Albuquerque Fashion Week is giving local designers a platform to challenge fashion norms, showcase handcrafted clothing, and bring a wider range of identities and body types to the runway.
Albuquerque Fashion Week’s third Enchanted Elemental installment, “Nocturnal Flame,” will showcase eight New Mexico designers presenting fall collections at the Wheels Museum on Oct. 16. The event emphasizes handmade, locally produced fashion as an alternative to mass production, alongside greater representation of diverse body types, genders, and cultural identities.
Participating designers include Carly Trujillo, who blends Irish, Indigenous Mexican, and Palestinian influences while addressing body inclusivity, and Dei Jahvu of Design Luv ABQ, who challenges gender norms through androgynous tailoring. Joseph Romero of Joe’s Bows will debut a full collection inspired by Mexican and Hispanic women’s history and Albuquerque’s denim manufacturing heritage.
The event’s third installment of its Enchanted Elemental series, “Nocturnal Flame,” will feature eight New Mexico designers presenting fall collections at the Wheels Museum on Friday, Oct. 16. The show begins at dusk and will include music and fire performances.
Organizers say the event is about more than clothing. It also highlights local artists’ creativity, the value of handmade fashion, and the importance of representation in an industry often criticized for narrow beauty standards.
“There are designers here in Albuquerque who are making phenomenal work,” said Jakia Fuller, the event coordinator. “A lot of times, people forget about the talent that’s literally in their own backyard.”
The participating designers are Serena Sandoval, Design Luv ABQ, ARTPXPI, Joe’s Bows, Salvaged Nostalgia, Carly Trujillo, Tan House Studio and Son of Picasso. Their collections range from couture and avant-garde designs to ready-to-wear pieces, with all eight creating one-of-a-kind garments in-house.
Fuller, who curated the sustainable-design exhibition “The Art of ReUse” at Richard Levy Gallery in January, said local production and handmade clothing can offer alternatives to mass-produced fashion.
“Sustainability is such an umbrella term, so you have to be very clear about … what vein of sustainability you’re tapping into,” Fuller said. She said organizers specifically wanted designers to produce their work in-house for “Nocturnal Flame.”
The runway also aims to broaden who gets represented in fashion. Fuller said Albuquerque de
are putting diverse body types at the center of their shows rather than relegating them to secondary presentations.
That approach is reflected in the work of Carly Trujillo, whose collection explores her Native Genízaro and Irish ancestry while expressing solidarity with Palestinians. Her designs will combine Irish tartans, Indigenous Mexican huipiles and Palestinian keffiyehs.
Trujillo said fashion became more meaningful to her when she realized clothing could help tell stories about identity, history and community.
Having been identified as a fat person for much of her life, she said she did not always see fashion as something that welcomed people with bodies like hers.
She now wants to create clothing people can wear to express themselves as they are, rather than something they must aspire to fit into.
“It’s not about aspiration, but more about our lived experience and a form of expression,” Trujillo said.
Other designers are using the runway to question traditional ideas about gender and style.
Dei Jahvu, a 20-year-old transgender and nonbinary designer behind Design Luv ABQ, said she tries to cast genderqueer models and create garments that challenge conventional gender roles.
For this year’s show, Jahvu is designing trousers and a jacket for nonbinary model Evan Evangeline, aiming to embrace androgyny through tailored clothing. The collection also incorporates red accents and flame-inspired textures, including a suit with a spiky train extending from the back.
“My collection is intended to be loud and out-of-the-ordinary and to disrupt the regular,” Jahvu said.
The show will also mark a milestone for Joseph Romero, founder of Joe’s Bows, who started making bow ties in 2019 using fabric from secondhand men’s shirts purchased at estate sales.
Romero said his first full runway collection draws inspiration from Mexican and Hispanic women’s history, particularly women who challenged traditional expectations for how they should dress.
His designs combine Day of the Dead-inspired floral patterns with denim workwear, with looks for both men and women. The denim also pays tribute to Albuquerque’s former Levi’s factory, which closed in 1997, and the generations of railway workers whose stories are represented at the Wheels Museum.
The show is a showcase to move beyond the bow ties that first established his business and present a complete collection. Some participating designers already have established reputations in the region, while others are making their runway debuts.
