The Latin American Fashion Awards Has Big Plans for Milan (And Beyond)

Constanza Cavalli Etro likes to be “the first to do something.” Loves it actually. Some supporting evidence: Dias de Moda, now evolved into Mexico Fashion Week, along with the Latin American Film Festival, and Fashion Film Festival Milano are all ventures founded by Cavalli Etro within the span of her impassioned 25-year-plus career. And as of last year, she, alongside co-founder, CEO, and fellow industry savant Silvia Argüello, has added the Latin American Fashion Awards to the list. It was a visit from Argüello (whose background in design is also of the two-decades-long variety) to Cavalli Etro at her office in Milan five years ago that led to the Latin American Fashion Awards lightbulb. The industry friends—now having traded regions of the world after their respective marriages and subsequent moves—reached the point that many creatives who are in community together find themselves at: the “how can we merge our passions and paths” point.

One brainstorm later and Latin American Fashion Awards was on its way to reality, officially having its first ceremony in 2023, which featured 14 categories such as Designer of the Year, awarded to Willy Chavarria, and Model of the Year, awarded to Hiandra Martínez. And now, as a part of what the founders have dubbed the “year of celebration,” the Latin American Fashion Awards is staging a showcase at Milan Fashion Week, allowing the space and proper time for its inaugural winners (and the event itself) to gain more notoriety. Models.com contributor Nia Groce spoke to Etro and Argüello on setting up shop throughout Milan Fashion Week, the partnerships that have been pivotal, and what’s in store for the future of the awards.

Interview – Nia Groce | Editor – Irene Ojo-Felix

How did the idea for the awards come about and what was it like turning that idea into a reality? And how did the partnership between you two come about?
Constanza Cavalli Etro: I started my other project, Fashion Film Festival Milano, in 2014, and it has always followed the same formula. I wanted to support all the emerging talents around the world in fashion filmmaking and this new form of communication that was and is fascinating to me. I partnered with Franca Sozzani for three years, and she was the president of the jury. Then, Luca Guadagnino, Giorgio Armani, Pier Paolo Piccioli, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and a lot of very prestigious photographers or members of the fashion system. In this case, too, they helped us to promote and put a spotlight on the new emerging talents so for me, it’s a win-win formula.

Then Silvia, we were already friends at that moment, almost five years ago she came to meet me at my office, at Fashion Festival Milano. We thought, “What can we do together?” I was fond of the British Fashion Awards and the CFDA Awards, and something of the triangle was missing, the Latin American part. So, creating the Latin American Fashion Awards—the biggest idea where we can put all of our network and knowledge together from 25 years in the industry—was the perfect thing to do, and it was the right time, too. We saw it, and we visualized it as a very concrete thing, so we were clear about what we wanted to achieve. We wanted to do a long-term project. It’s not one shot, it was for real.

Silvia Arguello: On my side, I’ve been a fashion designer for a long time, and I lived in Milano for almost 18 years. Then when I got married, my case was the opposite [of Constanza]. I got married in Milano and moved to the Dominican Republic. Now that Constanza was doing Milano and I was in Latin America, we had a foot in both places and we could create a bridge between Latin America and the fashion world, right? So we decided to unite forces and put it all together the next day.It was a lot of years of hard work, with COVID in between. We kept on working. What we wanted was to create a global platform for Latin American creatives all over the world, and it took us five years to put it all together, to have the right people involved. We launched in February last year. We decided to do a free application for everybody. So, it was an open call, and everybody had access to apply. Then, we started the process of jury selection.

How important is it to collaborate when organizing an event, especially of this scale? And do you have any people that you love collaborating with?
CCE: I believe in energy, so every time we had a call with someone to explain the project, it was so genuine. From my side, my husband was part of the jury, and in all the ten years I did my Fashion Film Festival Milano, I never put him on the jury. I’m a board member of the Camera Moda Fashion Trust, so I wanted to do my thing but this case was different because we’re talking about my roots, past, and region, and this time I was like, “Yeah, I will…” He loves Latin America. He loves the artisanship and the handcraft. He knows Latin America very well.

SA: Exactly. In general, we had a beautiful jury. Beautiful not only professionally speaking but also amazing human beings. Nina Garcia has supported us a lot. Carlos Capasa, from Camera della Moda, Sara Maino, and Vivian Sotocórno from Vogue Brazil. The jury, they were pillars of this project and each one brought a different know-how and experience. We had Carmen Busquets from Latin America, for example. So we had a mixture of European, Latin American, and Americans within the jury. The CFDA, too, with Steven Kolb.

CCE: They trust us and they trust our career. I know most of them from the festivals, from all the things I’ve done in the past. They knew where they were entering, so that was beautiful.

How have you prepared the Latin American Fashion Awards talent for the WHITE Showcase?
SA: In this case, we’ve been working with them for quite some time now. This is the first time we’re doing it, too, so what we decided was to divide it into three different events in Milano, each one having its purpose. WHITE is one of the biggest fashion trade shows, so we have a showroom for the Latin American Fashion Awards winners, and our idea is that they have exposure to all the international buyers who are coming in for Fashion Week. It’s giving them the opportunity to sell their collections and start placing themselves in more of a global way, moving from regional to global.

CCE: Then we have the Fashion Hub presented by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. They host all the Italian designers and new projects. They gave us this opportunity to do a collective exhibition of our 14 categories. So everyone who won last year will have their own space, and they will showcase their history through videos.

Is there a larger strategy to host events at different Fashion Weeks globally or is the focus currently on Milan and the community that you’ve built there?
CCE: I’m based here and Silvia is there. I think the two main points are that the Dominican Republic represents Latin America and Milan represents the international part, but we have a lot of satellite events. We were at Paris Fashion Week last February and had a dinner with Acheval, an Argentinian brand we like. Different editors came, models, actors, and stylists. We are creating a Latin American and international community of Latin American Fashion Awards in Paris. Now we’re going to do an event in Brazil in October.

It sounds like interested designers can stay tuned for when applications to the next awards are released in 2025. How can people in Milan get involved this fashion week?
CCE: The WHITE Show and the Fashion Hub are open to the public, and we will be there. We are inviting everyone to come. Silvia and I are very upfront, in the sense that we are hands-on every time, so when someone writes to us, we respond. We have direct and transparent communication, so we are here for whatever they need. We are putting all our efforts, everything that we can do, on the table.

What Latin American designers or creatives are on your radar currently?
SA: It’s a good moment for Latin American creatives worldwide. That time is now. Maybe 20 years ago, we weren’t as developed, and we weren’t so on board, but I think now there’s a voice. For example, just in New York, Willy Chavarria, who was the Designer of the Year, is on the opening day of Fashion Week. Then Luar closes. Everybody is looking into going to those two shows, particularly in New York, so that says a lot.

CCE: Adrian. For example, here in Milan, Moschino hired Adrian Appiolaza, an Argentinian designer, which was great because Moschino is a challenging and ironic brand. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so Adrian is perfect. He is one of the Latin American talents that we have to keep an eye on because he’s [leading] a brilliant career.

SA: Karoline Vitto was invited by Dolce & Gabbana to showcase with them. The Influencer of the Year Zaya we met with during Fashion Week in Paris last season right after the awards, and we asked her how the awards had impacted her career, and it was impressive. Her answer was, “180 degrees from the day after. I got a call from Rafael Pavarotti to do an editorial for Vogue UK.” She did the cover for Vogue Brazil, then she was invited by LVMH to a conference about sustainable practices. She was one of the covers for the Moncler campaign.

Are there any other big successes from your first round of this show?
SA: We had a reach of 2.8 billion in the press. Most big publishers may be publishing one news [article], but we had, on average, from five to 10, sometimes even 15 articles coming from major news. That was important for us because it meant we were impacting the world in general with the event and its mission. Also, the winners, everybody who participated, because the spotlight was on, and that’s part of the impact that we want to have.

How do you expect the next awards ceremony to evolve? What could we expect from Latin American Fashion Awards in the future?
CCE: Besides the 14 categories, we have a special award, let’s say, and it’s the Latin American Fashion Icon of the Year. Last year, we gave it to J Balvin, and he was also the star of our end show – for 40 minutes, he sang, and everyone was dancing.

SA: Leslie Grace was one of the hosts of the awards and she opened the ceremony with a beautiful song and performance. One of our surprises and what we’re trying to figure out now, is who will be that star to join us for next year? We’re also putting together the jury for next year, with some of the jury members remaining as pillars, and then we will have new ones coming in, so that’s going to be interesting, too.