May 1, 2020 |
Instead of asking one person to curate their world for us, for Issue 51 of 10 Men, we presented our own list of designers who we think are making menswear sexy again. While some like the instant reveal and others prefer the more subversive kind of erotica, they’re all giving us hope for a hotter tomorrow. Next up in our list is Palomo Spain’s Alejandro Gómez Palomo.
What if all the fabulously dressed personalities walked off Diego Velázquez’s paintings and onto the Parisian catwalk? Well, they would probably look like the models in Palomo Spain’s shows. For the five years he’s been running his brand, Spaniard Alejandro Gómez Palomo has been designing historically inaccurate menswear that subverts the past with the help of feathers and ruffles.
“My parents told me I had to be a fashion designer when I was about four, because I was really obsessed with drawing dresses for princesses and dolls and making little dresses for Barbie,” Palomo says. However, the first adult-sized garment he made was a gold lamé minidress with a heart-shaped neckline, all trimmed with a silver fringe, created with his mum when he was seven. “It was carnival time in my village and I wanted to dress as a drag queen. I wore it with a gold wig and a gold top hat, orange vinyl platforms and my grandma’s fur coat.”
He graduated from London College of Fashion in 2015 and returned to his homeland to launch his label. Combining the spirits of these two formative locations, Palomo Spain embodies the extravagance that is rooted in the past but created for the gender of the future. Currently based in his atelier in Posadas, just outside Córdoba, Palomo showed in New York and Madrid, before landing a spot on the Paris Fashion Week men’s schedule for AW18, becoming the first Spanish brand to be invited by the Fédération de la Haute Couture. A safe space for all interpretations of queerness, the brand not only casts and celebrates the members of the community, but also recognises the importance of extremes in today’s fashion discourse.
Inspired by Pompeii, Palomo Spain SS20 includes see-through organza trousers, oversized lace capes and metallic corsets. Those with starring roles in his playground of fantasy were traditional silhouettes and garment-making techniques catapulted into the future. Palomo sees no gender or time – his ideas exist in a vortex of swashbuckling self-expression.
Palomo Spain AW19 campaign, photographs by Matt Lambert
Which designers inspire you?
“Jonathan Anderson and John Galliano at [Maison] Margiela.”
When in life did you feel sexiest?
“Right before I started Palomo and I was full of joy and hope. I went out in my village with all the straight boys and I wore these Hood by Air destroyed jeans that had a zip right at the back in the butt, and all these ‘straight’ guys went crazy about it and kept pulling the zip down.”
What do you wear when you want to feel sexy?
“Probably a tracksuit. I feel very manly and sexy when I’m not in the flamboyant look everyone knows me for.”
Your perfect date-night scenario?
“At Caripen, Madrid, an iconic place where [the Spanish actress and dancer] Lola Flores used to go. It has the perfect intimate lighting, the food is remarkable and it’s open all night. You get this feeling of intimacy and secrecy at the same time.”
Top photograph by Papo Waisman. Taken from Issue 51 of 10 Men – GENTLE, SENSUAL, FANTASY – on newsstands now.
