What was the inspiration behind this collection?
I was inspired by my beginnings in fashion, the moment when I first developed a real curiosity for it. I remember watching MTV and seeing Madonna’s Celebration video. I was completely fascinated by her look: the short Balmain dress with the knee-high Louboutin boots. I didn’t know much about designers or brands. It was the first time I ever Googled a dress and started researching fashion. I didn’t know who Christophe Decarnin was at the time; years later I had the honour of working with him, which became a very important moment in my career. This collection is about honouring that beginning: the naivety, the spontaneity and that sense of curiosity before you start thinking too much about fashion. It’s about reconnecting with that instinct.
How would you describe the collection’s colour palette?
In terms of colour, I see it as a continuation of our previous season. There are nudes, shades of off-white, grey and black, contrasted with touches of pink, lilac and silver. It moves between something quite sober and neutral, and moments that feel softer and more luminous.
Which materials did you particularly enjoy working with?
This season, we worked extensively with scraps and leftover materials found around the studio, upcycling them into structured short dresses. I particularly enjoyed giving these forgotten materials a new purpose and transforming something almost accidental into something very precise and constructed.
Who is your ideal fictional character?
The SEVALI woman is more of an abstraction: someone part muse, part runway creature, part elegant threat. She possesses a sharp beauty, dark theatricality and an untameable presence. A character that doesn’t simply walk the street but “appears” in it. I don’t look at her as something comfortable, but as something that, to a certain extent, overwhelms me and wakes me up.
Which film or book continues to fascinate you?
Anything by David Cronenberg or John Waters. My favourite writers are Pedro Lemebel and Yasunari Kawabata.
Is there a childhood memory that influenced your decision to pursue this career?
My older sister’s bedroom. The walls were covered in fashion magazine cutouts. A gigantic, incoherent moodboard. I was fascinated by it.
Is there a neighbourhood or place in Paris that you particularly love?
The outskirts. The banlieues beyond the postcard version of Paris. There’s a rawness there, an authenticity untouched by cliché. Beauty reveals itself when you stop looking for perfection.
How would you define yourself today? How would you describe your aesthetic?
Raw, nostalgic, deconstructed. I’m interested in tension, between memory and reinvention, fragility and aggression.
What is your mantra? Do you have a lucky charm or talisman?
“It’s just clothes.” A reminder to never take fashion so seriously that it loses its pulse.
What is your vision for 2027, and what projects do you have ahead?
To continue developing SEVALI with integrity, creatively uncompromised and emotionally honest, while reaching new markets and audiences.
Which destination best reflects who you are?
Chile, my homeland. Its sublime landscape, its dramatic contrasts, its beautiful, resilient people.
L.B.
This interview has been lightly edited.
