Up and Coming: Garciavelez

Carlos Garciavelez can handle the scale of a building: He’s a trained architect who studied at RISD. He recently realized, though, that designing for the body is equally gratifying – and far more manageable. “On the scale of a human form, the reward is faster,” he says. Fashion has long been in pursuit of the 31-year old New Yorker, originally from Mexico, who debuted his menswear label Garciavelez earlier this year. It narrowly missed being his undergraduate major, and inched closer during a stint at interiors firm Gabellini Sheppard. The stars aligned after Garciavelez finished his master’s degree at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and took a summer internship at Alexander McQueen. “Everything was arranged for the [‘Savage Beauty’] show at the Met'” he recalls. “I was in the archives, having a very intimate moment looking at garments, and feel in love.” He set to work, completing his first collection in six months. Created for city-dwellers with an active lifestyle (he says his muse is “the cultural nomad”), the garments elegant shapes and flexible fabrics effortlessly transition from day to night. Thus far, each collection has taken on an ephemeral theme: spring/summer 2016 riffs on Donald Judd’s clever manipulation of  light, while fall/winter 2015 (a look from which is pictured) contemplates the horizon line via paneled suits and intricate pleated yokes. The new brand’s e-commerce site launched last month, but Garciavelez dreams of designing a brick-and-mortar store. “I’d design the clothing, the racks, the building,” he says. “It’d be the most incredible demonstration as a designer – all the scales coming together.