Words: Patrícia Barnabé
Portrait: Frederico Martins
To speak of female power in Portuguese fashion is to conjure up the name of Alexandra Moura, one of Portugal’s most talented, consistent and self-aware designers. Humanist and punk in equal doses, her fashion has always pushed the aesthetics of the margins, when these were not yet hyped, and she has always rowed against the tides and waves of fashion and national despondency. We went along to her atelier in Xabregas.
Alexandra Moura doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. Despite her finely-tuned sensibilities and obvious generosity, the designer has a voice and a brand full of character and worldliness, which today extends well beyond fashion. She grew up a tomboy on the coast in Figueira da Foz, when the country was still playing at being modern, trying to shed its prejudices and short-sightedness. So her fashion breathes the spirit of the 90s and the transforming energy of rock that was demasculinised and romanticised in grunge, indie and hip hop, starting a journey from the margins towards the centre and ushering in a new era of diversity.
Alexandra Moura is from the transitional generation, born in the politicised aftermath of the 25th April revolution, with an armour-plated code of ethics and a sense of the bigger picture. She has always been a bit of a wild card, like all those who are ahead of their time, and there seems to be an unshakable charisma about her, which is timeless. She is not one to make concessions and has been able to tread the path of modernity with a depth that fashion sometimes forgets; especially in the last decade, which has been so enraptured by celebrity and its own reflection seen through the filters of social networks.
She studied fashion design and was inspired by its creators, the artists who made fashion stratospheric and interesting, with a strong message and an attitude that defied convention. From the Japanese to Margiela, from McQueen to all the punks of fashion who that gave it drive and motion, but also a dream and an escape. We sat down with her in her small, bright studio.
Q: You recently launched a mini sports collection, the Zero line; and your show for summer 2024 was full of hints of pink standing out against the usual black, with the models parading accompanied by bird song. Is that hope lurking in these dark times?
I think it’s my attempt to bring that hope. Pink implies love, a certain innocence, a playful side. The theme [of the collection] also had a lot to do with the centre of the Earth, with my past studies in Biology. We all know that, for many people, the interior of the Earth is a dark, heavy, almost dirty place, but it’s beautiful, and for me, it has a resounding charm. I wanted to subvert that concept and transmit this pink colour: it was just that delicacy, our core, our essence, what comes from inside us. And what comes out of me, in some way, still has some childishness; there’s a very feminine side, a lot of romanticism. The soundtrack was once again done by Wally, and we found bird sounds from all over the world because this collection tells us about our planet, this core of the planet and about us. I believe that inside us there’s everything we’ve been through, all the places, even if we’re only here now. We went to find sounds that in some way comfort us and bring us some peace and calm.
Q: Fashion seems to have lost a bit of its mystery and magic, like other professions, which have become so democratised, with all the good things they have to offer, but are no longer special. Don’t you think there’s a hunger for dreams, for escape, for fantasy?
I sense that a fantasy world, something more dreamlike, is going to be a strong trend, although you can pick up sub-themes and subcultures to feed it. But the dream being the story that is told behind a brand, which says that you can travel in your head and feel you are part of that dream. The public is very keen on anything that makes them dream.
Q: Apart from fashion, the costumes you design or the classes you teach, what else has excited you?
Last year, I got an invitation from Slow J, and I explored the concept of his new album with him, the general image of the record and the covers of the singles (the artwork was Fidel’s, but together we aligned colours and where to position letters), templates, the type of logo, the fonts, the clothes he wore in the music videos, which I also worked on. When he started doing some shows, even before the launch in March at the Altice Arena, he asked me to think about a stage too. I freaked out because I’d never created a stage in my life, but I was already picturing the common thread of the concept of this Afro Fado, which is this traditional side, but also what the future is, what hasn’t arrived yet… The stage was designed with my reference points, with astronomy, almost NASA in the 60s, cockpits, televisions, screens and, at the same time, the more traditional side, with Angola and the roots of João’s family. It was a challenge to create the various layers and, all together, they created a new language. And also João and Teresa Salgueiro’s wardrobe, everything was very well thought out, and his merchandising, which we’re now repeating because everything sold out on both days at the Altice Arena, incredible! It was the most multifaceted project, where I touched on things that are a little different from clothing and fashion, but it’s exciting because it works on concepts, which is what I like to work on.
And I was invited to design Sumol’s new iconic glass, a project where I had to combine tradition with the future. It deals a little bit with Portuguese identity in the 1970s, with the first Sumol glasses, which had those diamond shapes from the Portuguese glassmaking tradition — at the time the glass was green, incredible and beautiful. I added the concept of what Sumol is to me, the fruit strips, the new logo. This project was incredible, I wasn’t expecting to be able to ‘wear glass’. It was a long process, and it was very challenging, the whole production part and going to Crisal, which is one of the great traditional glassworks in Marinha Grande, and seeing the glass being made… I’m also going to design a new Sumol uniform. Apart from this, there are projects in the pipeline related to costumes, which we’re already working on, but that’s only for 2025. And we have our collections and our customers. Me and Dino de Santiago, the love continues, so maybe something will happen soon… (smile)
Q: At a time when great fashion artists are abandoning it, do you feel that these challenges are opening up the arty side of you that you don’t always use when you’re just designing clothes?
A: These projects are already beginning to nourish the soul. It’s no surprise to anyone, but fashion is getting a bit boring and uninteresting. The market continues to want what’s trendy and the brands that imitate it. Everyone wants to have that same image, and you start to think: how much do I feel like it? It’s important that you still try to get your message over. But the way you put them into practice or the way you act in the world of fashion is… speaking for myself, I think it really needs to change. I can’t bear to continue with the same rhythms, the same patterns, doing things in the same way because the market hypocritically asks for it, but in truth, it’s not what it really wants. So we’re killing ourselves here. I’m entering that phase where now I’m going to do what I want, what I really enjoy.
Q: With age comes wisdom.
A: Clearly, bless my 50th birthday. (laughs)
Q: Fashion in recent decades has drawn its references and nerve from the outer margins of society: punks, bikers, geeks, hip hop, etc. You’ve always done it very well. Now that the mainstream has reached the ghetto and the tracksuit, where does fashion go from here?
A: I don’t know: it’ll probably return to one of those reference points again. If it was up to me, it would go back to punk, the rougher side, that genuine thing of identity, a manifesto, a scream of protest. Of course, it would never be the return of pure, hardcore punk. I always feel the need to mix it with other things that are being referenced at the time. For a good few years now, this underground side of the 90s has always been in my synopses. Of course, I lived through that decade. It’s different from nostalgia or romanticism. I was so happy; everything felt like a first time, an unexplored field. I’m in the 90s again, and I think that could be a window to reopen.
Q: You grew up a tomboy, not always accepted for it, which, not by chance, is common to the overwhelming majority of independent women with style and attitude. What makes you feel empowered?
A: I’ve always had the freedom to present myself to the world as I wanted, and to pass on my identity. Even though I was often not accepted, I never hesitated. It was my way of being in the world, and that always ended up giving me strength. I felt that when they tried to get me to give in, or to change my image to something more so-called “normal” (I don’t really know what normality is), it was like they were taking power away from me. My own image is what kept me going. On one hand, it drove people away; on the other, it attracted other people, and I think it attracted the right ones and drove away the right ones as well. Of course, I always had a mum who gave me a lot of strength. She’s a very strong woman; I always lived with my mum. She herself, at a time when I was a child, and being divorced was almost a label, that strength that she passed on to society and radiated outwards, gave me the strength to project myself as I want to be. I grew up with it and brought it into my work.
Q: You once told me that, as a child, you never went to bed without seeing the sky, and that you used to look up and tell your mum that you missed going to see your family because you weren’t from here. Do you still feel out of the ordinary, or have you come to terms with your marvellous difference?
A: I still feel out of the ordinary and I haven’t calmed down; I feel it more than anything. Talking about it gets me emotional, because I’ve been trying to counteract it for years… I tried to detach myself somehow — what a farce! A few years ago, I thought: ‘No, no, I’m not going to keep trying to be what I’m not!’ I still feel exactly the same way, and I tell my mum the same thing, but now she’s more aware of things, over the years she’s come to realise that I might be right (laughs). And I really miss that something I know I have, but it’s not here or it’s not from here.
Q: You were born before your time and in the ‘wrong’ country, closed and conservative, sexist, but that also gave you a vision and a purpose, don’t you think? What would you say today to the young fashion designer you were?
A: I’ve always wanted to be here, in the fashion world, to pass on concepts and ideas and different ways of being. That’s why I’d say continue to be exactly what you are and, above all, listen to your intuition and follow it.
Q: You’ve received, among others, the Women Creators of Culture prize, awarded by the Secretary of State for Culture, Parliamentary Affairs and Equality for the ‘significance and coherence of her work, innovation and pioneering character of her artistic activity and social and cultural impact’. Even though fashion is mostly made for women, and it’s about women’s bodies and female power, and the models are women, is it still a Little Boys’ Club where they’re always in charge?
A: Male human beings are seriously afraid of female human beings because we have intrinsic strengths and abilities. This thing about intuition and sensitivity, of being warriors and doing I don’t know how many thousands of things at the same time, and managing to do them all. For centuries, we’ve always been silenced precisely because that strength, power and magnetism have been taken away from us. And this has been imprinted on the cells, from generation to generation, and we seem to have withered away and thought we had lost strength. But it’s better to have a lot of strength in a society that is still very macho, where much more value is still placed on things made by men…
Q: But fashion schools are full of girls — it doesn’t make sense.
A: It’s almost all girls! I’ve got one or two boys per class. When I had the shop, and it was a girl serving a female customer, she’d probably turn round and walk away; when I had a boy, she’d be dazzled. Today, there’s no reason why this should still be the case, but it’s so ingrained in the subconscious that you find yourself valuing something masculine more quickly. It seems that your cells are telling you: look, it’s a woman, maybe she’s not worth as much, maybe she’s not as strong or not as good or not as powerful. It’s self-sabotage. And it’s so true that today you’re still adapting and adjusting at 30, at 40 if you have to, in order not to fail, because it seems you have to keep proving yourself.
Q: So many causes are now out in the open, finally and fortunately, struggles of the generation that made the 25th April and people born in those years. What is the younger generation’s revolution?
A: I don’t know, I don’t know what it’s going to be, but what I’d like to see as a cause is greater humanisation between people, empathy. Without it, no cause can truly prevail. It’s just hypocrisy: it’s cool to say things, have slogans, post things and hold demonstrations, and things remain the same. The actual AIs of life, this advanced technology thing, and the fact that people are a bit alienated by mobile phones and social networks, this fake world we’re living in. I hope that a new generation of kids will once again bring something more tangible and more human, more true and more authentic because this is heading towards something very strange.
Q: And in fashion specifically, what’s missing?
A: Right now, just about everything’s missing, again! We thought we were evolving. A few years ago I had this speech: ‘Wow, the market is opening up, people are opening up, there’s more knowledge’. Now we’re going backwards again. Portugal Fashion recently asked us to answer a few questions about freedom: what does freedom in fashion mean to me? And, in fact, I feel I have freedom because it’s still me, I still think about what I want, the message, the dream I want to dive into, to create a story, to create something. It’s the only time. Then they asked if fashion is already free. I myself wonder if fashion is free and if there is freedom in fashion. I don’t think so. Just to be super politically incorrect.
Q: Increasingly, there are no longer any creators, only creative directors, marketeers. There’s so much talk about identity, uniqueness, being authentic in a freer world, far away from the 80s/90s style herds, where you had to belong, but today almost everything is so inauthentic, it’s an individualism without juice: kids get punk haircuts, but there’s nothing punk about them, in their tastes, in their ideas, in their attitudes…
A: Exactly! It’s all about the slogan and the image. Despite the herd instinct of the 90s, those urban tribes that I spoke about in college, the yuppie, the Sloane Ranger, the goth, the punk, the avant-garde, there was more pure identity, more than there is now. It’s all very fake now, and Tik Tok has made it even more so. It’s terrible.
Q: The changes in ideas of beauty on the catwalks is one of the few pieces of evidence, but is there really diversity, or is the truth still not accepted?
A: Of course not! Why are there so many filters to choose from on Instagram? Or apps for you to go back in time and stay young? We are living in a very rotten and hypocritical society.
Q: Not to mention getting botox at the age of 20…
A: It’s really artificial, it’s so weird! And then there’s the whole brutal lack of self-esteem and self-love, the fear that the other person will discover that you’re not like that after all, so it’s best to stick to platonic love on WhatsApp and virtual ones. You’re even afraid of dismantling everything you’ve been putting on yourself for years. It doesn’t seem like it, but that’s what people are into! I can see it in my son’s friends; they’re so used to filters… How are they going to deal with ageing?
Q: This artificiality is fuelled by technology, which can be incredible when it’s in the service of science, and then you have sustainability, which works on ecology and people. When did it come into your life?
A: It’s been in my life since 2001. Human sustainability has always been what I’ve valued most. I’ve never haggled over a price, and they could be taking me for a fool. I never wanted or had any pretensions of being a mass brand, with big stocks or bulk sales. I’ve always tried to understand the fabrics, the quality, the origin of what I’m giving my customers. In the past, it was out of curiosity; now there’s an awareness. I never went for quantity over quality, even if it cost me more or involved doing more work. I’ve never been very taken with this fast fashion thing, I’ve never been a big consumer of anything. I’ve always been very restrained, because of the phases of life you go through, some better and some worse, when you have to tighten your belt. But I’ve always been aware of what I really need, you know. I’ve always dreamed of having a big house with very few things. And big in the sense of having space and light. I don’t need things. Really. I usually say this to Rodrigo [her son]: We have a lot of things inside us. If you feed yourself on everything you have inside you, you’ll realise that you won’t need so much.
