#12 (it's not only) MODA -pt.II-

All Eyes On > #12 (it's not only) MODA

-pt.II-

Pietro Cordano___Maison Atacama

He/Him

IG: pietrocordano                   maisonatacama

Reading time: 4 min 48 sec

Speaking time:  9 min 15 sec

Imagine a young boy, his hands still a little clumsy but his eyes full of dreams, wandering among the stalls of a market in Iquique – Chile. It is a Saturday morning; the sun is beating down, and voices mingle, creating a symphony of colors and fabrics. Here, amid garish T-shirts and worn trousers, Pietro grows up with a sense of belonging that is linked to clothes, to that poor art made of unique pieces and invisible stories.

Fashion, after all, has always been more than just a way of dressing for him: it is a way of being, of affirming one's identity, of standing out in the chorus of uniformity. His grandmother, who creates clothes in this way, and his aunt, a fashion designer who works with upcycling, are the first guides on a journey that, without knowing it, leads him to discover how small details can become big stories.

"Throughout my life, fashion, in a way, has been very present, but I have never taken it seriously. As a child, I always went to the market with my family on weekends to get clothes to look for the best garments. Also because, being a small town, we didn't get the retail of the big brands that there are in Europe, so there wasn't too much choice: either you bought the same T-shirts that everyone has, from those fast fashion brands, but small, or you went to the market and got your unique garment. So this fashion thing was always there.

My grandmother used to make her clothes, my grandmother used to travel outside my city and buy me clothes."

When, in 2019, Pietro starts to get his hands on clothes, everything becomes a game of experimentation: cutting, sewing, readjusting. It is a moment of pure creativity, a letting go of his hands, without limits or patterns, only with his heart beating fast in his chest as he gives life to a revisited skirt or trousers. It is an act of rebellion against standardisation, a way of saying: 'This is mine, unique, special'.

I started to get my hands on, just with small things, in 2019. With my aunt, the last year in Chile, when we were at home, we said to each other: 'Let's do something, let's make a new garment', but very much like this, that is, not sewing it, but modifying it, cutting it. But there you go, it was still one of the first times I wanted to do something."

The time came for him to move to Italy, to immerse himself in a new world, to study political science, but with an eye always on the fabrics and materials that speak to him of home, of culture, of deep roots. Fashion still calls to him, softly, almost whispering between the folds of the garments, and Pietro understands that this passion cannot be ignored.

“I moved to Italy in 2021 to study political science, and my aunt was already in London. She was my family, my closest relative in Europe; otherwise, I would have gone back to Chile. So I started going to London a lot, and since she had the studio and I wanted to make clothes, little by little we started doing more and more things."

In 2023, the idea was born that changed everything: to create clothes that were the result of an upcycling process, a gesture of respect for resources and the environment, but also an expression of authenticity. He recalls the moment when, with a friend, he transforms a pair of used jeans into a unique garment: the pleasure of seeing the piece take shape under his hands, of being able to say 'I made this', is priceless.

Upcycling, for Pietro, is more than a technique: it is a philosophy. It is giving new life to what seemed destined to end up in oblivion; it is transforming the old into something new, beautiful, powerful. It is the art of creating without consuming, of respecting the stories of each fabric and each thread.

"This thing is, for me, a whole creative process that fills me up, makes me feel great. I can go hours without sleeping, hours without doing anything else, because it's just this discovery in the process that... wow."

But her vision goes beyond simple reuse: she dreams of taking this aesthetic to the next level, of raising the bar, of making handmade, carefully and lovingly crafted haute couture garments that tell the story of the culture of her country and all of Latin America. This is how Maison Atacama was born, as a bridge between his past in the Atacama desert and the world he dreams of conquering: a world of fashion shows, of collaborations, of visibility for Latin talents that are often hidden, forgotten, or undervalued.

"Maison Atacama, because I was born and raised in the Atacama region.

I thought of the name in Paris; there was no doubt about it.

For me, Maison Atacama has always represented my culture, so representing Chile, Latin America, giving us a voice, giving us a space.

To make people feel that we are there, because there are very few brands that do that. So, for me, it was a need: to make people feel that we are here.

That will always be the goal: our cultural evolution."

"I've been in London recently, because the first small collection I did is more centred on nightlife, our way of having fun, but more importantly on making people realise that it's not just fun, it's part of us: the feeling of being free, perrear, the being good with friends.

And so I started travelling to meet DJs, singers, and in this exchange of words, of ideas, I got this offer to drop my clothes off at a queer designers' shop in Soho."

And it doesn't stop there. Pietro also works to bring the clothes of Latin American designers to Europe, to give them the voice they deserve, to show the world how much talent and creativity there is in the heart of that region. His idea is to create a circuit that enhances cultures, that gives them an authentic voice, far from the westernised logic that too often standardises everything.

In each of his garments, in every detail, one perceives this desire to tell stories: stories of encounters between cultures, of journeys between continents, of everyday details that become art. His quest for happiness, as he says, is this: to be filled with creativity, connections, emotions, and deep meanings.

"The pursuit of happiness, for me, is the constant force of giving space to creativity, filling myself with it. Representing, making things, and giving us space. And doing it in complete sharing with the people I love."

And so, between one project and another, between a fabric and a dream, Pietro continues to chart his path, with the awareness that fashion can be a gesture of silent revolution. A fashion that looks at small stories, at the hands that create them, at the cultures that intertwine, and that, in the end, reminds us that each piece carries with it a universe of emotions and meanings, ready to be discovered by those with curious eyes and an open heart.