This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
Photographer: Andreas vE.
Models: Luana Giorgio, Ninette Shibara and Valentina Rudenko.
Stylist: Ricardo Moscoso > Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny Llotja.
Location: OAK Villas PGA Catalunya
RICARDO MOSCOSO. Osuna (Andalusia), 45 years old.
Ricardo Moscoso Camuñez is a fashion designer and also the stylist of some shootings that you will see in our series “The person behind the model”. With an intense background in the fashion world, we want to discover a little more about the person behind a tireless creator of art who, despite adversities, has never stopped working very hard for his professional dream.
Your work transmits art, class, elegance and a lot of feminine strength… But who is Ricardo Moscoso?
Ricardo is a very empathetic man, especially for the suffering of others, a very generous man, very altruistic … I even get emotional when I say it. I am a very, very rebellious man and at the same time, I have a lot of love to give. I consider myself very outgoing sentimentally. On a professional level, I avoid the superlative a lot, I know how much things cost and how difficult it is to achieve goals, and I am very down to earth. This is a very tough profession in which there is no support from the government.
How would you define your work?
In my collections there is a lot of art, a lot of passion, a lot of Andalusia… I have felt very, very free since I was born, and I was born in a Spain that was not really as they wanted people to believe. People say that I take inspiration from one place and another. I don’t feel confined to borders, I came to this planet with a very great artistic sensibility. Osuna has a monumentality and one of the most important Renaissance complexes in the province of Seville. I was struck by its palaces, its facades, all the sacred art, that Holy Week with the velvet… Those gold headdresses… Where people saw pain I saw beauty.
“Women in my family are extremely strong and very feminine… Hence a part of my fashion concept”
How does fashion appear in your life?
It appears in a casual way. My paternal grandparents had a textile and clothing store in Osuna and a haberdashery. My father worked there. My mother is the youngest of seven sisters and together with the eldest one, they were seamstresses and dressmakers, so I already had contact with fabrics and patterns from a very young age… I grew up with the concepts “Long Chanel”, “Balenciaga Neck”… And I constantly asked myself who these people should be. And it is my grandmother Elena, through old photographs, who shows me the word “style”. She was very stylish… If there is something that fashion cannot buy, it is style, you either have style or you don’t. My mother and my six aunts were famous for their style and determination. They worked in the fields, in a very harsh Spain, but protected from the sun, protecting their white skin. They were extremely strong and very feminine… Hence a part of my fashion concept.
So you’ve grown up among many women…
I learned the important events of life from my aunts, super strong women, and I used to remember them with the clothes they were wearing. That is an observation that I have because no matter how much people say that women and men are equal, I do not see it that way. I have been brought up among super strong men and women and I know their language perfectly and I am very feminist. Even overly feminist. Women have that unique sensitivity. I have grown up with women with an exquisite education and know-how… And a lot of sense of humor. Because at the end of it all… We should die laughing! There was always a lot of laughter in my family, and there is still a lot of laughter needed in the world. You have to laugh a lot.
“I have never wanted to be the main protagonist of the film, but I did want to live it… “
How is your decision received in your family, as you say, in a harsh Spain?
At first, it didn’t fit well that I want to dedicate myself to this, but in the end, I convinced them. Unfortunately, at that time, my father fell ill and passed away… All that was a setback for me, of course. I had to focus on my family, I helped my older brother get educated, he continued with the family businesses and when everything was fine again, they gave me the option of running with the business and I said no. I wanted to fly… I wanted to belong to my time, I have never wanted to be the main protagonist of a movie, but I did want to live it…
And your new life begins in Ibiza…
Effectively. At the age of twenty-four, I moved to Ibiza to live and, without a doubt, they were the happiest years of my life… I had a very beautiful summer and met my husband. In Ibiza I was in charge of a multi-brand store and I had my first contact with international fashion brands. By chance, I discovered a fashion module which I entered and it was great. But I needed more and more… So I moved to Barcelona and started studying at the Escola Superior de Disseny i Art “Llotja”. That is where I continue my dream. Unfortunately, it was a very tough time on a personal and family level. The tragedy crossed my path again and twice…
In a vital moment, life gave you a setback again…
I could not fully enjoy all that education because my personal situation robbed me of a lot of energy, I knew it would end badly… And I had to put myself to work to get ahead. I had to finish my final project, sometimes my teacher would come to see me at work to encourage me to go on and on… I didn’t know how, because for me that time was hell… And it wasn’t until 2017, almost ten years later, that I could finally finish my project. Life gives you blows and blows… All this, I have interpreted later thinking that, until then, it was not my moment. In 2017, suddenly, it was as if everything calmed down and, again, I had the option to take up what I left behind. I regained my strength and remembered that I had moved to Barcelona to make that dream come true. I got a very good grade for my project.
How was your final project?
After the adversities, in less than two months I made an amazing Haute Couture with a story behind it… It represents Ibiza with the goddess Tanit, goddess of love, sexuality, goddess of dance, and of the night, that in fact is still being photographed… Mixing these two stories, creating the clothing, getting in touch with photographers, models, organizing the shooting, finding a certain location… It was really hard work. The week before the delivery of my final project I hardly slept. I did an exceptional job in record time, and that has to be said.
How do you manage so many adversities while you have to conserve energy to continue fighting for a dream?
There are times when you feel like giving up. Because you can’t take it anymore, financially and personally it’s very hard. It is my vision of what I have lived. I’ve been through a lot of havoc. In my case, the support of four brothers has been fundamental, when they are rational, science and math people. The support of my friends, of Manuel, without him anything would not have been viable, when I no longer had faith he always pushed me forward… The fact that someone like Andreas trusts me… All this is brutal support.
Are you self-demanding?
Very much. When I see and analyze something I have done, I do not indulge in virtues. In any shooting I do, anyone else would say: “Very nice!”, “Very beautiful!”… But I look at the photos and analyze what is wrong, what could I do to improve… I am not competitive but I am very demanding of myself. I had a very strict upbringing, they were very progressive in my family, I have always been very anti-traditional and that has clashed a lot with the moral and social ethics of my town. Of course, I am a fan of Spanish culture… Goya, Velázquez, Gaudí, Balenciaga… They are the best. It is a shame that on a national level, Spain it is not committed to art… Being a country that exports so much of it.
“Haute Couture is absolute creativity without barriers”
What is Haute Couture for you?
(He sighs) Haute Couture is the summon of fashion. It is absolute creativity without barriers. Haute Couture is to have the best fabrics, the most complex patterns, all the fashion mechanisms, the best top models, the best bodies, the best styles, the best photographers… Creating a piece of art. Haute Couture is art and only art. For me, fashion is Haute Couture. After Haute Couture comes the rest…
“Balenciaga should have a place in the Olympus of Spanish artists”
What pieces of art have impressed you the most?
I was very impressed, in the Balenciaga museum in Getaria, with the color black, which is so deeply rooted in Spanish culture… The black in Balenciaga’s Globo line left me astonished. I spent two hours admiring the mannequin, because also, in digital, on one side you can see the pattern and you see how the piece breaks down, how the dress fits and assembles… I was amazed. I do not understand how this man does not appear in textbooks along with all those great geniuses that Spain boasts. He should have a place in the Olympus of Spanish artists. I was also very impressed by the white Chanel tailor, how minimalism and sobriety could not be more sophisticated, like a pure contradiction. Yves Saint Laurent’s tuxedo is a hymn to total culture, a message to the power of women. I like the red Valentino, I like the Métiers d’art collections by Chanel even more than Haute Couture… Haute Couture is a beast… And very, very classy, too. And there is no choice but to define it that way. It is extremely elitist.
How would you describe the image of a designer?
I want to give an image of designers and fashion far removed from those ivory towers. I am not in favor of a designer having to be so well known from the media. That divinity they had in the twentieth century… For me it is too much, designers feel and suffer, we live and we have a story. I get off the pedestal alone, I need grounding. For me it is important, whoever wants to live it in another way, perfect. There is no licentiousness here, I have a very acute sense of ethics and justice.
Is fashion a coincidence?
Sometimes happens by chance, but, as Anna Wintour said, fashion has to be a reflection of the society you are living in.
What society are we living in?
There is a before and after in fashion with social networks, especially. Everything has changed. There are people who, thanks to the Internet, identify themselves with a brand or firm but do not even step on those stores. And that already tells you a lot about what is there and what will come. All that impersonalism will not end with Haute Couture, because the human being has the intrinsic need to feel different and to show the world his power. That hasn’t changed anything. What will change is the perception of power, but nothing else.
What is behind a fashion collection?
If people knew what it is to create a collection… The process behind a collection, research, preparation, selection, hard work… Also photographic campaigns… Which photographer is going to take the photos with the specific message that I want to convey, who is willing to do it… Not everyone is willing to take transgressive photographs. Because they prefer to go to the elegant and basic that sells in the market. If my collection is not elegant or basic… You cannot take photos of it in a minimalist and basic style when I am claiming the sexuality of women. My latest “Erotica” shooting is a message to femininity, feminism… Everything has to be in tune.
When you say “That’s it. I have reached the top of my job”?
There is something very complex in the minds of creatives… The most curious thing is that we never stop. When I am finishing designing a collection there is like a hurricane in my head, because at the same time that I am drawing, images come to me about how the shooting will be, where, I think about everything I will need… A collection is like a pregnancy, it is gestating, gestating… And when I’m in labor, instead of living the moment and taking a break, I’m already thinking about the next collection. It’s like there is something in me that is already bored with that and is already thinking about the following job. Through a shoe, a bow, an image, a collection… You jump to the next project. Creativity is a wheel that never stops…
“I think we will return to a more classic method of fewer collections … Higher quality and less quantity”
How do you see fashion today?
On the one hand, fashion is becoming more and more democratized. The rhythms were very fast lately. Many great designers have fled from that beastly rhythm. It was not healthy and it was not possible, I think, to be preparing so many collections continuously… Now there has been a very big stoppage. I think we will return to a more classic method of fewer collections… Of higher quality and less quantity. I think there will be less but better. Everything has changed, even the parades, which have had to be presented online. The masculine – feminine concept is diluted… New age, new thinking… The issue of environmentalism or global warming is reflected in current fashion. Suddenly, the great firms that have always used natural fur are now opposed to all that. I have been observing the mechanism of fashion for so many years and I am hopeful about the future. But I cannot predict anything, I prefer to go from six months to six months… From collection to collection, but what is clear is that no one expected such a big change in such a short time.
How is the professional situation in your sector?
It is very difficult. There are many unemployed designers, with very complicated and adverse situations in these times. It has always been difficult, but now, if you look closely, the collections that come are very safe colors and simple patterns. That tells you that there will be little movement. That there will be few buyers and that in the end it means less money. What if there are no weddings? The bride, the guests, nobody buys the dresses… And if they buy dresses, now they will spend much less… Big companies don’t die, they don’t lose, they just don’t earn that much. On the other hand, the aspirant is the one who suffers… It is really complicated. We have no help. Fashion is not cared for.
“If I’m so good at this, why not say so?”
It must be very frustrating…
Of course. Also, people always demand. And when they get tired of demanding it is because they have stopped believing in you. I keep pushing forward, but surely someone else would have already thrown in the towel in the middle of my journey… I don’t doubt my worth, it’s not narcissism, but I don’t doubt it. Stop limiting ourselves, let the whole world know. If I’m great at this, why not say so? What I doubt about is the system. Success doesn’t always depend on yourself. In my case, I have given everything, financially, personally, everything. There are times when I want to give up, but I don’t know how, I’m still pulling.
If you had thrown in the towel, we wouldn’t be talking now, after your shooting with ModelManagement.com…
I had already thought about closing the circle with my latest shooting “Erótikka”. But then I saw an ad from Andreas on a social network and I signed up. He contacted me and asked for nine looks. I took him fourteen, with only two days of preparation. I want to thank, among others, to those who always accompanied me from the beginning: Carmen @mikimono.barcelona, Beatriz @mikimono.barcelona, Boris @borislen, and my latest collaboration Enmanuel Grunstein @grunsteinphotocinema.
How was the session?
Fantastic. I thank Andreas enormously for this opportunity, for me it is a small recognition of all the effort I put into this profession my entire life. I thank the whole team with whom I shared the shootings. The location, the models, the team was awesome. Andreas gave me carte blanche in everything, he liked several pieces from my collection and he photographed them… I have to say that Andreas treated me with great affection. I have a lot of sensitivity, especially to detect people and characters. For my worth at a professional level I did not go with any type of complex, I was very calm, and Andreas was a gentleman, very warm. He respected my work a lot, he let me do everything I wanted to contribute. It was a close treatment, like the ones I like. He is a man with a great business career and a man very interested in arts that gave me a lot of warmth. In the shooting, everything flowed very elegantly and very well despite all the stress that a shooting has. A great experience.
“Thanks to ModelManagement.com you have access to the entire planet from your living room!”
What do you think of the ModelManagement.com platform?
ModelManagement.com is the future. It is the world at your feet. Absolutely. Time moves forward, technology drives you forward. Being able to contact so many professionals in the world at any time through a web platform is incredible. Thanks to ModelManagement.com you have access to the entire planet from your living room… As long as you refuse that, you are out of business. It is the “Renew or die”, by Chanel. Personally, I try to have a lot of grounding with the new generations because it is a way to refresh myself. And I learned that from my grandmother, it’s a way to catch up.
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