One of Fashion's most legendary shows had a Colombian creative behind it. Here's his story.
The ultimate Things you missed story and for the first time ever in this newsletter, a story told by its protagonist. A long read that you don't want to miss.
Hola,
If you have been a longtime reader of this newsletter, I'm sure that by now you probably have an understanding of the motivation behind most of the things I do. But if you don't, please know that one of my favorite activities (apart from stalking strangers on the subway) is finding the Colombian talent in all creative industries, especially in fashion — and boy do I have a story for you.
About two years ago, while having a creative block, a friend recommended that I look at my old research files to try to find new inspiration, or just think about why at that age I saved the images I did. I found this exercise to be incredibly helpful and for two weeks I dug deep into my old moodboards from 2010 to 2017. While looking at the video files I had saved in 2011, I found a video I had illegally downloaded from YouTube of Tom Ford’s first womenswear show under his eponymous brand. I remember very clearly wanting to save that video because I had read that the show was a complete mystery: he hosted it at his own store in New York, only one hundred people were invited, no cameras were allowed and only one fashion photographer had full access to shoot it. The fact the there was so much gatekeeping around it made me feel like that video was probably leaked and I needed to have it for my archive in case Ford’s PR team would make that YouTube user delete it.
In 2011 when I saved that video, all I wanted to do in life was to get out of Colombia. I loved American celebrities, I was obsessed with New York Fashion week, I knew all of the names and brands — so naturally, my favorite thing about that video was seeing some of the biggest hollywood and legendary worldwide socialites walking for Tom Ford for the first time. But two years ago, when I revisited the video, everything was different. I am different, I am now proud of being Colombian, and I always look for signs of Latin America in everything I see. I know our value and I am committed to people seeing it. This time I also had learned that a Colombian “it girl” had walked the show, and I had became obsessed with her. I loved how the show was filmed so I watched and rewatched it many times. During one of those viewings, I got a call from my mom so I paused the video to answer her. I listened her complain about my sister for 12 minutes, and when I got back to my computer I noticed that I had paused it right at this moment:
I looked at that image and said to myself: I know that guy on the left.
I immediately called our friend in common Juan and asked him, Did Daniel ever worked with fashion brands? My friend Juan simply replied: “He’s worked for ALL of the fashion brands”.
Daniel Gabrielli and I have known each other through friends since I moved to New York, and yet all of our encounters for the past 10 years have been in cities other than New York. I always knew he worked in event production here, but every time I saw him, we never talked about his work. So after learning he had something to do with this show, even though I was DYING to know more, I stopped myself from launching a full inquisition because I took his never having mentioned his clients to me before as a sign that he wanted to keep his work very private. I was right. However, last year, when I decided to start this newsletter, Daniel was one of the top priority-subjects I wanted to write about here. I eventually texted him and when I told him I wanted to write about his participation in that Tom Ford show, he laughed and sounded positive but hesitant. I waited for him to call me back for MONTHS. He is very charming and also very busy so he always managed to pivot into something else during our short text message exchanges. Eventually, after my level of intensity kept growing and never really stopped, he said yes, and here is the letter that he wrote to me:
Hello dear,
Sorry for the delay, but I’m REALLY bad at talking about myself and my work.
In the 14 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve always turned down all interviews and articles.
But here’s a bit of my story because I love your idea, I adore your work, and I feel very honored that you thought of me, knowing so many talented and creative people!
I started my professional life as an architect (Universidad de Los Andes is my alma mater), and after building a couple of houses in Switzerland and the USA, I began working with several interior designers. Among them, Peter Marino, who has designed stores for Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and many others around the world.
At some point during those years, I started doing projects for Ermenegildo Zegna, and although I had always been interested in fashion, it was the first time I understood how a brand concept or a collection could be translated into architecture and, more generally, into “Experience Design”. Working with the Zegna family opened an incredible door for me to understand fashion directly from the designers' point of view.
In 2010, a small production company in New York was looking for a designer/architect to lead the creative department and I started working with them. At this company (where I eventually became Vice President), we organized events for luxury clients in fashion, jewelry, and beauty... and I was in charge of all the creative aspects of the work. I designed spaces for incredible clients around the world in stunning locations like the Great Wall of China in Beijing, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, or the Guggenheim in New York, where I hired a Colombian company that specializes in creating objects and spaces using paper and cardboard in all its forms. They are called Wanda Barcelona!
At that time, for New York Fashion Week, we organized the shows for Marchesa (I have many anecdotes with them, as Georgina was married to Harvey Weinstein), Zac Posen, Badgley Mischka, and we worked a lot with Tom Ford.
I met Tom Ford while preparing for the launch of one of his men’s collections, and we had an immediate connection. I’m a pretty relaxed person (I never let stress show because I feel it’s a contagious emotion that I don’t want to pass on to my team). Even though I was the creative director (I wasn’t involved in any production aspects at that time), I stayed backstage with him before the models went out, and I put on headphones to receive instructions and directions from the “front of house.” There’s always drama during shows... a VIP doesn’t show up, everything gets delayed, or some light doesn’t work, etc., but the person managing the models always has to stay calm and make the designer believe everything is under control and that the show will go perfectly. That show went really well, and when Tom decided to launch his first women’s collection, my role was already defined.
For that show, as always, I handled the creative side. Tom wanted to launch it at his boutique on Madison Avenue, inviting very few people (100 to be exact) for an intimate experience. He wanted to do a show like in the old days, where each model was introduced by name along with a description of the look she was wearing. We did all the backstage, hair, and makeup on the second floor of the boutique, and on the first floor, we created a walk-through with several rooms, arranged spectacular flowers, and set up a podium from where the narrator would describe the show. To make the experience even more intimate, Tom decided that the narrator would be him! So, I would stay backstage with all the models, waiting for him to announce who was going out, and then open the curtains to "send them" onto the runway.
It should be said that this show was SUPER SECRET. The media were not invited because Tom didn’t want anyone to see the collection until it hit stores months later. Only one photographer was authorized to take pictures – Terry Richardson (and the images ended up being leaked in December… a month early).
Another big decision Tom made for this launch was to choose his muses for each look, regardless of age or whether they were models or not. It was so secret that some of them didn’t even know they were going to walk the runway or who the other selected models were!
We also didn’t know who had been chosen, but in general, I expected to see several supermodels. But you can imagine my surprise when I saw that the “models” were people like Julianne Moore, Lou Doillon (one of Jane Birkin’s daughters), Daphne Guinness, Lauren Hutton, and Beyoncé!
It was such a small space, and I was surrounded by so many incredible women, I felt like I was in a mirage… I remember each of them sitting on the stairs, exchanging anecdotes, laughing, and feeling super nervous before going out. But once the show started, everything calmed down because it was the first (and only time in my entire career!) I saw the audience applaud every time a look came out!
I remember Victoria Fernández very well. I didn’t know she was Colombian too, but I remember that, like all the other muses, she had an incredible energy and aura. After the show, the models, in their looks, joined the guests, and it’s one of those moments I’ll never forget. It was amazing to see how Tom Ford, at 49 years old, had reached another level in a career in which he already seemed to be established.
When I got home, my family was visiting NYC, and we went to dinner that night. Little by little, my feet came back to earth because everything had felt like a dream!
After that night, I worked with Tom Ford for the next 10 years (until I retired and opened my own company based in NYC and Milan), accompanying him to all his events around the world. We traveled together to Los Angeles, London, Milan, Moscow, Shanghai... we went everywhere! I look back at that time with great fondness, and now that he has retired, I’m sure his brand will continue to succeed.
Since 2020, through my company, I’ve continued designing and producing events worldwide for luxury brands.
We did the global launch of the new (Hugo) Boss image in Dubai, organized events for Porsche in Milan, Paris, Seoul, and Singapore, and organized projects during Fashion Weeks around the world, Salone del Mobile, Art Basel, and Formula 1.
We are a private company that likes to “do the work and not talk about it,” as my grandfather used to say. So, we don’t have a website or an Instagram account. Clients contact us through referrals, and we stay away from the noise, with our feet firmly on the ground, always working hard to keep growing.
I hope this helps, and I’m really sorry for taking so long...
Big hug!
Dani
If you ever have the pleasure to meet Daniel, I assure you that you’re going to be completely hooked. Very few talented people have the emotional intelligence that he has. He carries that uncommon natural skill of being incredibly layered on the inside but yet so light and refreshing on the outside. His personal energy is inviting, generous, and unexpectedly accessible for someone who has done so much and who could have been easily contaminated by the dark side of ambition.
As you just read, this is the first time Daniel has talked about the people he’s worked with, or his work in general, so I will be forever thankful to him for deciding to share his story with me and with you. I hope his experience made the impact on you that it did on me, and that it gives you the motivation to believe that latin people can do anything and that we should feel proud of where we come from. We need to connect more, to look for each other at events or on social media. Daniel said he didn’t know Victoria Fernandez was Colombian when he did the show, I think about what would have happened if he did.
ps: Dani, if you are reading this, please don’t be upset with me for deciding to use your own words to tell this amazing professional achievement. This story is yours.
One last thing…Here is the video of that Tom Ford show. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:
Let me know if you spot anyone else.
Chao!
Amooooooo
🖤