He looks like a Versailles character. Tall, thin and with a mane of Louis XIV, he projects a theatrical image. He wears eyeliner, a neat beard and mustache. He wears an antique brocade waistcoat, with a baroque bias, and wraps himself in avant-garde pure cotton sacks.
News: He was born in Sáenz Peña, Chaco. What do you remember about that place?
Gustavo Pucheta: When I was born it was a rural area —later it grew urban— and it is 167 kilometers from Resistencia. We immediately moved to Concepción de Bermejo, further inland. I remember a cotton landscape, with moments of dreams.
News: How was your relationship with the field?
punch: My maternal grandparents had a field and my mother collaborated in the rural tasks. We also lived one block from the Saénz Peña Cotton Cooperative and many afternoons, when I went out to the sidewalk, I saw as if it were in a movie, the cotton particles flying… At dusk, the shadows cast by the large silos, the passing train between the mist and that cotton dust were scenographic for me. It stayed in my head like an oneiric image.
News: What prompted you to study architecture?
punch: From the passion for design, shapes and that large scale of architecture in space. But also the social component; I was amazed to see how it changes people. I made the decision to study when I was in Buenos Aires, when I was 16 years old. I was leaving a photo shoot as an advertising model and I took a taxi, we circled around the obelisk. I saw it, immense, framed by the very wide avenue, and I said to myself “I want to do this, build”. And I felt a pain in my stomach, something that happens when my emotion is great…
News: Did you work in the field?
punch: Yes. I also had a material yard for 10 years. At that moment I met my partner, the architect Nicolás Gallo. Before, I had studied clothing design and, at the same time, I was creating my fledgling brand that bears my name.
News: He decided on fashion.
punch: Totally. I diversified a lot, but with fashion it was a flash. And the very definite choice. Putting on a garment changes who wears it. That change and that modification surprise me, and I love being the one who generates them.
News: There is a fusion of architecture and fashion, according to his look.
punch: Yes. In me there is a zigzag between both. I love the volumes, I feel like I’m always missing the last 100 meters of fabric!
News: What was your first presentation?
punch: It was during the International Sculpture Biennial, in Resistencia, Chaco, in 2018. We put together a very controversial collection. It was a success and that prompted us to continue.
News: When did you land in Buenos Aires?
punch: I have always been well received in this city, since my beginnings as a model and producer. As of 2018 I came with my brand, to present proposals season after season. We come every week to Buenos Aires. Let’s open a store. Probably the formal landing will be with the opening of this itinerant store.
News: His style is “eccentric and indomitable personality, my designs are experimental” he said.
punch: The experimentation is daily. The design is dragging you… we try shapes, colors and textures all the time. It is very dynamic. What is indomitable is the impetus that does not stop; we want more and more. The brand has a team behind it, which works not only on the designs but also on the staging of the catwalks.
News: Is there an audience in Chaco for your theatrical style?
pout: Yes partly; a sector of our workshop makes exclusive designs to order, taylor made, for brides, special events. This is the segment where we have the largest audience. Not only in Chaco but also in Formosa, Misiones and Asunción de Paraguay. The idea is that Chaco is the exclusive atelier to create this clothing and Buenos Aires has a more urban, eccentric coat rack. We also have pret-acouture pieces.
News: He designed a capsule collection for ShowMatch and the costumes for Aníbal Pachano. How was the?
punch: It all started with social networks and the possibility that many artists wanted to look different and took risks. We exhibited different things and they were seen by Cande Tinelli, Flor de la V, Matilda Blanco and Fabián Medina Flores. For Aníbal we created a mini capsule with acrylic tailoring pieces, where graphic design was mixed with industrial and clothing design.
News: When did your exit to the world take place?
punch: Before everything that happened in Argentina happened, they called us from Mexico inviting us to several catwalks. And that’s when they contacted us in our country. And we don’t stop. We come and go all the time to fashion weeks.
News: Are you going to bet on Argentina, despite inflation, insecurity?
punch: We had many proposals to leave the country and I must admit that at one point, we did not see something stimulating here; but we bet on my province and my country. In two months I will be in Buenos Aires and in two years in some foreign cities. We want to continue in Argentina but take our identity abroad. It’s about spreading our DNA. At the end of July, convened by Héctor Vidal Rivas, we are going to present ourselves at Argentina Fashion Week.
News: It is in a province with economic difficulties, and it is dedicated to glamour. Doesn’t he feel like a contradiction?
pout: Yes, many times I felt in a very big contradiction because I saw myself decontextualized. But today, more than worrying about this, we take care of giving work. It is a more concrete answer. Generating glamor is generating work.
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