Couture South of the Equator: Gerardo Privat

Gerardo Privat is changing the face of the fashion world in Peru. There are a group of artists in different sectors in this country that are putting Peru, known as a third world country, on the map. I wrote briefly about Christian Bravo (a local TV personality) and his restaurant Bravo Resto Bar, and about Pedro Suarez-Vertiz, who reflects the heart and musical soul of the Peruvian people in his Spanish rock music. Gerardo Privat is one of the great couture clothing designers.

I spoke with Marco Gamboa, of Privat's team and learned a lot about Gerardo's fashion sensibilities and what fuels his creative process. The most interesting comment that Marco made was the attention that Gerardo pays to European trends and blending them with the Peruvian culture. For example, in the second photograph, the model is wearing a very English looking waistcoat, but on closer inspection you can see that Gerardo has custom-made a fabric with an Inca design which means "good luck" and the fabric is made from alpaca which is a local staple. He beautifully blends his culture with a couture European jacket shape.

Peru is in the midst of the winter season, so I've pulled some photographs of the Winter Couture 09 collection and for those of us that are sweltering hot north of the Equator, I've pulled a few pictures from his Spring/Summer Pret-a-porter line.

Gerardo designs his clothes for a woman that is meant to "be in the spotlight" and he definitely does that with his body conscious, brocade, tulip skirts and brightly-hued corset tops. The collection plays with layering prints on prints as we saw a lot of in North America and Europe this last winter season and I'm sure that his clothes would bring out the colorful latina in all of us. I, for one, can picture myself in any of these outfits for a night on the red carpet or the salsa lounge.





I love the detail in this blouse. They have recreated in this in many beautiful colors on request.

From the summer Pret-a-porter collection:


For more details about Gerardo Privat, visit his website www.gerardoprivat.com.
As they say in Peru, "Chau"!