Gabriela Hearst, sustainable fashion icon, says she discovered "true beauty" in rural Uruguay
Montevideo - Designer Gabriela Hearst cultivated her passion for sustainable luxury during a childhood surrounded by nature, farm animals and starry skies in the remote Uruguayan countryside. She has since taken this concept global, combining natural fibres, artisanal craftsmanship and low environmental impact.
Approaching her 50th birthday, Hearst is an established name in high fashion circles. She was the first Latin American to lead the French house Chloé (2020-2023). For the past decade, her personal brand has been chosen by celebrities such as Kate Middleton, Julia Roberts and former US first lady Jill Biden.
Although she is based and built her career primarily in New York, she told AFP that everything she knows about “quality and sustainability” was learned in her native Uruguay. The country, a livestock-farming nation of just 3.4 million people, is where she discovered “true beauty”.
“When I was a girl, I wanted to travel, to see the world,” she said in an interview during her recent trip to Montevideo to present the Uruguayan delegation's uniforms for the World Cup.
After travelling the world, “I was able to appreciate what it is to grow up with those star-filled skies and nature. I learned to value eating food from the land, the quality and the natural luxury that surrounded me.”
Quality over quantity
“My mother had a very small wardrobe on the farm” with clothes “made by Tota, the family dressmaker.” Each new garment, however, was commissioned for “special moments in life: the trousseau; when you got married; when you had a child,” she recalls. “Clothes were inherited.”
Her call to choose quality over quantity, and to buy timeless pieces, challenges the current era of fast fashion and fleeting trends.
Hearst acknowledges that the vast majority cannot afford a wardrobe made of fine materials. She affirms, however, that they can contribute by curbing consumption.
“Students visited me and I asked them: how many of you buy fast fashion? There were about 25 of them and two or three raised their hands. I then asked how many buy vintage clothing, and they all raised their hands,” she recounts.
“There is so much clothing in the world, from everywhere, that you can buy vintage, second-hand fashion, and it's great. There is always a way to have less but better.”
Artisanal value in the age of AI
“The digital revolution and climate change are two forces that are shaping humanity,” she reflects.
In a world where everything seems to be accelerating, especially after the emergence of artificial intelligence, more than ever “there will be an authentic need for handmade creations.”
“The human element, the part of our brain that is unique to us and represents the brilliance of humanity, will become increasingly important,” says Hearst.
This humanity is one of the values she says she finds in her native country.
Here, a cooperative network of hundreds of female weavers, Manos del Uruguay, creates artisanal garments for Hearst's brand, using handlooms or simply a pair of knitting needles.
What is born from their hands in the Uruguayan countryside appears on catwalks, on the covers of magazines like Vogue, or on television, like a multicoloured blanket that caused a sensation after appearing on Sarah Jessica Parker's lap in the sequel to Sex and The City.
“It's incredible that our craftsmanship reaches so far,” Mabel Bargas, a 60-year-old weaver from the organisation, told AFP.
Along with the increase in demand, the collaboration with Hearst and other international brands has brought them more visibility.
It is a perfect match because both Manos del Uruguay and Gabriela Hearst have in their DNA the mission to elevate the artisanal knowledge related to “the slower life of the countryside,” explains Lucía Benítez, a designer at Manos del Uruguay.
For Hearst, the social impact of her work is a fundamental part of the legacy she wants to leave.
“We cannot lose the human connection.” Those who have the privilege of not struggling to survive “have a responsibility to help others,” she says.
“The best idea” is the one that “helps many,” she concludes.
This article was translated to English using an AI tool.
FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com