Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada, the internationally renowned fashion designer, made her first trip to Cancún to participate with Mexican designers Pineda Covalin, David Salomon, Daniel Espinosa and Erika Flores in a show that kicked off a new tourism campaign called “Cancún and the Treasures of the Caribbean”. Before the show, Factio had the chance to talk to the colorful designer on how she got started in this field coming from eight generations of architects, what inspires her and what most people don’t know about her.

FACTIO MAGAZINE: Tell us how you got started as a designer.
ÁGATHA RUIZ DE LA PRADA: I started in the beginning of the 80s in Madrid and at that time there was something called La Movida Madrileña and it was one of the magic periods. In every city there is a period that is one of the best periods of the city, and the “Movida” was one of the most exciting moments in the history of Madrid. I remember Andy Warhol coming to Spain, to Madrid and he stayed here for one week. Madrid was so influenced by New York that it was a big party for a week!

FM: What inspires you as a designer?
ÁRDLP: At the beginning, I was very much inspired by contemporary art. My father, an architect, was the best collector of contemporary art in the 60s and 70s in Spain, so I was very much influenced by that.

FM: What is your design process?
ÁRDLP: Now I have a big team and we are working with all kinds of things. I even have a collection of security doors and last year I launched a collection of tweezers with Tweezerman in New York. For example, we did an opening in Madrid for Posters. Last year we did 12. I do a lot of things with graphic design for book covers and such. Next week in Columbia, I will be designing a garden for the first time in my life. I’m working with natural flowers and it’s going to be a mystery how it turns out because it depends on so many things, including the weather! I have a very funny job because it’s always different.

FM: What do you think about Chicago?
ÁRDLP: Chicago is an amazing city for architecture. It was one of my dreams to go there because I come from a family of architects. If I would have been one, I would have been the 9th generation of architects. I know that Chicago is the best city for architecture in the world!

FM: You are a fashion architect.
ÁRDLP: Yes. I am a frustrated architect, but I try to do as much architecture with fashion as I can.

FM: How would you like to be remembered as a designer?
ÁRDLP: I would like to be remembered as a very colorful designer and I would like to be remembered as someone who was very interested in the environment. I have been in the green party all my life.  I am obsessed with that. I hope the future of fashion has a lot to do with ecology and with ethics, also. I would never do a collection with animals or with furs.

FM: What is something people don’t know about you?
ÁRDLP: I think you have to have your little mysteries, no? If all your life is public, it’s horrible. I live in Spain with a very powerful journalist and he has a lot of powerful enemies. So when you have a lot of powerful enemies, you have to be very good because anything you do can be known and go against you, so at the end you become very conventional.

For more information, visit www.agatharuizdelaprada.com
-Melissa Maynard