Guatemalan Gypsies
Mamie Ruth has often been described as colorful, vibrant, over the rainbow intoxicating... you get my drift, we like color. Well we found a lil part of the planet that loves the bright side of life as much as we do. Guatemala is full of hand woven happiness and it comes in every color under the sun. Wow. The beauty that radiates from this country is like a florescent sign that just says AWESOME. Hence, the perfecto place to source fabrics and hella inspiration for our Spring Collection. Let me take you on a photographic journey through the magical mountains of Guatemala.
The traditional garments are hand woven, naturally dyed, and can take many months to create. Traveling from town to town, you can see the change in cities by the change in the patterned designs of the women’s outfits. Each one is representative of an area or town.
There are markets around every corner selling flowers, spices, fruits, vegetables, fish, shoes, birds... the list rolls on. Avocados and coffee are two of the most common crops found in Guatemala and just so happen be be my version of bread and butter. yum.
The yarns are dyed with natural materials like charcoal, berries, leaves, and spices.
We started our adventure at Lake Atitlan which is the deepest lake in Central America. The lake basin was created after a volcano erupted 84,000 years ago. Luckily you can only reach the cities that surround the lake by boat so I scored this gem of a pic.
The textiles....ohhh, the textiles. I thought I had died and gone to fabric heaven.
The cities looked like an artists' paint pallet. Colors on top of colors smeared with hues of the rainbow. The buildings collided with the natural elements to create the most beautiful color stories.
Guatemalans like it spicy.
Next we visited the city of Antigua, Guatemala which was magnificent. The buildings were beautifully decapitated in the most perfect way.
And they had a pretty rad Mickey D's. We had to give Ronald some love while we were in town.
We ran into our friend Sophie who owns Teysha, the coolest boot company based in Austin, TX. They use Guatemalan textiles and local artisans to craft their high quality footwear. Check out more about her company and dope kicks here! http://www.teysha.is/
We enjoyed a few brewskies on a few rooftops while mariachi bands serenaded us. No big deal.
The essence of Guatemala cannot be fully captured on film, pack a bag and check it out for yourself. It is 100% Mamie approved.