Elegant robes and intriguing silhouettes have helped Gaeta make a reputation for himself within the Denver vogue scene. However it did not begin out that means. He debuted with a ten-piece, Paris-inspired assortment for the DenVhere Trend Present in January 2020, proper earlier than the world shut down with the pandemic. “We had no thought the whole lot would come crashing down,” he recollects. “Swiftly, there have been no reveals and no alternatives for me to get myself on the market.”
Like everybody else, Gaeta needed to wait till issues began again up once more. He re-emerged to indicate the gathering once more a 12 months later, and he’s now on his third assortment, which he plans to indicate on the Colour of Trend present on Friday, September 23.
Born in Mexico, Gaeta grew up in El Paso. He was raised by his grandmother, a seamstress who taught him the whole lot she knew about stitching, “I bear in mind she was at her stitching machine, and I used to be at all times there together with her. She would have me assist her with the material as she sewed, get her a needle or reduce the material,” he recollects. “I took an interest, and it grew to become part of my life.”
From there, he started making Halloween costumes and costumes for college performs. He was then requested to create a night robe for his cousin’s daughter’s pageant. “That was once I actually began,” he says. “One thing began taking place at that time.”
Alejandro Gaeta Design
Picture by Nicole Marcelli
He moved to Denver in 2017, selecting the town randomly with out understanding a soul. “I used to be simply making an attempt to get away from the Texas warmth!,” Gaeta says, including that it paid off when he discovered himself in a thriving vogue scene. He tried getting his foot within the door by going to a mannequin casting for Denver Trend Week in 2019. “I didn’t make it to the second spherical,” he says, “but it surely was cool. I obtained to satisfy lots of people.”
Only a 12 months later, he was casting fashions for his personal present.
Gaeta says his confidence in creating girls’s particular occasion put on got here when his sister requested him to make her gown for a senior promenade. “That was a pivotal level,” he displays. “I used to be like, ‘I can do that!’”
Night robes grew to become Gaeta’s signature for his first couple of collections. Nonetheless, for his upcoming Colour of Trend run, he says audiences could also be shocked by his completely different course.
“This assortment actually got here out of nowhere,” Gaeta explains. “I went to L.A. to purchase material for the deliberate assortment I already sketched out, and I began seeing all these materials that have been like nothing I’d ever seen earlier than, with colours and patterns and textures. I used to be so drawn to it.”
The inspiration led him to rethink his plans:. “I got here again to Denver and sketched a complete new assortment,” he says. The brand new look has taken him from elegant formal put on to ready-to-wear. “I wished to do one thing enjoyable, {that a} lady would put on on a ladies’ evening out on the hottest membership, or to one thing just like the MTV Awards,” he says. “It’s very recent and edgy.”
Alejandro Gaeta Design
Picture By Randi Rheaa
Gaeta says he appreciates Colour of Trend founders Samantha Joseph and Alicia Myers’s imaginative and prescient, which they described in a latest Westword article. “They’ve ardour and creativity and need to deliver one thing new to the desk,” he remarks. “They’re probably the most hardworking girls I’ve ever identified in my life. They at all times need to do one thing completely different, and I’ve the identical mentality. I’m at all times excited about the right way to prime what I simply did.”
He credit his friendship with Joseph as a significant contributor to his present success. The 2 met whereas working collectively at a restaurant.
“I used to be mesmerized by her as a result of she’s so lovely!” he exclaims. “I realized that she was a mannequin, and I used to be pondering I wished to be a designer. I confirmed her somewhat little bit of my stuff, and he or she was like, ‘Dude, you’ve obtained to place a group out. Folks would love this!’”
The encouragement led him to do a mini assortment, photograph shoot and video. “That was the place they noticed my expertise and creativity and the way I labored,” he says. “And so they have been planning the primary Colour of Trend present and requested me to shut the present.”
Clothier Alejandro Gaeta.
Picture By Moises Vazquez
To point out his second assortment, Gaeta took an progressive strategy. He created an immersive expertise within the intimate setting of the Room for Milly cocktail bar and confirmed items from his UNFRAMED assortment, which consisted of all black-and-white monochrome appears to be like. He had three fashions come out sporting all-white attire, they usually grew to become a canvas for Gaeta to start live-painting the attire.
“I wished it to really feel such as you have been taking an artwork piece out of a body and sporting it as a garment,” he says. The viewers sat sipping champagne whereas watching Gaeta paint on the clothes to create residing artwork earlier than their eyes.
“Folks have been somewhat bit like, ‘Whoa, what is occurring?’” he muses. “With every mannequin, I obtained dirtier and dirtier. I began utilizing my palms as devices. By the point the third mannequin got here out, I used to be simply in my component, the whole lot blacked out round me, and it was simply me, the paint and the lady. I obtained fully drenched in paint, and there was this lovely piece of artwork standing in entrance of everyone.”
Audiences must wait and see what Gaeta brings together with his new ready-to-wear assortment on the Colour of Trend present, however he guarantees it will likely be completely different. Largely, he can’t anticipate his grandmother to see the gathering. The now-89-year-old has lived to see Gaeta’s fast success in Denver.
“It’s a really particular factor, as a result of I really feel she is tremendous pleased with me,” he gushes. “I believe that’s been my solely aim — to make her blissful and thank her for exhibiting me this expertise, as a result of now it’s my life.”
Alejandro Gaeta will present at Evening One: Jardin du Vert of Colour of Trend, at 5 p.m. Friday, September 23, at Temple Denver, 1136 Broadway. Evening Two: Musée de Verre takes place at 6 p.m. Saturday, September 24, on the Historical past Colorado Heart, 1200 Broadway. Discover tickets, $25-$120, and extra data at coloroffashionco.com.
