Ranchos de Taos fashion designer Josh Tafoya competes for prestigious LVMH Prize

Josh Tafoya, a fashion designer based in Ranchos de Taos, recently returned from a whirlwind week in Paris, where he competed as a semifinalist for one of the world’s top fashion prizes. The LVMH Prize, organized by French luxury brand LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE), is considered one of the most prestigious awards for emerging designers.

The 20 semifinalists were selected from more than 2,000 applicants. From these, eight are expected to be announced as finalists later this month, with the ultimate winner to be named in the summer.

Tafoya described the Paris event as “intense” and “very concentrated.”

“On the first day, we met (Vogue editor-in-chief) Anna Wintour, a lot of people from Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, i-D, Women’s Wear Daily, a bunch of other press outlets from around the world,” he said.

“There were a lot of stylists, industry professionals and buyers from Dover Street Market, The Webster and Bergdorf Goodman, plus celebrities like Jaden Smith. A lot of designers were there, too. (Fashion stylist) Law Roach was there,” he said.

Tafoya presented his collection to these industry insiders, whose votes, along with those of the public, will determine who moves on to the finals. Public voting is now closed.

The young designer explores his family’s complex heritage and history through the language of fashion, breathing life into traditional New Mexico textile arts.

“My identity is Spanish, Chicano and Genízaro, which is very much rooted in New Mexico, and especially here where I’m from, in Ranchos de Taos,” he said.

“The property that I live on right now, which is my mother’s property, was our grandparents’ property,” he said. “So, the work is very much a reflection of understanding why I live where I live, and the traditions that are carried down from generations.”

Tafoya’s grandmother was a weaver, and the designer said he has spent the last few years learning to weave in the Rio Grande Valley style as a way of reconnecting with “that part of our family history that had slowly faded away.”

His work is the opposite of fast fashion.

“Some of the pieces can take up to two months,” he said.

Tafoya marries traditional weaving techniques with elements of deconstruction, as pioneered by people like Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons, and Martin Margiela, and seen today in labels like Ottolinger and in Nicolas Ghesquière’s work for Louis Vuitton.

“I’m deconstructing the panels. A lot of weavers will do one rectangle with all the imagery on it, but the way I look at it is three-dimensional. So, I’m abstracting that rectangle and draping it on the body and really dissecting it into multiple forms,” he said.

After graduating from Parsons School of Design and then working briefly in the New York fashion world, Tafoya returned home during the pandemic, which is when he started weaving in earnest.

“It definitely was a blessing,” he said. “It helped me regroup myself and really brought me back to our family traditions and understanding more of our family history.”

For Tafoya, who had never been to Paris and has rarely shown his collections outside of New Mexico, competing for the LVMH Prize has been an incredible opportunity to make friends with fellow designers from around the world.

The designers were so busy in their own booths during the week, though, that it was hard to socialize until the very last night.

“We were all housed at the same hotel — all of us who were coming in from out of the country. And they had given us Champagne bottles. So, we all brought our Champagne bottles to the lobby bar area, and we were just hanging out for the whole night,” he said.

Win or lose, he said he is grateful for those connections.

Ranchos de Taos fashion designer Josh Tafoya competes for prestigious LVMH Prize

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He covers music, visual arts, books and more. You can reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com.