Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Casarez. Them and their team share their story with us below:
OUR DESIGNER
Amanda Casarez is a Latina fashion designer, visual artist, and educator based in STL. Raised in Cali, Amanda was always drawn to the cool, carefree streetwear vibes from the coast, which is directly translated into her design aesthetic. Amanda is a Fashion Design Professor at Lindenwood University. Her undergraduate work is in Fashion Design & Merchandising (BS, UH Manoa), and her graduate work is in Visual Arts, focusing on protecting and repairing the female body through textiles (MFA) from WashU.
Her journey as an independent designer began in DC in 2015 as an alumna of the inaugural class for the DC Fashion Incubator at Macy’s Metro Center (DCFI). She established her brand as a designer-in-residence. With continued involvement with DCFI and in partnership with Macy’s, she released a capsule collection sold at Macy’s in Las Vegas Fashion Mall. Casarez presents two lines per year and has shown across the US, including NYFW, NFW, PHXFW, and CFW. She has worked with other brands, including HFR, to create awareness of the gap surrounding the lack of representation for designers of color in the fashion industry and create opportunities for sales and exposure. She looks for inspiration in all that surrounds her and focuses on fashion as an art of transformation while basing her designs on her dress code, tomboy chic with a bit of grunge.
I am my muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to better.
-F. Kahlo
OUR BRAND
CASAREZ is a Lux Streetwear Brand based in STL. The brand was established in 2015 and has since evolved from a Contemporary Womenswear Brand to a Lux Streetwear Brand for Men & Women. The brand aesthetic holds to its Borrowed-From-The-Boys Attitude with its boyish fits and masculine lines.
You wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
My initial struggle out of UH was defining who I was as a designer. It is hard when you have pulled in so many different directions. What is your aesthetic? Who do you ‘hang’ with? Who is your muse? What is your target market? If you look at the evolution of Amanda Casarez from 2015, the evolution is genuine and apparent. I began designing for a professional woman and focused on advanced contemporary womenswear with a soft-tailoring approach. I was two or three years in when I decided not to put anything on the runway that I would not wear. I began to hone my style: tomboy fits, masculine lines, and small sexy feminine details.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a designer for my brand, I specialize in luxury streetwear for both men and women. The brand’s design philosophy is based on the duality of masculine lines and small feminine details. A tomboy is aesthetic with a focus on texture, structure, and color. My favorite part is taking a sketch and creating a pattern. That is when I am most in tune with what I do.
I am also a practicing artist. My art explores my interest in treating the body as an entity that needs protection. Our bodies are sacred vessels that transcend physicality, sacred but fragile vessels that need protection, healing, and repair due to misuse. Both my technical training and biography inform my work. My technical training directs my practice’s interpretation of the body and the creative process; I have an extensive background in working with the body through fashion design and garment construction. In working with fabric and materials that touch and cover the body, I appreciated the extent of the body’s vulnerability, resulting in using textiles as a natural medium of execution in my practice. I incorporate textiles in my work through a haptic interaction process as a reflection of the body and the embodiment and transfer of trauma. As an educator, it’s my responsibility to share my gifts. I teach all aspects of fashion design at Lindenwood University, which includes Patternmaking, Draping, CAD courses, and Mini & Senior Collections, to name a few. To be able to share my passion and knowledge with other creatives inspires me to be better.
Can you talk to us about the role of luck?
I don’t believe in luck. I’ve worked hard to be where I am at this point in my life. It is based on small details, everyday habits, work ethic, and whether you are willing to work towards accomplishing your goals every day. But I won’t deny that I pray daily for peace, guidance, and clarity to make the best choices.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.amandacasarez.com
- Instagram: @Amanda.Casarez
- Facebook: @AmandaCasarezLLC
- Twitter: @AmandaCasarez1
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Models- @judeaaaa_ @thesimonegully Photographer- @alanwangphoto Additional Photos
1. (Black mesh dress) Model- @thesimonegully Photographer- @alanwangphoto
2. (Yellow jacket) Model- @muka_chisaka
3. (Dress in jeans) Model- @model_chek Photographer- @thebruceallen
4. (Sweater) Model- @daykwuna Photographer- @thebruceallen
5. Artwork: Grief 1 and 2
6. Artwork: Suture Harm and Remedy
7 & 8. Artwork: Becoming
