Backstage before his fashion presentation during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Mexican-American designer Cesar Galindo gave us the inside scoop on the rebirth of his fashion line and his adventurous style growing up! Read it all below:
Let’s talk about your collection this season.
I call it the getaway collection. It is resort inspired. The idea is you are dressed like you are on vacation. Easy layering, a lot of color, and five percent black. All easy, relaxed and beautiful. I am doing a lot of swimsuits this time. Miami inspired me a lot; being in the Caribbean inspired me a lot. It is just that whole attitude; slow it down and relax and look like you are on vacation.
What made you transition your normal style of designing to more of the relaxed?
It is layered in there. The more classical silhouettes that I do all the time are done with textiles that look like they are totally resort driven.
What is the color palette like?
It is very citrusy a lot of lemon, a lot of lime, a lot of melon and a pop of orange. Some metallics are blended in.
What should we be expecting from the swimwear line?
It is all snake prints and some metallic, easy bandeaus and easy bottoms. I think swimsuits should be coordinated separates. You should be able to wear this with that and that with this. Personal style is a huge influence in the industry, it is a trend. People want to develop what makes them look good.
So is this going to be in line with the resort collection that you launched?
Yes it will be some of the same stuff that you saw in Miami [at Swim Fashion Week]. It was the starting point of it all and launched me to where I am at this collection.
Where do you see the line going?
There is a lot happening in my business right now and I am so lucky. I can’t talk about all of it but it is evolving. At the end of the day we have a distribution that is global and that’s where we want to sell to.
What age did you figure out your personal style?
When I was a little kid, I was fussy. I experimented a lot when I was young that is why I say ‘do it while you are young’. At one point I had eight hair colors in my hair. That is something you would grow out of hopefully. But I can say I had fun doing it.
So what was your favorite funky hair color that you tried out?
It was pink, it was turquoise, it was blue, it was white -do you know how hard it is to make your hair white when you are a Latin man? I sat under the dryer with that dye in my hair for a long time! So it is the experimentation of being a young artist. My hair was curly and long. I cut it, I shaved it. I was the cosmetologists dream. I would go to the college and let them experiment. I was the punk rocky kid.
So do you find music influences you?
Music influences everything that I do, all the time. I believe it was the evolution of me as a designer.
What kind of music inspired this collection?
I don’t know, that is really hard to define. It is really about the attitude about where you are at.
So if someone is wearing your collection sitting on a beach listening to music what would you want them to be listening to?
I am a house head. I love house music. It can be anything though like Stevie wonder to Sade.
Awesome I can’t wait to see the collection!
Thank you I hope you enjoy it.
Check out www.CZARnyc.com for more from Cesar Galindo.
See more New York Fashion Week happenings at Latina.com/FashionWeek!