YET AGAIN, GOD’S DEAD

The vibrant and mythos-like works of Spanish fashion and jewellery designer Cristina Milhero are sure to capture one's attention mercilessly, like a gluetrap. Read along to get familiar with her thoughts on the broader ethical codex designers should put into practice, keeping her eyes off the catwalks, corrupted minds and attention span, and more.

What do you seek to add to the world as a designer?

I believe that not only designers but all creatives have an obligation to contribute our vision and our ideas to the world. Tell stories that inspire, make humanity dream, and help progress. In our hands, we have the future of many other generations of future designers, and I think it is time to reclaim our importance or gradually be relegated or replaced by other technologies, such as AI. That is why for me, the legacy that I want to leave as a designer is my incorruptible vision, free from laws imposed by others. I want to be free, and set people free with my designs.

What is the main message behind the God’s Dead collection?

It is a bit complex to explain the main message of God’s Dead. I have always been very passionate about Nietzsche’s work and above all, the concept of the death of an idea, the most important idea of humanity, which is God. For this reason, I decided to write a narrative that would allow me to have a context and a story to be able to sustain the collection. And in the end, this story that I eventually created ended up becoming my own fight against myself, giving meaning to my life, and learning to reconcile myself with death. In short, the main concept of this collection is to create an allegory that talks about how to learn to live knowing that one day everything will end. It’s a kind of Memento Mori.

What are the main references in the fashion world these days?

For me it is currently difficult to find references in the world of commercial fashion. I consider myself a very conceptual designer and I believe that little by little, fashion is moving towards an emptier and more frivolous world. I try to keep my eyes off the catwalks and get inspired by emerging designers with new ideas not guided by market fluctuations. But I am also still very much inspired by designs of several decades past by designers such as Alexander Mcqueen, Thierry Mugler or Martin Margiela, since they are the reason that I am a fashion designer today.

Do social media have any impact on your creativity and focus? Do you have any ritual(s) concerning staying true to your vision and not being influenced by all the visual smog?

I think that today, it is very difficult to keep our minds incorruptible from the influence exerted by social media. I would be lying if I said that social media have no influence over me because I believe that to a greater or lesser extent, they influence all of us. But as much as possible, when I find myself immersed in a new creative process, I try to stay away from fashion references within social media, and look for inspiration in other areas, be it through music or cinema. It is not a ritual in itself but so far, it has helped me to not be influenced too much by the great smog of references that I can find on social networks.

You also experiment with jewellery. Can you tell us more?

Actually, my relationship with jewellery began by chance. I wanted to learn how to work with a new material to adapt it to fashion, and I decided to take a course in glass blowing, and there I got to know jewellery and fell in love with it. I really like to imagine the fusion of jewellery with fashion, create new stories, new creative worlds by fusing these two, and at the same time, I believe that this can elevate fashion even more. And also, I am currently doing a master’s degree in jewellery and accessories in Milan.

What would a utopian or dystopian society look like for you?

As a designer with a passion for art and for expressing unique and genuine stories, I believe that a true dystopian world would be one in which we totally lose our identity, our essence to create, to dream. Little by little, we are more and more disconnected from our inner self, either because of technological advances or because of the simple dehumanization that we are gradually experiencing, and with all this, we are forgetting our ability to create, to dream, and, above all, to play. For me, we all have an inner child, which is our creative genius that helps us to be genuine and unique. But gradually, we have been letting that child die and get blurred, becoming more like automatons than people with our own conscience.

And as for a utopian world, it is difficult to imagine. Humanity always tends to imagine the worst, and always forgets to think about what would be the best possible scenario. This constantly condemns us to conformism and to have low expectations of life, relegating our own destiny to others. For all this, for me, a utopian world would be one in which we take back the reins of our lives, and our decisions, where we could once again be aware of who we are, and that we are the owners of our own lives and our own destiny.

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Bio

Cristina Milhero is a fashion, jewellery and accessories designer. She was born and raised in a small city in central Spain, Caceres. She currently lives in Milan and prior to that, she spent six years in Barcelona. Cristina’s style as a designer is defined as conceptual and experimental while she is constantly trying to push her creativity to the limit. She studied fashion design at the IED Barcelona and several digital fashion courses afterwards, and she is currently doing a master’s degree in Jewellery, Watches and Fashion Accessories at the Creative Academy in Milan. Cristina has worked for several brands as a designer, such as Alvaro Mars, whom she helped create collections for London Fashion Week.

Credits

Fashion designer / Cristina Milhero @xtina.milhero

https://www.notjustalabel.com/cristina-milhero

Interview / Kateřina Hynková

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