in Miami: “For students it’s not just about storytelling, but ‘story living’”
21 May 2021 - People
Buenos Aires- Massimo Casagrande is currently the Academic Director at the Istituto Marangoni in Miami. Casagrande completed his studies at the Marangoni institute headquarters in Milan and at the University of East London before working at Versace and, in 2012, he launched his own menswear brand. He has presented his designs in Paris and...
García Bello: “Each piece of donated clothing has a story to tell”
8 Oct 2020 - Fashion
Buenos Aires / Arnhem - After winning first prize in the sustainable fashion competition Redress Design 2020, Juliana García Bello became the centre of attention in Argentina’s fashion industry. Originally from Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, she chose the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands to settle and continue developing her brand using...
Abdullah Abo Milhim: "Fashion companies need a plan B"
30 Mar 2020 - Business
Buenos Aires – The postgraduate coordinator at the Marangoni Institute London, Abdullah Abo Milhim, was in Buenos Aires giving a masterclass about the fashion value in the era of big data, analytics and intelligence artificial. With a strong background in finance, economy and luxury products, Abdullah has worked for Merrill Lynch and Bloomberg,...
Discover Pachama, the brand that Ivanka Trump visited in Argentina
30 Sept 2019 - Fashion
Pachama was founded as a family business almost six years ago in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina. It sells clothing for men, women and children with “a style that mixes native with modern” as defined by Alejandro Polo, one of its founders. Last week, Ivanka Trump visited the company during her tour through Latin America. The history of Pachama...
The experience of studying denim in Argentina
19 Sept 2019 - Fashion
Buenos Aires - Denim is one of the fashion industry's favorite materials and the global demand for jeans continues to grow. However, in Argentina, at an academic level, there has not been enough importance given to the increasing popularity of this material. For this reason, fashion designer and university professor Alejandro Ogando decided to...
Meet the Argentinean designer making fashion from yerba mate
4 Jun 2019 - Fashion
Buenos Aires - Industrial designer Silvio Tinello has developed a material from the waste of yerba mate - a type of holly plant which is used as a national drink in Argentina - to create sustainable fashion garments. Originally from the province of Chubut, in Argentina, Tinello graduated as an industrial designer at the National University of Có...
Meet Maydi, the knitwear brand using local Argentinian fibres
3 May 2019 - Fashion
Behind each brand is a mind. Behind handmade knitwear brand, Maydi, is Maria Abdala Zolezzi, an Argentinian designer with a vision to create fashion processes that respect both workers and the environment. Maydi uses fibres traditionally found in Argentina, such as merino and camelids wool to create ageless contemporary designs. Before founding...
Social project meets fashion brand, South America's Ruralanas
4 Apr 2019 - Fashion
With the attempt to improve the quality of life of rural women in Uruguay, the fashion brand Ruralanas was created in 2003 by the Gastesi Foundation Marticorena. The company produced items made by local women using traditional techniques, including weaving 100 percent wool. In 2009 the Ruralanas became independent, remaining in the hands of...