Aurelyen interview for Unique Magazine

For each collection, I spend three months in Peru, the first month always being especially frantic as well as a period of immersion. Je gather the team together in order to reach new heights and to see how best we can improve together. And so little by little, Peru becomes my country again, and spanish, my language. I look at the eyes of Lima’s inhabitants and the country’s evolution. And so little by little, the clothes are created, between my struggles and the penetrating reality of Latin America. I draw the pieces myself, but I consider the most important stage to be the moment when I perfect each item with my designers, long sessions where we discuss each detail in order to build our clothing line. The materials, I find and purchase in Gamarra, a market in central Lima, notably from Jesus Textiles, my exclusive supplier for the Jersey material.

2/ What are your sources of inspiration?

My source of inspiration is Peru. Elsewhere, nothing is possible. The collection is written in spanish and tells our story, that of a group of sewers. The collection conveys our emotions and our perpetual doubts. We share the desire of another reality, and each of us has a different way of expressing it. In their words, actions and inactions, I seek the heart of Misericordia. This is how our collections are built. The messages which end up on the clothes are a mixture of what I observe in the workshop and the messages I want to transmit to them. What I love, is that moment when the cut pieces of the new collection comme back to the workshop, still hot from the printing supplier, and the sewers start to sew them whilst looking at me with a half smile. At that precise moment, they’re aware that together we are making progress, and there is no need for words to explain.
Our journey is far from over, and I am regularly stunned by all the sewers because each collection contains a significant technical evolution which stimulates our know how, and permits us to have a better understanding of our work. Sewing is an extremely difficult job, as a whole day manipulating a sewing machine can be torture at times. Until now this is the only way we have found to change our reality, and our inspiration always transports us elsewhere, towards the future, a progression which scares us. And so we stick together.

3/ What is the brand’s philosophy?

Misericordia is a team of sewers which has been working with its hands, spirit and heart since 2002 in Lima-Peru.
Both hope and will are within us. To live means to struggle.
We sew in order to learn of and discover a new world. No More Utopia.

4/ What are the tendancies of the summer ’07 collection?

The eternal supremacy of the colour blue and the mustache.

5/ What is your opinion on the evolution of fashion among the youth?

I am more concerned about the evolution of the youth than the evolution of their eye for fashion. To be completly honest, the evolution of young fashion is a quesion which would make people smile over here in Peru. Here, people buy all their clothes from the market, and the range of choice is rather insignificant. Over here, what we find are the waste and the unwanted leftovers of the evolution of fashion amongst the youth, and it’s a sorry sight.
Leandro, who is the masculine image of Misericordia, cuts the all the materials which make Misericordia’s clothes, along with his mate Edwin. One day he discretly asked me whether I could bring him some clothes from Europe. As from that day, all the members of Misericordia recieved a complete range of Misericordia clothes. Leandro has never been so handsome, and no one asks for more of anything else. They want to wear their colours, despite the fear of being different.

6/ Which brands do you embody the yound population the most?

None, unfortunately. The primary objective of conventional brands is to gobble up kids’ money, nothing more. There is no longer any meaning, only a cheap image coupled with shiny ads and prostituted stars. In Denmark, a few months back, I felt gutted when I walked into a fast food restaurant, and saw a large group of kids around me, aged between 12 and 15 years old. They all had Vuitton bags of Gucci belts…. it was too much to handle! When I was a kid, I could whinge for hours in front of my mum before getting her to buy me a paire of 300 franc Nike’s from Rosny 2. All these thinds do not represent us. It is just temptation, very very far away from the obscure object of desire.

7/ Who do you think is the most interesting person personality in the world of fashion today?

Diane Pernet, the greatest fashion journalist in today’s world, a diamond incrusted in black lace. You can visit her blog at: http://www.dianepernet.typepad.com/. She is the night’s soul which works in darkness in order to find true light. The e-mails we swap at 3 in the morning are the most precious.

8/ What are your favorite shopping (and others) locations?

The stores which have supported us since the very beginning:
Le citadium (Thanks Luc), Colette (amiga para siempre, she’s always been there), Lieu commun (Matali, Francis and Stéphane) where the most beautiful collection of Misericordia clothes can be found.
The Juanito bar on the municipal square of Barranco.
The Polvo Azules mall in the center of Lima, where we can buy thousands of pirate DVDs.

A short bio?

I was born in Drancy (93). I grew up in Seine Saint Denis before going to art school. I then travelled extensively whilst working in Art, Architecture and Teaching. And one day, I landed in Peru and I’ve stayed ever since. I’m about to celebrate my fourth christmas in a row whilst gazing over the Oceano Pacifico.

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