This collection serves as a visual representation of the inner tension many of us feel when we move to a new place, town, or country. It is exciting to explore a new place and form new relationships but at times it can be lonely and isolating.

This “push and pull” is the central theme of the collection while my mom is the thread that connects it all, as someone who left her rural upbringing to move to San Juan, and encouraged me to take the leap to New York City. Each look takes inspiration from an element back home, such as the coast and shoreline, or Puerto Rican traditional dances, and transforms it with a sense of nostalgia.

We’ve all felt that thrill of jumping into the unknown but missing the familiar and this collection is my ode to the past while embracing what’s to come.