Also in this collection, the more structural Cortez top with the La Falda skirt. The under-wiring, rouleau loops and three-tiered built-in hoop skirt with steel boning demonstrate Gaia’s versatility in constructing garments.
As inspiration can be poured from a cup already served, an aspect of a petticoat from the brand’s third collection was transformed into something bigger: the Ruffle Tunnel gown shell. The cream dress with adjustable black ties has been compared to Ariel’s makeshift dress after she metamorphoses into a human in The Little Mermaid, but Gaia says it was an unintentional, unconscious choice.
“When you put pen to paper when you start working on your computer when you start draping a garment,” he explains, “or when you’re doing anything to express that, it’s just an amalgamation of other ideas that are all swirled up in your head.”
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s struggle between living a double life and yearning for freedom are themes that especially resonate with the queer community. The tale of transformation from mermaid to mortal has always transfixed Gaia, and the theme of transformation has been essential to building this collection. Gaia’s creative ingenuity has always embodied his upbringing. “I am super inspired by my Brazilian heritage,” he says. “Both of my parents are immigrants that came here in the mid-1980s. Growing up in a Portuguese colony in Brazil, there’s this interesting mix of old Europe, but the finishings and the overall execution has this kind of tropical feeling to it.”
Mirror Palais has been accused of appropriating the Catholic Mexican aesthetic, which Gaia denies. Speaking as a Brazilian Catholic man, he says, “you can’t accuse someone of appropriating something that’s already their own culture.” He points to the multiplicity of cultures in South America with ties to Catholicism and European…
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