MARIELA ALEXANDRA
Mariela Alexandra is the founder and creative mind behind Mains De Vapeur. She graduated as a Fashion and Textile Designer from UDEM in Monterrey, Mexico and complemented her studies with various related courses such as Haute Couture by The Arts of Fashion Foundation at Musée Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and Fashion Design at Parsons School of Design.
In New York City she met her first mentor who would introduce her to the millinery world. By acquiring one of her first hats she would delight in realizing how she could wear it for hours on end and forget it was on her head. Struck by the quality of craftsmanship in the creation of hats, she spent the whole summer shadowing the process of making these pieces. This experience taught her the lesson that has accompanied her to this day –the underlying principle that no detail is too small to achieve the absolute comfort of a hat.
In 2016, Mariela went to Los Angeles to work with designer Gladys Tamez at Gladys Tamez Millinery immersing herself in the makeup of a business surrounding hats. She got to experience the process behind collaborating with major brands and celebrities such as Lady Gaga.
Returning to her home country, Mexico, Mariela began to work with another one of her mentors to make endless hats for herself and for friends who would ask for her work. In a small workshop in downtown Monterrey, she created her first collection that would go on to win the Arts of Fashion Foundation International Competition in 2017. The success of this collection gave her the opportunity to attend a Haute Couture Masterclass in Paris where she worked alongside fashion houses like Maison Lesage and Maison Lemarié.
Once again, an unwavering sense for craftsmanship, detail and quality compelled her to pursue her calling for hat-making. Combining process, memory, and material, Mains De Vapeur was born as a homage to the act of hand molding through steam.
Mariela has always characterized her work by creativity, spirituality, and an inherent transformative quality. Through introspection, she found appreciation for understanding the meaning of all elements from a personal perspective to develop her individual voice. Today, she values the space Mains De Vapeur has become for her to celebrate and harness the ever-evolving unexpectedness of the handmade.
Mains De Vapeur has been featured in publications like Vogue Mexico, Vogue Ukraine, Pap Magazine and Weekly Style Magazine.
