The lowrider cars on the runway were catnip to photo-happy show-goers Thursday night at Charaf Tajer’s Casablanca fashion show, even if they did tiptoe close to cultural appropriation, alongside some of the collection looks inspired by “Pachucos and Pachucas,” as the notes said.
The Mexican-American pachuco and pachuca style characterized by draped, high waist slacks or shorts, oversized jackets, tall socks, jewelry and pompadours on men and women, has its roots in a youth movement from the 1930s in East Los Angeles, defying mainstream U.S. culture that marginalized its members. And while it has been mined by fashion many times before, including by Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. label in the early 2000s, there are other visions today coming from U.S.-based designers Willy Chavarria and Rio Uribe who celebrating their own LatinX heritage and power.
Backstage, Tajer, who grew up in Paris and is of Moroccan descent, said he had been inspired by subcultures in general, calling out Chicano culture and the city of Los Angeles as touchstones. “I wanted to show the contrast of what people think is glossy L.A. and all the subcultures and the darkness that can be in L.A. Also the Grateful Dead graphics…the funky L.A., Bootsy Collins, all that.”
His show notes pointed out further that he feels “affinity between his own Moroccan-French working-class upbringing and the Mexican-American lived experience.” Nevertheless, it was a bit head-scratching.
On his mood board were a range of L.A. references: best-dressed basketball coach Pat Riley, who led the Lakers during their 1980s dynasty in his impeccable Giorgio Armani courtside suits; Venice Beach skateboarders and surfers; the funkadelic style of singer Bootsy Collins, and lowrider cars whose incredible paint jobs and detailing have deep roots in L.A.’s Chicano culture.
On the runway, he melded fashion’s current craze for suit-and-tie dressing with sportswear, including high-waisted tailored shorts and pants with tank tops under lounge shirts, worn with high white socks and loafers; tidy little track jackets and skirts styled with shirts-and-ties, and workwear pants with athletic jerseys.
He also applied psychedelic skull and flower graphics, like the ones made by artists Stanley “Mouse” Miller and Alton Kelley for the Grateful Dead, to slipdresses and T-shirts tucked into flared jeans; riffed on rave culture with acid bright novelty knits, bra tops and mushroom pendants; and hip-hop with oversized denim and crystallized do-rags. Flames that could have come from the chassis of a lowrider licked the hem of a skirt, and surf trunks, wetsuits, a skateboard and surf board trotted out, too.
Tajer has been upping his game and craft significantly on the road to big, international brand status. Whether customers want to buy into these subculture-inspired looks at all, from him or perhaps another more authentic source, the market and social media will decide.
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