On an early spring day in 2018, a casual catch-up between friends blossomed into something far bigger. Silvia Argüello arrived at Constanza Cavalli Etro’s office in Milan fresh off a flight from the Dominican Republic, where she had recently relocated with her husband. Argüello and Cavalli Etro had been friends for years, initially bonding over their shared involvement in the fashion industry.
Argüello recalls Cavalli Etro asking what she planned to do next, now that her life had “changed completely” following her nuptials and transatlantic move. “And I was like, ‘That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out.’ ”
Looks from Karoline Vitto.
Argüello began her design career working for Emanuel Ungaro in Paris during Giambattista Valli’s tenure as creative director in the late ’90s and early 2000s. She eventually moved to Milan and started her own line. But that was another lifetime ago. In this new life, one straddling the Dominican Republic and Italy, Argüello aspired to “add value” to the fashion landscape through the practical experience and knowledge she’d already gained working in the field.
Cavalli Etro, meanwhile, had previously operated her own communications agency in Mexico City before marrying fashion designer Kean Etro in 2006 and moving to Milan soon after. Eight years later, she established the first edition of Fashion Film Festival Milano, blending her love for fashion and cinema.
A look from Luar.
The duo began brainstorming, first talking about the festival that Cavalli Etro had long been running. Then the proverbial lightbulb went off. “Constanza said, ‘There’s no awards ceremony for Latin Americans [in fashion]—maybe we should have the first Latin American fashion awards,’ ” Argüello says. “From that day on, it was like, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ ” That conversation would kick-start a five-year effort—with lockdowns and a worldwide pandemic wedged in the middle—culminating in the inaugural edition of the Latin American Fashion Awards, which took place in November 2023 in the Dominican Republic. Designers, models, photographers, and artists competed across 14 categories, including Designer of the Year, Emerging Designer of the Year, and Fashion Icon of the Year.
“The [British] Fashion Awards are great, the CFDA Fashion Awards are great, [but] we need something for our region, something that puts all our countries together in one force,” Cavalli Etro says. “This is the project of our lifetime.”
Raul Lopez won Brand of the Year for his work as founder and creative director of his Brooklyn-based label, Luar. He recalls the out-of-body experience of accepting his award: “I lost the words, and when I got up there, I saw everyone, looked into the crowd, and was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is actually happening,’ ” Lopez says. “For me, it was about being Latino, being from the Dominican Republic, and being with all these Latinos from around the world, which had never happened. I think it’s bigger than us—we’re vessels in this moment, and we’re being used to illuminate the past and the future.”
Both Argüello and Cavalli Etro noted that following the awards, it’s crucial to provide the winners room to grow and opportunities to leverage their newly formed industry connections and growing platforms. “We knew it was going to be a biennial project—a year of celebration and a year of business development—for our winners,” Argüello says. “If we were going to do it every year, then by the time you have your winners, you’re already working on the next rotation. We wanted that development year so we could really impact the careers of our designers.”
Daniela Villegas, a Mexican-born jewelry designer.
Thus in lieu of a 2024 awards ceremony, the founders are taking the awards on the road, returning to the birthplace of the entire idea. During Milan Fashion Week in September, the 2023 award winners will be featured in Fashion Hub Milano, an exhibit hosted by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. They are invited to showcase their collections to international buyers, press, and industry leaders at the White Show. Argüello and Cavalli Etro will also be hosting a cocktail party, in partnership with ELLE, to celebrate Latin American creatives.
“I’m trying to be global,” Lopez says. “I love being from New York and I love America, but I have such a huge following in Europe, and I never really have time other than just [for] Paris to do a couple days of sales and press. This is another introduction, to a different scene—and I’m ready for it.”
This story appears in the October 2024 issue of ELLE.
Mekita Rivas is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. She has covered culture, style, and politics through the lens of gender, race, and ethnicity since 2016. Previously an editor at Cosmopolitan, senior contributing fashion editor at PopSugar, and senior fashion writer at Bustle, her writing has been published in the New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Architectural Digest, and Refinery29.
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