As women’s roles in fashion gain prominence, Livia Firth underscores the empowering work of designer Gabriela Hearst.
Gabriela Hearst. Photo: Zoe Ghertner
We are all responsible for the way culture is shaped and transformed, and certainly when it comes to fashion, each one of us has a role to play: through the clothes we wear or the ones we design and produce. We could be the healers, the futurists, the messengers, the rebels, and the visionaries of a pivotal transformation. And thinking in terms of fashion archetypes, and following my January piece around fashion feminism, to me, one woman seems to embrace many of them: Gabriela Hearst.
I first met Gabriela in 2017, when she won the International Woolmark Prize, and I remember being completely struck by her. Embodying all the archetypes, she is as kind and soft as she is fierce and courageous. Her childhood upbringing, growing up on her family’s sheep ranch in Uruguay, has translated to a sustainable stance on fashion since the very beginning. Her approach to design is slow, small in terms of production, and with an emphasis on beautiful craftsmanship.
Slow, quality craftsmanship on display in Cusco
Since founding her eponymous brand in 2015, or becoming Chloé’s creative director in 2020, Gabriela has worked tirelessly to make the fashion industry more sustainable, setting the benchmarks for others to follow. She was the first fashion designer to bring a young climate activist, Xiye Bastida, to the Met Ball in 2022, and created and implemented the first carbon neutral show in 2020, while making a donation on behalf of every guest to Our Children’s Trust, the non-for-profit organization that is suing the United States government for its role in causing the climate crisis.
When you ask for her opinion on something, Gabriela doesn’t hesitate, and says it as it is. To wit, when I ask her how fashion designers will navigate the latest metaverse buzz or drive for artificial intelligence and automation in supply chains, she replies: “OMG, it makes no sense! Look at this bracelet my mom got me from her friends in Easter Island,” she says on Zoom, showing me the most beautiful bracelet on her wrist. “Call me if you find a machine that can do this! Also, don’t you love the imperfection of handcraft? The fact that you can see the human imprint, the soul…”
Manos Del Uruguay, an NGO that Gabriela Hearst has been collaborating with for years to make sure women in rural areas have a steady income
Gabriela’s passion for women empowerment and fashion handprint is at the core of who she is. She has been collaborating for years with NGO Manos Del Uruguay to make sure women in rural areas have a steady income. “The co-op has existed in my country for more than 50 years, and I produce with them all the time. The exodus from rural to urban doesn’t really benefit the livelihood of women, but if we keep them employed in their areas, and we empower them, we empower entire communities. We need to create products with consciousness of the environment. We also know that in that consciousness, the person who makes your product gets affected, and, in return, affects the product itself. That’s the difference between something looking good and feeling good, right? For me it’s more than just the right intention, it’s an absolute need for survival. We know that women are the ones most affected by climate change; if we do not empower them, we won’t be able to get ourselves out of the current crisis.”
I can’t help but wonder what would happen and what the ripple effect would be if every designer thought and acted like Gabriela. I remember speaking with Mayan artisans in Guatemala when we filmed Fashionscapes: Artisans Guatemaya and it still strikes me as myopic the fact that brands keep avoiding (as it is not convenient for them) the only possible way to produce quality clothes that last forever. “It is precisely the quality that makes me go back to these artisans over and over again. I’ve always worked with them because they made a great product, not because of good intentions. When I grew up, when you bought a sweater from Manos, you knew that it was for life. It is very special to see multi generations like grandmother, mother, and daughter working and to see how it is not only a working place, but an empowering, supportive, and family place.”
A handcrafted bracelet the designer’s mother got her from Easter Island
Supply chains as a family is where all the concepts we have been talking about in sustainability – degrowth, just transition, circularity, community empowerment, and economic sustainability – meet. Fashion’s real luxury being pieces that are made with love, kept with pride, and passed through generations. Gabriela says, “I have done things in my country, in Bolivia, Peru, and in many communities, including the Navajo community in North America. You find beauty everywhere… Take the ponchos I have produced: these communities shear the sheep, dye the wool, start knitting… in Argentina it’s going to take you two-and-a-half years to make one! I mean, this is true luxury. Some people in their career may be buying themselves a watch, well, my dad got himself a poncho. And it’s not something you can buy just like that. It’s a process. And it is something to be proud of.” Supply chains as a process – to be cherished, protected, and nourished. Just like a sage, a visionary, a rebel, a healer, or a messenger. Just like Gabriela Hearst.
Originally published in the March 2023 issue of Vogue Arabia
