Carmen Alatorre - Costume Designer - Diseñadora De Vestuario
Thursday, February 13, 2014
My Mother's Red Shawl - El Rebozo Colorado
Carmen Alatorre - Costume Designer - Diseñadora de Vestuario
In English
I left Alex’s home Studio steeped in the familiar. When I arrived he proposed to me in his perfect Spanish to sit down and chat before taking my photograph “cold turkey.” “How would you say that in Mexico?” he asked. I giggled and answered “De sopetón,” while thinking of my best friend who is constantly reminding me that my Mexican Spanish is a relic of the 90s.
Alex’s house, a Vancouver house from the outside, both in structure and
façade could easily be one from la Colonia Mixcoac in Mexico City. It is reminiscent of those
houses upholstered in books of Latin American literature, the rooms filled with
the verve of stories read, persons and objects photographed, illustrations from Toledo
and wooden chests from Olinalá.
The red rebozo was neatly
folded inside that chest made from wood from the State of Guerrero. Its fragrance of pure Mexico. Alex
told me that his mother took the rebozo from Mexico
to Argentina
in the early 50s.
With the rebozo in my
hands, that incorrigible searcher of the past in Mexico, recognized herself in its
texture and smell. And she found herself with that part of myself that had
already become a theatrical costume designer in Canada in the second quarter slice
of her life. It was the smell of the Mexico that my grandmother lived
that attached itself to that more or less recent duality of mine. I am Mexican and
Canadian.
In these last years,
as a costume designer, my mind has been trained automatically to analyze materials,
textures and the approximate age of these vestments. In this case my analysis
came with a nostalgia of belonging.
Recently I have designed
the costumes for that well known play whose title in Spanish is “El chofer de
la Señora Daisy, is being performed by the Arts Club Theatre Company. In spite
of those cultural and geographic differences the project brought me a nostalgia
similar and related to the recent death of my grandmother. Studying the fashion
of elderly ladies from 1948 to 1973, naturally took me to study her photographs
and I wondered how this play would be adapted to that system of caste and
racism that has permeated my country of origin for so many centuries.
I have my doubts that
such a project, a Mexican Driving Miss Daisy, would see the light of day but I
am still most grateful of the coincidence and opportunity in this little voyage
to my interior self.
In Spanish
Rachel Cairns Actor
Jennifer Landels Espadachina
Judith Currelly Pilot- Artist
Jim Erickson Set Decorator
Alexandra Hill Soprano
Georgina Elizabeth Isles Figure Model
Emma Middleton Actor
Mark Pryor Author/Lawyer/Assistant DA Travis County TX
Brother Edwin Charles Reggio, CSC Mentor & Teacher
Veronica Vex Burlesque Dancer
George McWhirter Poet
Raúl Guerrero Montemayor Padre-Compadre
Alexandra Waterhouse-Hayward Maestra
Shirley Gnome Singer/Provocateur
Yeva & Thoenn Glover Dancers/Choreographers
JJ Lee Writer
Jacqueline Model
Cathy Marsden Psychiatrist
André De Mondo Wanderer
Colin MacDonald Saxophonist/Composer
Nina Gouveia Yoga Instructor
Stacey Hutton Excercise Physiologist
Colleen Wheeler Actor
Sarah Rodgers Actor, Director,Mother
Kiera Hill Dancer
Johnna Wright & Sascha Director/Mother - Son/Dreamer
Decker & Nick Hunt Cat & 19th century amateur
George Bowering Poet
Celia Duthie Gallerist
Linda Lorenzo Mother
Katheryn Petersen Accordionist
Stefanie Denz Artist
Ivette Hernández Actress
Byron Chief-Moon Actor/Dancer
Colin Horricks Doctor
Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun Columnist
Jocelyn Morlock Composer
Corinne McConchie Librarian
Rachel Ditor Dramaturg
Patrick Reid Statesman, Flag Designer
Michael Varga CBC Cameraman
Bronwen Marsden Playwright/Actress/Director
David Baines Vancouver Sun Columnist
Alex Waterhouse-Hayward Photographer
Lauren Elizabeth Stewart Student
Sandrine Cassini Dancer/Choreographer
Meredith Kalaman Dancer/Choreographer
Juliya Kate Dominatrix
In Spanish
Salí de
la casa-estudio de Alex permeada de una sensación de familiaridad. En su
perfecto español, al llegar me propuso sentarnos a platicar un poco antes de
tomar la foto a la “cold turkey”. ¿Cómo
se decía en México? Me preguntó. “De sopetón”, contesté con risitas y
teniendo a mi mejor amiga en mente, quien me recuerda seguido que mi español
mexicano es una reliquia de los años noventa.
La casa
de Alex, si bien bastante vancouverita en estructura y fachada, podría ser
perfectamente una casa de la Colonia Mixcoac en la Ciudad de México en su
interior. De aquellas casas tapizadas de libros de literatura latinoamericana,
los cuartos llenos del brío de historias leídas, personas y objetos
fotografiados, dibujos Toledanos, y cofres de Olinalá.
El
rebozo colorado estaba perfectamente doblado dentro de un baúl de esta madera
proveniente de Guerrero. Puro olor a México. Me cuenta Alex que su mamá lo
llevo desde allá a Argentina en los años cincuenta.
Al
tener el rebozo en mis manos, aquella buscadora empedernida del pasado en
México, se reconoció en su textura y olor. Y tuvo un encuentro con la yo que se
formó como vestuarista de teatro en Canadá durante la segunda cuarta parte de
su vida. El olor al México que vivió mi abuela, hizo alquimia con mi mas ó
menos reciente mexicaneidad-canadiense.
En los
últimos años, mi trabajo como diseñadora de vestuario, ha entrenado a mi mente
a analizar de manera automática materiales, texturas, y fechas aproximadas de
cualquier vestimenta. En este caso, el análisis vino acompañado de una gran
nostalgia y sentido de pertenencia.
Hace
poco diseñé el vestuario para aquella conocida obra que se tituló en español
“El chofer de la Señora Daisy”, puesta en escena por Arts Club Theatre Company.
A pesar de la diferencias culturales y geográficas, el proyecto me trajo una
nostalgia similar relacionada con la reciente muerte de mi abuela. El estudio
de la moda en mujeres mayores desde 1948 hasta 1973, naturalmente me obligó a
revisar sus fotos y me hizo preguntarme como sería esta historia adaptada al
sistema de castas y el racismo que ha permeado mi país de origen por tantos
siglos.
Dudo
mucho que tal proyecto se pueda realizar, pero de igual forma agradezco
inmensamente la coincidencia y la oportunidad de este pequeño viaje a mi
interior.
Roberto Baschetti Sociólogo, Investigador Histórico - Amigo
Jennifer Froese Youth Worker
Roberto Baschetti Sociólogo, Investigador Histórico - Amigo
Jennifer Froese Youth Worker
Rachel Cairns Actor
Jennifer Landels Espadachina
Judith Currelly Pilot- Artist
Jim Erickson Set Decorator
Alexandra Hill Soprano
Georgina Elizabeth Isles Figure Model
Emma Middleton Actor
Mark Pryor Author/Lawyer/Assistant DA Travis County TX
Brother Edwin Charles Reggio, CSC Mentor & Teacher
Veronica Vex Burlesque Dancer
George McWhirter Poet
Raúl Guerrero Montemayor Padre-Compadre
Alexandra Waterhouse-Hayward Maestra
Shirley Gnome Singer/Provocateur
Yeva & Thoenn Glover Dancers/Choreographers
JJ Lee Writer
Jacqueline Model
Cathy Marsden Psychiatrist
André De Mondo Wanderer
Colin MacDonald Saxophonist/Composer
Nina Gouveia Yoga Instructor
Stacey Hutton Excercise Physiologist
Colleen Wheeler Actor
Sarah Rodgers Actor, Director,Mother
Tim Turner- Real Estate Agent
Kiera Hill Dancer
Johnna Wright & Sascha Director/Mother - Son/Dreamer
Decker & Nick Hunt Cat & 19th century amateur
George Bowering Poet
Celia Duthie Gallerist
Linda Lorenzo Mother
Katheryn Petersen Accordionist
Stefanie Denz Artist
Ivette Hernández Actress
Byron Chief-Moon Actor/Dancer
Colin Horricks Doctor
Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun Columnist
Jocelyn Morlock Composer
Corinne McConchie Librarian
Rachel Ditor Dramaturg
Patrick Reid Statesman, Flag Designer
Michael Varga CBC Cameraman
Bronwen Marsden Playwright/Actress/Director
David Baines Vancouver Sun Columnist
Alex Waterhouse-Hayward Photographer
Lauren Elizabeth Stewart Student
Sandrine Cassini Dancer/Choreographer
Meredith Kalaman Dancer/Choreographer
Juliya Kate Dominatrix
