Last week, Hearst Magazine’s employee resource group LatinX hosted a series of one-on-one conversations with renowned Latinx fashion designers at a summit called The Beauty of Latinx Design 2023, held in partnership with the CFDA and The Museum at FIT.

“We need to be able to look back and reflect on our history in order to embrace a future with a diverse and inclusive and strategic perspective. We need to learn from each other, we need to make and look for points of connection, and foster inspiration and community,” said ELLE magazine Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia during her opening remarks. “Our Latinx community is defined by diversity. That for me is the beauty of Latinx—that we can come from different parts of the world and share this bond that is unbreakable.”

Here are the top highlights and takeaways from each discussion.

The Rebellious Spirit of Resilience featuring Willy Chavarria and Maria Cornejo

Maria Cornejo
I always try to do things in an authentic way. It’s not a conscious thing for me to be rebellious. I’m just being myself. I don’t know to be any other way. I have my life and own social beliefs, so I can only relate to that. My reality as a designer is that I fled to England from Chile as a political refugee when I was 12. To me, clothes are political—you reflect the time you live in, the people that you work with, and the artists and the women that you love.

For us designers, our job is to bring joy and beauty into this world. What we have in common as creators is that we make things that brings beauty and joy, that embraces the woman and the man and makes them feel better, and that gives them armor to go out into the world. That’s all we can do.

Willy Chavarria
In this business, to be a designer you must to have a strong voice of your own—and that is its own form of rebellion. You have to be rebellious to be successful. We have the luxury that we can choose to purchase clothes and dress ourselves in a way that reflects who we are affiliated with, how we want to be perceived, and in a larger picture, reflects the past, present and future.

Growing up in a Mexican-American household with parents who were parts of the civil rights movement, I was always very aware of politics. When I think of Latinxs in America, we’ve had to suffer and go through oppression, but our culture has remained resilient and we always come back with color and laughter. I felt like that needed to be in my work. I take elements of the Chicano movement and reinterpret it and deliver it back into my clothes. It’s so important to maintain the goodness and positivity. In everything we do in fashion, it’s so important to remember to be good to one another, and to be generous and loving.

Heritage and High Fashion featuring Narciso Rodriguez and Fernando Garcia

Narciso Rodriguez
American fashion has always been so pragmatic, so real, and about women of real life. It’s always been the part of American fashion that I’ve appreciated the most. My dream as a teenager was to work with Donna Karan while she was at Anne Klein, and I got there until Calvin Klein poached me (they were in the same building). It was an incredible experience to work with two great American designers.

Growing up with Latina women, we are surrounded by all those curves, the laughter, the music, the food, and the joy. I remember being very little and sitting on a stage while Celia Cruz was performing, and I was just riveted. All of that pushed me into a career in fashion. To me, it was their bodies and their sensuality, the joy in dressing.

Fernando Garcia
For me, American fashion is a mix of walks of life and cultures, and the result of the melting pot is what brings about American fashion. Working with Oscar de la Renta was a hoot. He was very cheeky and would embrace any idea that would come his way, no matter who was pitching it. He made sure he made every person feel welcome to express their ideas. No matter how many arguments we had for work or personal reasons, at the end of the day, if he didn’t make you giggle or laugh, he wouldn’t let you go home.

Social media and the internet does so many favors for us designers that we now take for granted. Oscar didn’t have that kind of luxury. He had to create waves of impact whenever he would walk into a room. His way of behaving, his model of trunk shows, and all of this debonair, gentlemanly energy that people would have to talk about was very much a way of being in order to sell yourself and your brand.

Sustainability and Craftsmanship featuring Gabriela Hearst

Gabriela Hearst
I would fantasize about clothing ever since I was little. I never knew I was going to be a fashion designer, but something was predestined in me. I grew up on a ranch and I used to ride horses and hurdle cattle dreaming that I was in these huge gowns while I was in gaucho gear. I got my first start in fashion with my brand Candela I started with three other Latinx founders, but when my dad passed about in 2011, I returned to the ranch to help out at home. I tried getting away from my roots in the farm, but my background kept coming back to me. It’s there I started to see this hole in fashion where I can see where climate change was happening. I was pushed by wholesalers for cheaper price points and discounts, and this was not the ethos I wanted to work with, and so I was very determined with the long-term view of Gabriela Hearst the brand to be an honest luxury company.

In 2018, I had this revelation I was going to be the creative director of Chloé. It was through pure sheer determination and conviction that I’m in my dharma. During my time there, it was very important to show that I came from South America. When I came in, there was one person in their sustainability team, after my time there, there are now 12 employees working on it.

I have to enjoy what I’m doing, and if I can lift as many people with the convictions I have in what I’m doing, I’m doing a good job. That’s what I try to do every day. If you empower women, you empower communities, because women…we have the power to elevate others. This is what we do. We always are helping others. This is what our beings are. If you are not fighting for your survival, you have the duty to have a joyful experience.