Well-known within the Mexican market—his own brand is five seasons old and he was Yakampot’s creative director for 10 years—Francisco Cancino set out to question not just his own aesthetic but the practice of design itself this season. The result was a collection with a playful spirit.
“I love tight silhouettes,” he told me. A review of Cancino’s career reveals that if anything is out of his comfort zone it’s a corset and tight pants, even more so if both are made of leather. So, why would someone who has based his work primarily on fluid and oversized shapes suddenly start to make fitted ones? It was through these explorations, he explained, that he found his liberation. But even in moving away from his own codes, he managed to maintain his essence, creating comfortable and timeless clothing.
And not everything was about exploration; there was also a lot of looking internally to explore what a Cancino dress can be. The yellow maxi dress that came towards the end of the show was a clear example of this. At first glance, it was typical of his work with a flowing silhouette, pleats, and a vibrant color, but this time he left the linen aside to try a delicate silk.
The same happened with the rest of the collection. Little details altered the status quo of his best-known designs, such as a shirt with puffed sleeves that were trapezoidal instead of round, or a poncho with big pockets that gave a modern touch to the traditional garment.
Exploring new ground, he worked with Rodete Studio, a Mexico City company known for experimental jewelry, to create the faux piercings the models wore, which framed their faces in a delicate way, while giving them a fierce protagonism.
