WHO SAID WINTER
Thursday, 16 January. Eindhoven, the Netherlands weather, partly cloudy. H:4c L:0
January 2025, Paris (France).
My style in the city of love, light and innumerable charms.
Vest sold at ALEGRA in Amsterdam
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Scarf sold at ALEGRA in Amsterdam
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What are you wearing where you are dear reader? Are you at work in a suit or are you in pj’s relaxing in the snowy countryside? Or are you in a polka dot bikini by the beach? Perhaps you just jetted off to summer in the Southern Hemisphere?
Up here in the city of the most cultural institutions, we’re hopping of joy wearing some ALEGRA Collective items: My vest with iconography combining pre-columbian relics and contemporary textile design, and my one of a kind rustic burgundy red scarf made of leftover fabric crocheted by hand, are made in Peru.
Up here in the city of the most cultural institutions, we’re hopping of joy wearing some ALEGRA Collective items: My vest with iconography combining pre-columbian relics and contemporary textile design, and my one of a kind rustic burgundy red scarf made of leftover fabric crocheted by hand, are made in Peru.
Scarf crocheted by Guadalupe Villagomez de Calderon de la Barca
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Scarf sold at ALEGRA in Amsterdam
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These are special items acquired at Bianca Boezewinkel Rivera boutique in the heart of Amsterdam, where she began her business over a year ago with the hope of catering to those of us lovers of Latin American design and craft. This growth has given Bianca the belief necessary to celebrate and open a space for her Peruvian roots to glow with recent collections that have featured stronger in fashion publications present at key events internationally — follow her socials to stay ahead.
The color of my Peruvian scarf reproduces perfectly and subtly my feelings today; the passion I have for life and everything I want to do this year. What a great piece to adorn myself with while in Paris. A city synonymous with style and sartorial historic excellence —where I’ve been also with my mother and whose mother, ‘mi abuela’, got me into the world of appreciating the art of dressmaking.
The color of my Peruvian scarf reproduces perfectly and subtly my feelings today; the passion I have for life and everything I want to do this year. What a great piece to adorn myself with while in Paris. A city synonymous with style and sartorial historic excellence —where I’ve been also with my mother and whose mother, ‘mi abuela’, got me into the world of appreciating the art of dressmaking.
Paris, a metropolis with so many boutiques we want to go to, that there’s precious little time on hand. Despite the frosty mornings and harsh wind, we are out vigorously exploring it and excited just as I did once with my mom in the first month of the year: alegre (which means joyful in Spanish), and warmed up with a beautiful light scarf crocheted by my grandmother.
Wintry Plumage
It’s time to embrace the winter chill again. This season, with the warmth of some renewed wardrobe by adding modern sophisticated and sustainable touches to celebrate a regarded feathered tradition: revived cashmere scarf with ostrich plumes woven into it and restyled headwear, both, by textile designer and artist Pascale Theron.
As someone being born into a highly developed culture with some of the most intricate feather art coming from Amanteca Prehispanic craft, here at Viviana’s practice we grew up appreciating a long lasting craft called in Spanish ‘plumería’.
Historically, Amantecas were known as the Mexican Prehispanic feather specialists named after the Amantla neighborhood in then Tenochtitlan today Mexico City. Amantecas used threads created by spinning cotton and feather shreds, and cords made of agave, to create three-dimensional feathered garments as headgear and bracelets. Amantecas also framed feathered mosaic art cotton pasted on amate paper with glue naturally made with orchid bulbs. Feathered art was certainly a family affair. Amantecas children usually became embroiderers, feather dyers, and artisans of feather objects who were a regarded class of developed craftspeople.
The Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City is home to the feathered mosaic and paper on copper mural titled Our Lady of the Rosary with Saint Dominic and Saint Francis (New Spain, 17th century). In ‘Centro Cultural de España’ also in Mexico City other clothes with woven cotton and feathers can be appreciated.
In Europe feathered work made by Amantecas can be appreciated in Austria at the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna where the artwork Chimalli shows an Aztec shield (early 16th century) with feathers, gold leaf, cotton fibers, leather, and reed.
The Florentine Codex (16th century) includes prehispanic images of Aztec feather painters as of the indigenous art that was forcibly altered into a new fusion between the Old World and the New by Catholicism. The Florentine Codex gives further reference on the importance of feathers and how the craft was created in Prehispanic Mexico since different types of plumage was used in various contexts, each carrying their own distinct symbolism. The cultural significance of color and texture also played a crucial role with the brightly colored feathers seen as more powerful. These were used in ceremonial regalia to denote higher status or spiritual significance. Weavings and garments incorporated feathers, often used in rituals or as offerings to gods. Artistic representations of feathers in codices further illustrate their significance telling stories of gods, creation, and the universe.
The symbolism of feathers persists in contemporary Mexican culture, reflecting the enduring legacy of Aztec traditions. The book Images Take Flight by University of Chicago Press, is one great reference work of thorough studies of Mesoamerican feather mosaics following an exhibition at the National Museum of Art (MUNAL) in Mexico City in 2011. It examines feather art done in Aztec mural paintings through studies of early modern ornithology. It highlights the use of international trade thanks to a taxidermy archive that reveals feathers from completely different ecosystems to confirm that feathers came from trade networks and from local harvested aviaries. Above all The book Images Take Flight by University of Chicago Press is about the fascinating significance of feathers in our culture.
As someone being born into a highly developed culture with some of the most intricate feather art coming from Amanteca Prehispanic craft, here at Viviana’s practice we grew up appreciating a long lasting craft called in Spanish ‘plumería’.
Historically, Amantecas were known as the Mexican Prehispanic feather specialists named after the Amantla neighborhood in then Tenochtitlan today Mexico City. Amantecas used threads created by spinning cotton and feather shreds, and cords made of agave, to create three-dimensional feathered garments as headgear and bracelets. Amantecas also framed feathered mosaic art cotton pasted on amate paper with glue naturally made with orchid bulbs. Feathered art was certainly a family affair. Amantecas children usually became embroiderers, feather dyers, and artisans of feather objects who were a regarded class of developed craftspeople.
The Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City is home to the feathered mosaic and paper on copper mural titled Our Lady of the Rosary with Saint Dominic and Saint Francis (New Spain, 17th century). In ‘Centro Cultural de España’ also in Mexico City other clothes with woven cotton and feathers can be appreciated.
In Europe feathered work made by Amantecas can be appreciated in Austria at the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna where the artwork Chimalli shows an Aztec shield (early 16th century) with feathers, gold leaf, cotton fibers, leather, and reed.
The Florentine Codex (16th century) includes prehispanic images of Aztec feather painters as of the indigenous art that was forcibly altered into a new fusion between the Old World and the New by Catholicism. The Florentine Codex gives further reference on the importance of feathers and how the craft was created in Prehispanic Mexico since different types of plumage was used in various contexts, each carrying their own distinct symbolism. The cultural significance of color and texture also played a crucial role with the brightly colored feathers seen as more powerful. These were used in ceremonial regalia to denote higher status or spiritual significance. Weavings and garments incorporated feathers, often used in rituals or as offerings to gods. Artistic representations of feathers in codices further illustrate their significance telling stories of gods, creation, and the universe.
The symbolism of feathers persists in contemporary Mexican culture, reflecting the enduring legacy of Aztec traditions. The book Images Take Flight by University of Chicago Press, is one great reference work of thorough studies of Mesoamerican feather mosaics following an exhibition at the National Museum of Art (MUNAL) in Mexico City in 2011. It examines feather art done in Aztec mural paintings through studies of early modern ornithology. It highlights the use of international trade thanks to a taxidermy archive that reveals feathers from completely different ecosystems to confirm that feathers came from trade networks and from local harvested aviaries. Above all The book Images Take Flight by University of Chicago Press is about the fascinating significance of feathers in our culture.
Feathers reconnect me to a tradition beyond compare that I so proudly regard.
“Feathers reconnect me to a tradition beyond compare that I so proudly regard.“ Viviana M. Calderon de la Barca.
Studio Pascale Theron in Eindhoven, the Netherlands uses Ostrich feathers typically collected during the birds' natural molting season when they shed old feathers to make way for new growth.
Viviana’s Winter 24|25
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Viviana’s Winter 24|25
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