sa lud, diner o 51-02 21st Street Long Island City, NY 11101 (718) 389-6983 www.bolivares.com 18 | BOROMAG.COM | JULY 2014 THE ARTS y amor STORY + PHOTOS Bradley Hawks Salud, Dinero y Amor. It means health, money, and love. And it is the motto of Bolivares, the clothing line by Lucho Bolivar, an Astoria-born fashion designer who began creating his versatile style of knitwear in 2006. “My partner at the time and I had purchased a silkscreen press, and began experimenting with what it meant to make silkscreen tees,” he explains. “And I quickly realized that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do,” he laughs. Rather than call it quits and fold, Lucho simply packed his bags and went traveling for inspiration. “I was in South America when I realized that I have a real affinity for sweaters. Without saying much, they say just enough.” He also admires that the knits and textures of sweaters have a casual side to them, though they are more valued than a mere T-shirt. After settling on knitwear, it was simply a matter of collecting sights and sounds that would soon inspire his initial line. “At that point I brought in Alexis, who was working at Ralph Lauren, and has been my friend since I was eighteen.” A stunning woman with golden-kissed mocha hair pulled back into a loose ponytail peeks around from behind her computer and grins as Lucho talks about her. “For me, it was simply about bringing in concepts that were stylish, yet effortless,” he continues. We are sitting in his design studio in a large renovated warehouse in Long Island City. The four staff members gazing at their computers with furrowed brows are testimony alone to Bolivares’s fairly speedy success. So are the shelves of scullies, sweaters, and sweats lining the walls. Lucho pulls down colorful blankets, flags, and streams of cloth as he shows me just some of his sources of inspiration, almost all from Latin America. While his style is definitely relaxed, it is of an undeniable quality. Bolivares uses Peruvian cotton, which comes at a premium. “When I went to Peru it was beautiful and really stood apart for me, and so that’s where I pulled my inspiration.” He also acknowledges that he is really drawn to blends of bright, bold colors, as well as a combination of textures. Unlike simply cutting and sewing a garment, knitting allows a seamless control of textures and blends of various hues. “Each of my pieces has a life of its own.” And they truly do. From warm, thick cardigans in bright turquoise and sapphire to thin pullovers that subtly mix emerald and goldenrod, to bright red knit shorts and street-savvy hoodies, my eye is momentarily fixated on nearly every piece as it is pulled from the shelf and placed before me on the conference table. It is also made apparent the diverse seasonality of knitwear. Each style boasts a different thickness, with several designs clearly intended for the winter, while remarkably thin versions make several shorts and tops ideal summer wear, especially as an added evening layer at dusk. While a brick-and-mortar store is in the planning stages, the Bolivares brand is presently available through e-commerce on his website. The site also includes something he calls The Chronicle, which is a blog that documents his various sources of inspiration, much like a bulletin board or Pinterest page. “It’s about travel and people-watching, and all of my senses bottle up and then pour out through my designs.” Rather than simply call each unique style a cardigan or pullover, they receive their own names. Each piece is like a part of his family tree of the people in his life and those he encounters. And while many of the names are obviously Latin, the clothing is a collection of pieces any man would be honored to wear.
BM072014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above