PHOTOGRAPHY BY JP Calubaquib | STYLING BY Rachel Yacapraro | MODELS Stasa Wade + Nicole Byer | SHOOT ASSISTANT Eric Einhaus | CREATIVE DIRECTION Rachel Misick | IMAGES C/O STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY

“Did you know that orchids are asexual?”, Nelissa Carrillo tells me as we slowly move through the orchid room at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, gazing at the apparent beauty and serenity of the flowers while she recounts childhood trips to this exact spot with her grandmother. “She would bring me here every week. I think this is where she found peace.” The inspiration Nelissa has gained from her recurring trips to the orchid room are obvious — she herself contains the same delicate grace and tranquility on display, as well as the inherent strength and perseverance of which orchids are traditionally symbolic.

Having just released the fourth collection for STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY, her Chicago-based contemporary fashion brand, Nelissa is a force of power and inspiration to be reckoned with. A formally trained designer and creative prodigy, she marries male and female pattern making to create a new standard in gender identity...or lack thereof. “Clothes aren’t meant to box us in, they are meant to help us express ourselves.” It’s this basis from which she started her brand and questions the traditional notions of gender identity. This is also the point from which she challenges trends in design, consumerism, and introspection. Every element of her brand is meticulously cared for, steeped in authenticity and integrity; characteristics often overlooked in today’s fashion industry but the most essential attributes of both her brand, and person, in bloom.

Below we have a conversation about gender expression, sustainability, and the necessity for craftsmanship in fashion.

You just launched your fourth collection. Tell me about your journey to getting here…

NC: STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY is already on it’s third year but I didn’t always have this aesthetic. When I first started designing ten years ago, I was making gowns and dresses for pageant girls and TV personalities. It is absolutely night and day from what I do now. If you were to see the stuff I started with, you wouldn’t know that it was the same designer, but I think that the foundation I taught myself with various couture techniques and pattern making all translated to what STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY is now. It’s a mixture of technicality with this cool, more relaxed aesthetic and Japanese influence that is true to my own personal style.

When do you think the transition happened?

NC: I honestly just got bored of designing gowns. I mean, who wears a gown everyday? No one! So the transition really came as an “a-ha” moment because I had been wanting to leave the world of gowns but still design. I was talking to my brother about starting fresh with a new name and new inspiration...and at the time I was going through the most devastating breakup. One day I posted a selfie with the caption “stronger and wiser everyday”, and my brother immediately called me and said, “That's it! That’s the name of your new brand!” It all just seemed to click instantaneously so I jumped right in.

Clearly these ideas and inspiration were under the surface if you were able to change directions on a dime…

NC: Always under the surface. I feel like they were just ready to be put into practice and I needed a catalyst. Which was that selfie apparently!

Nelissa Carrillo — founder and designer of STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY.

As a student at FIDM in LA, had you already been exploring these themes around Japanese design and an intersection of gender?

NC: In school, one of my professors would call me the architect of pattern making because I always made these super complicated patterns that were essentially puzzle pieces but very structural and futuristic, yet still had a soft element. The inspiration came from this obsession with Japanese culture. As a kid I was really into anime and the history of Japan; from the dynasties to the samurai armour to the traditional kimonos; something just drew me to those images and stories. And I really don’t know why because I’m 100% Mexican, but that obsession was always the foundation of my inspiration. As for the gender piece, my main goal when starting the brand was to make it genderless because I wanted to break the rules. Getting dressed shouldn’t have rules, and I feel like gender is the basis for so many of these archaic restrictions.

Genderless dressing, or non-binary fashion, was not as widely adopted when you started STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY...

NC: No, there were maybe one or two designers doing real non-binary designs when I started. The big thing then was “unisex”, which frankly was just women wearing men’s pieces as a statment on gender, but when I created the first patterns, which are still the original foundation of the brand, I literally took into consideration both the broad shoulders of men and the curves of women. I took everything into consideration; how would this look on someone who is transitioning or someone who is petite? I factored in all of these elements to create exactly what I wanted to see: a piece that truly feels like it’s your own and not just a mens blazer that you’re belting or an oversized tee. I wanted this to be a no-taboo way of dressing, one where you don’t have to feel like there is this preconceived notion of your gender identity based on what you’re wearing. It should solely be a garment that you enjoy.

Sure, in a utopian society there shouldn’t be a preconceived notion around gendered clothing but unfortunately there still is, so what I love about your brand specifically is that instead of just placing male coding on womenswear and labeling it as a “power suit”, thereby attributing strength to the woman who adopts traditional male gender norms, you’re flipping the script and combining traditional womenswear with menswear and attributing strength to anyone, including the cis-hetero man, who disregards gender norms and confinements in expression.

NC: Definitely, and that’s why when my brother called me about the name I was like, “Yes this is what I’ve always been looking for!” Genderless was always the foundation of the brand but now culture and society have caught up.

Well...have they really caught up, though?

NC: I think the fashion industry is still very traditional and behind the times, but more people have a platform now so these issues are being brought to the forefront for the first time and brands are responding. The consumer cares about the exclusion of minority voices and racial/gender/ethnic representation, and some brands are doing a good job at being more transparent about their decisions and processes. We have really only started scratching the surface on ethics and representation in fashion, and while I think a lot of it is just marketing buzzwords, I do think that we are moving in the right direction finally.

While we’re on the topic of buzzwords, let's talk about sustainability. Why do you think fashion has been so slow to innovate in terms of sustainable manufacturing practices?

NC: Because it’s too expensive to be innovative. Developing a “sustainable” collection is insanely expensive due to the costs that go into the materials, and not only that, but the labor. I’m hiring people that I actually know to help me develop this brand. I know exactly who is sewing my garments, who is stitching my tees, and I’m essentially paying these people’s salaries. That’s not a common relationship. Big companies couldn’t care less about these types of personal relationships and so they outsource their production overseas and hire cheap labor in order to manufacture.

I once heard someone say that everyone should be required to make one garment in their lives just to know what goes into a piece of clothing. And if they knew what went into making a garment, maybe they would value it more and not purchase so much, or they would appreciate the craftsmanship and only purchase things of quality. I think we have this culture of mass consumerism aided by the rise of social media, which has created this harmful notion of our self-image being hinged on how many different “looks” we post on Instagram, supported by a trending theme of never being photographed twice in the same piece...

NC: I think that started with “Clueless”...this moment in pop-culture where sheer wealth and materialism were propped up as “cute”.

Excellent reference.

NC: That was in the early 90's, so it’s still relevant and celebrated. Remember how she refused to wear the same thing twice? That was the beginning...

When you started your brand three years ago you were kind of the antithesis to that though…

NC: Yeah, you could say that. When I was in college, I was obviously trying to find myself and did the whole fast fashion thing, but as I started learning more about the whole process from start to finish it was very eye opening. Even in school when we were making patterns people were just throwing away the excess and there weren’t even recycling bins, so it began to dawn on me that if this is what it’s like in my classroom, what’s it like on a global scale? That’s when I really started taking into consideration how I could reduce waste in my own process but also make things that weren’t going to just be worn once and then thrown away.

“Sustainable fashion” is a very blanketed term. How do you define it?

NC: I think it’s more about being conscious and transparent about your practices. A truly sustainable lifestyle is reusing items and breathing new life into existing clothes, but brands and consumers can also be sustainable by knowing what a product is, where it came from, and who made it. And if any of those practices don’t add up, then take your dollars elsewhere.

So what is your process?

NC: My process is finding fabrics that are organic, have a biodegradable element to them, or have been made of recycled materials. I’m very conscious in terms of where these fabrics and materials are coming from. I also have the foundation of my patterns so that minimizes my pattern waste. From there I take it to a local manufacturer where we only produce made-to-order so that I don’t sit on inventory, essentially keeping waste as minimal as possible. The only inventory we sit on are the tees because they are our best seller but it’s still a small inventory because I’m very conscious about where that’s going if it doesn’t sell. I also always make sure im recycling and donating unused fabric to school programs.

I also feel that your designs are wearable across seasons and trends which could be argued is sustainable because you’re not wearing something for one night out, instead you're wearing it on several occasions and for several years. That in and of itself means you're not producing or consuming anything new.

NC: Thats actually another element of the brand; it’s genderless AND seasonless. I never wanted to create something that was just a quick trend, but instead was unique and quality investment. It’s something our parents and grandparents did with intention, but we lost that and I think it's only reinforced by this normalization via social media of wearing something different every day. And the trends change in social media so fast...

So how do you compete? Or do you not?

NC: When I started the brand I wrote in the manifesto to not submit to trends, so while I feel that it’s important to stay up to date with who’s doing what, it can cloud your judgement. At the end of the day you have to trust your own vision.

We are in this new age of fashion, thanks to the internet and social media, where there are many more points of entry and just about anyone can start a brand. In my opinion what has really happened though is that content has become more important than craftsmanship and that shift has opened the floodgates to the development of more brands. Do you agree?

NC: I never want to deter someone's dream of having their own brand but I feel like social media has created this illusion of “I know how to sew, so I’ll just put some pieces together, take some pictures, throw them online, and now I’m a designer.” What is lacking is a foundation and what it takes to actually build a fashion brand though. I’ve interned, I’ve done the research, I know what resources I need to create the product, how to present the pieces. It’s not just 1,2, and done. It’s grueling work that takes years to perfect. There’s this illusion that it’s so easy or that you don’t need to go to school, which is fine if you don’t want to go to fashion school, but you at least need a foundation for craftsmanship and know what it takes to run a business, build a supply chain, find a manufacturer, etc. There are all of these little steps that it takes to run a fashion business specifically but so many new brands just see the final product without knowing the entire process.

I also think that with this recent democratization of fashion, people just screen print a t-shirt, sell 5 units, and then call themselves a designer.

NC: That makes me so crazy!

Or worse, people just go buy a bunch of wholesale shit, slap their logo on it, and go to market without giving any sort of attention to detail or process.

NC: Absolutely. It’s just about turning a quick buck or gaining some hype. It has nothing to do with craftsmanship.

You obviously hold yourself to a different standard...

NC: Absolutely. I always wanted to walk the walk so anything that was going to deter me from this authentic voice or deter me from having this strong foundation wasn’t going to be for me. I actually had this amazing professor, who also taught Zac Posen and Marc Jacobs, teach me couture techniques which I would practice for hours on end, perfecting my pattern making and eye for detail. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t care as much about the product as I do today. I’ve actually done the work. My fingers have bled. And I don’t think that people want to do the work. They are lazy now. They just want the shortcut to the quick buck and the instant gratification of being a designer NOW without putting in the actual time and effort that will bring integrity to your craft. And if you don’t have integrity, what do you have? A stock t-shirt with a graphic on it?

You’re one of the few brands that are made and manufactured in Chicago. Why is that important to you and what difficulties does it present?

NC: Well, for starters I’m from here so it’s important that I use resources from people I know, but also I’m such a control freak that I need to look over every step of the process. The difficulties are that there aren’t too many options for manufacturing in Chicago and the general consumer is still very conservative.

Let’s not be coy...most designers who start in Chicago end up jumping ship for NYC or LA for those exact reasons. Do you think you’ll follow suit?

NC: I was just talking about this with a wardrobe stylist and she was saying how she’s adamant that she’s going to make Chicago work. So I just think that we need to build the broader fashion community and connect with the right people. But obviously I don’t know what the future holds and if an opportunity will present itself somewhere else or not, but I know my roots will always be here in Chicago.

Worst case scenario you can just become a politician with an answer like that...

(She laughs slyly.)

Your brand has deeply ingrained themes of mindfulness and introspection which is an interesting intersection when we think about the root of a brand being in consumerism. How do you reconcile these two?

NC: I feel like it’s been a personal journey. When I was younger, I was reckless and didn’t take anything into consideration but as I’ve gone through so many life experiences and near death experiences, I’ve found that this mindfulness is necessary in every aspect of how you approach life. So I want to reflect that in my brand; it’s about the self care of meditation, being conscious of what you’re consuming, authentically representing yourself, and not conforming.

Now your brand name is giving me that “aha” moment because I feel like STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY is about contributing strength to non-conforming gender identity, wisdom to consciously consuming, and mindfulness in doing this everyday.

NC: I’m glad you get it.

Me, too. It’s a lifestyle.

NC: It’s an orchid.

CONTENT

IN CONVERSATION WITH: Nelissa Carrillo of STRONGER WISER EVERYDAY

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