Article: Loraine Holmes x L'officiel | Oct 2023
Loraine Holmes x L'officiel | Oct 2023
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Loraine Holmes: The Triumph of Intuition
Sophisticated and possessing a distinctive style, the Chilean brand Loraine Holmes has successfully navigated a sea of offerings both in Chile and internationally. Its creator, the designer of the same name, began by drawing inspiration from her mother and has seized opportunities through hard work and a good intuition.
In the midst of their preparations to travel to Tranoï — a B2B exhibition framed in At Paris Fashion Week , Loraine Holmes takes a moment to reflect on how far she's come as a costume designer. Her brand is commercially stable—"during the pandemic we were able to continue with our team without any problems," she says—and today she's aiming for new horizons, focusing all her energy on the international market. It was there that her adventure began, when, while studying art, she realized that perhaps fashion was her calling. She traveled to Milan and enrolled at the prestigious Istituto Marangoni, interned with the Spanish designer Teresa Helbig, and returned in 2015 ready to dedicate herself fully to her own brand. "I've always loved the aesthetic of Italian brands—my absolute favorite is Prada—and also their cultures. There's something in my family roots that called to me," says the designer, who is among Aitana's favorites, who contacted her to acquire a look used in a “Obviously I told her stylist that I was giving her the clothes, I always listen to her music at full volume in my car, I’m a huge fan!” she tells us.
L'OFFICIEL: How has this journey in fashion been for you?
LORAINE HOLMES: It's been very entertaining. Challenging, with a lot of learning, but it's something I wouldn't change for anything. It's my destiny to live this path. Looking back, it's been a long one; we're about to celebrate nine years with the brand, and it started in a very unexpected way. Initially, I was studying art, and at some point, I went on an exchange program to Italy, and there I fell in love with this world and created the switch. It was a very quick decision. I went to live there for three weeks and stayed for five years. I came to Chile on vacation thinking I would return, and the idea for the brand emerged. I decided to create it, and I don't regret it. You graduate from university thinking you know something, but in reality, you learn everything along the way. Aesthetically and creatively, there has been an evolution. While the brand has always maintained a very distinctive style from the beginning, there has been a maturation, a refinement of the ideas and its DNA, which has to do with getting to know the people who use the brand, understanding their tastes and what is expected of me as a designer.
L'O: You received the Marangoni Alumni recognition, the only one in Latin America. Do you feel that you have also been recognized in Chile? any way?
LH: I think so, I feel very blessed and grateful that my work is being recognized. The brand has been accepted in ways I never expected, both in Chile and abroad, in Italy and Latin America. For me, it's still a mystery because it's surprising, it's magical. I had the opportunity to go to a trunk show In Panama, a country I had never visited before, I arrived and everyone greeted me saying, "I love your work," and I couldn't believe it; it was like being in a parallel world. The reach of social media is incredible. Being part of Marangoni is an honor, a source of pride, especially considering that our country is so far away and not very well-known. I would like to represent Chile very well.
L'O: In those early approaches to fashion, and taking into account the female empowerment that your brand emphasizes, which women were important to you?
LH: Women are always my driving force behind all my collections, but my greatest inspiration and the person I admire most is my mother, and always will be. She's an extraordinary woman. power; She was a mother of many children at a very young age, one of the first three women to graduate in Architecture in Chile, and at a very young age, she was mayor of Lo Barnechea, so she has always had a punch very strong.
From her I inherited that independent, hardworking streak, that belief in one's dreams. I also had a great-aunt who was overly elegant, obsessed with her appearance, and I remember watching her when I was little and being fascinated by this world of jewelry, her looks . When I was seven years old, he gave me a toy sewing machine and that's how I made Barbie dresses.
Milan also had a vibrant neighborhood life, and I would often encounter these women, impeccably dressed from head to toe. I remember thinking: I want to dress this kind of woman, this person who takes the time every morning to put on whatever she pleases and feel fabulous just to go out and buy bread.
L'O: And do you feel you've managed to dress her?
LH: I don't know if it applies to that woman specifically, because she's a bit older, but it certainly applies to new generations who are increasingly free, who are more daring in wearing what they want and what makes them feel comfortable, without fear of standing out. Before, I had the feeling that one "dressed up" so as not to attract too much attention. That paradigm has changed, and there's more freedom in the process; there's no fear of pushing the boundaries of tradition a little.
“In Milan I remember thinking 'this is the kind of woman I want to dress, the one who takes the time to wear whatever she wants and still feels regal just to go out and buy bread'.”
L'O: At what point in your career did you feel it was necessary to consider going What's next, venturing even further?
LH: I feel that everything that has happened along this path has unfolded in a truly magical, intuitive way; I won't say I've been lucky, because there's a lot of hard work behind it, but I have been able to flow with the opportunities that have arisen. On the other hand, I obviously set goals, from small to large, which guide my steps and allow me to create strategies. The idea of internationalizing the brand has been there since I started, given my beginnings in Italy. Specifically, it began in 2019 when I was invited to participate in a showroom in Paris in the middle Fashion Week , something that was interrupted by the pandemic. It was paused; we focused on Chile—we never stopped working nor did we have to reduce the team—then things got going again. I've always seen the brand from a global perspective of fashion, and it's been built on export potential, so it makes perfect sense for me to continue growing in other countries.
L'O: If we think about Latin culture and fashion, the international market had this stereotypical perception that has changed thanks to figures like Oscar de la Renta or Johanna Ortiz. How do you see yourself fitting into that international scene and how would you like to be perceived?
LH: Something that really characterizes the brand is the synergy between my Latin roots and this heritage learned living abroad, and that comes through in the design process. Part of it is very Latin in terms of its sensuality and use of color, but it also has a clean sophistication. Sharpness , which is very European. Both worlds coexist, and that's what makes the brand special; that combination isn't very common. We tend to associate the Latin American designers we know with a more Caribbean aesthetic, prints , ruffles , and I think it's challenging to show the world that there are Latin Americans who have a different approach, and especially interesting that it comes from a Chilean. Our identity is very different from that of the more colorful Latin American; we're more understated, more classic, and I think that's a response to our geography: we live in a place with a large mountain range, earthquake And it all makes us more serious.
L'O: Paris and fashion have been the setting for your latest ventures. How have you been received there?
LH: It's been wonderful, and also surprising, and every time I go back I come away feeling very motivated, full of renewed energy, and believing more and more in the project. Last year at Tranoï, someone approached me on the first day and said, "When I finish, stay a little longer because we want to interview you." It turned out the interview was because Christelle Kocher, the founder of Koche and Artistic Director behind CHANEL, Maison Lemarié, and Tranoï, had chosen me as her favorite brand among all the participating brands. The next day, all the Italian media were there taking photos and asking questions, and you think, "Wow, we must be doing something right."
L'O: Your show at the Club Hípico in 2018 is one of the most memorable on the scene. Have you thought about putting on another fashion show in Chile?
LH: I would love to. It's not in my immediate plans because I'm putting all my energy into international projects, but if such an opportunity arose, I would definitely do it. The parade is a The show . By far the most beautiful part as a designer, because you see everything finished, put on wonderful models under a stage that elevates everything, and it's like childbirth, a very magical moment.
L'O: And what about doing a fashion show in Italy, the place where you originated?
LH: Well, that would be a dream (laughs). I would love it.
