Alright, happy Monday and welcome back to another Eso D'I vida. I hope everybody is starting the week strong and with energy, that's what we like it here. Now, we are going to have with us today a very special guest. Her name is Alessandra Mesquita.
She's a fashion designer and an artist that has been spoke in art for luxury homes and visionary collectors. Now, her story is very unique and the concept that she's putting into the world are of the chart. So, very excited about having her here today. How are you?
How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you?
Good to meet you. Good to meet you. You're welcome. You're welcome.
I'm great to see you as well. I love your piece of art in the background. It's right here. Did you see it?
Yes. I don't know how you finished on Thursday. Is that the one you finished last week? I don't know.
I just finished today this morning. What do they? I'm super excited. Oh, wow.
It's a beautiful one. Now, I was making a quick intro about yourself. You're a fashion designer and I'm very curious about for world-class resort lifestyle. So, that's a great concept and it's also tied up with the bespoke art that you're building and having for luxury homes and visionary collectors.
So, tell us a little bit about the brand that you've created, Mesquita. I launched Mesquita in 2012. I was living in Manhattan in New York and I had just left. Christian Ocea was a designer that I worked for in LA and moved to New York.
And I decided to start my own brand because at the time I was already selling a lot of pie and bespoke and a lot of the models that I worked with at Hardy were requesting some of my pieces. So, I had a lot of models walking in New York and asking for clothes. And then I did a small race and I raised a pre-seed and then I did a real race and I really launched Mesquita. And it exploded so fast.
I was so flattered. And then during college, funny enough last year I was leaving a house and I was leaving here in Miami Bay Harbor Island and I got a request for somebody that was buying a home to buy half of my art collection. And I sold it and then that into designer introduced me to another interior designer that like ordered eight pieces out the door. And it's being one year exactly and quite often incredible to anyone.
I'm very fascinated with your story and I'm sure those that are listening as well because you obviously were building yourself a personal brand along with a professional brand. So it's all kind of tied together. So let me ask you this question because a lot of people that started to do business with you, you started with fashion design. You were creating these pieces of clothes.
And now from there they started to ask for more things such as art because you like to paint. So I guess you were building that trust with your clientele and your circle which have helped you extend your product line. So how important has it been for you to build your personal brand? It's being incredible during super, super important.
You have to have courage and you really have to put yourself out. How do you get yourself towards this specific niche of wealth individuals? It started to work to mouth funny enough. Okay.
But fashion, I'll tell you the first time I saw a dress, I was 15 years old. It was one of the first dresses I had made and I made for myself. And then a friend of mine asked me to make her a dress and then her brand asked me to make a dress. And at the time I had an affiliate in my house and my mother taught me how to cut.
And so she used to make her own clothes. So did my two brand matters. And then I think that 16, 17 years I started working with a tailor that had an affiliate close to my house. It was my first tailor.
And she did a lot of bespoke work for high-end clients then. And I just modernized her style and I brought my own family where my first buyers and my first clients. And it just expanded like this. So when we focus on let's say homes, how does art combine with the value of homes?
I think because of my background as a fashion designer and when I'm creating a collection, I see the whole picture rather than just one dress and a one-bedroom dress to flow with the whole presentation, with the whole collection. When I'm designing I put a whole runway show in my mind first. I create a whole visual board of a runway show. And I did this for my own house.
So I got, it was quite a big home in the horizon here in Miami and had like a big space. There were like four big living rooms with like another area and five bedrooms and I wanted the art to flow with the furniture. So I developed and I designed a few furniture pieces from scratch and I created the whole flow between art pieces and I had to use different techniques. So the whole space was dressed well and had a whole feeling to it.
And the clients that I have been working with also like my first client was a house in North Fort Bay in Bajamas. It's a very good area. Very, like sorry. And I want to thank those clients, Elian and Alejandra and Exanterna.
They were my question, they were my first, very first, these poor clients in art. And initially they opened their home, the whole decor was made by Tatiana. I think it's actually again for her hyenemes. As an interior designer she had done a few of their homes and most of the furniture was Artapato and they called me and they said, we have a space.
They also had like a big, combined living room. So there are like four spaces inside the house and then one massive gathering space outdoors. And they initially ordered six art pieces. There you go.
Massive pieces. So it was super, super interesting to start paying for them. And then I shipped two massive crates to Bajamas. And I sent nine pieces because I created more, I always have this thing.
I create more than the clients ask and I wanted to see more pieces in the space. And they ended up keeping eight. That's phenomenal. It was really, really flattering.
You also have a phenomenal social media platform where you have massive following. You also have great content. How does social media help you with your business and your brand? Most of my clients, if not 100% of my clients come today from social media.
It's very interesting. I started with social media. I got to be following when I did the New York Fashion Week for a few seasons in a row. And back then I was definitely advertising more and getting into press and the magazines were writing about me.
So it's being... That's important. And I think that's very clever, right? To leverage your accomplishments and what you're doing in social media because it's easier to share to spread the word.
When it comes to social media, is there a specific platform that you prefer? I definitely prefer Instagram. I run my own Instagram so I get a lot of DMs and a lot of requests. I try to answer all of them.
You should do a live doing one of your pieces. I'm sure people will be passionate. That's a great idea. I have a lot to do that.
I can definitely do that. We'll do it. How about that? We'll do it in a nice home with a nice set up and then we'll have a camera recording so everybody that cannot come to the house.
Perfect. You can watch their live. There you go. You'll help me.
I have a lot to do. Let me go ahead. Now, Alessandra, you've obviously been surrounded by what a lot of people will call Luxury. But what is really Luxury to you?
I think uniqueness, I like perfect craftsmanship, that's finishing. The ascetic flow is very important, how the colors go together. I think I can see luxury in a lot of things and the way you behave, the way you dress, the way you speak, the music to listen to. I think it's a conglomerate.
A combination. It's so nice to hear what an artist like yourself has to say about Luxury because I've heard so many different answers to this question and you come from a more creative, inspirational background. So to hear your answer is very flattering. So very nice.
Thank you. Now, Alessandra, you've done pretty much everything but what's ahead for Mesquite? Are there any specific projects that you are currently putting major attention on? I'm so excited.
I cannot share everything else but I'm definitely raising again to put a new team in place to relaunch the fashion side of my business. Now I want to combine fashion with art. So I'm creating two lines, one line of fashion that's going to reflect this work or another line that's going to reflect the mesquite girls. I want to create a solid base and a structure like a family.
I will have to be more in the creative side and in the visual and have somebody run the business for me and get with the distribution, with the logistics, with the financial side of things. So today I just had a call with somebody very, very dear to my heart. Yes, it's very, very into creating that as well. I have a dream to create my next runway show to make a big thing where I'm also creating art or I have a collection that is a reflection of my collection of art.
So it will be the first time that I'm creating art's collection first and then creates the pieces based on the feeling of the art. And I would like to have a presentation sort of like a organizational where I can showcase both works. It's very fun. Well, I mean, that's very exciting and I love to hear that from you with such a big smile because for those that have dreams, there's nothing more fulfilling that surrounds ourselves with those that have that positive attitude.
And that's one of the questions I have for yourself. What are some of the takeaways for the dreamers out there? Just do it. Just do one dress at a time.
Do one art piece at a time. Do one at a time. I feel like nowadays most of my friends that want to start clothing lines or they like fashion or they like other things, they usually do not start because of fear of not getting there. Just do what you love right now today.
So when I create an art piece, I'm not thinking about who is going to buy, how much you're going to sell it for. I'm just doing it because it's easier to me in my heart and I want to do it and say when I make a dress, I usually create the first dress for myself. And then my friends start asking for it and then you have showroom representing in the department stores one it. But that's how I started in the first place.
And that's the direction I'm taking it again right now. Just leave step by step day by day. You'll be able to make connections and solve a problem at a time. I love that.
No, that's very inspirational. And I think that exactly is what a lot of people are lacking nowadays, which is either they don't have the dream or they don't have the power to take action. So I think the combination is what makes people like yourself successful. So I'm very excited about the story and definitely looking forward to connect soon because I'm sure that there's a lot of things that we can do.
But what can we do? Us, super large to grow, the people listening, how can we help you become that person that you're dreaming of? I mean, for sure everybody follow you. That's what I gave you.
But what else? Is there anything that we can do? I would love to do lives together. I would love to paint events together.
I would love to maybe do a collection or an exclusive collection and share with your network and with my network. We can plant so many things. I mean, I love meeting you personally and you're incredible. It's super chic and super fun, super smart.
So just less than ideas that each other and make that happen. You also look super fast and so I like that. Let's do it. Let's do it.
But thank you so much again for your time. I don't know if there's anything else that we didn't touch base that you would like to share before we wrap this up. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for having me here.
I'm so happy. Well, thank you. Thank you for being here. I know you're busy.
You're working on a lot of projects. So we'll let you go. Thanks again for being part of our SLGB app and I'm sure that everybody that was studying really enjoyed the conversation. So thanks again.
Have a good day. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace its beautiful success in life.
My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.