The Shop To Hangout: Mon & Velarde.
Mon & Velarde is a clothing brand from my native town Medellín. It is composed by Marta Gaviria, who designs the clothes, and her mother who makes them.
The brand is the perfect mix and match of a european literateur’s lifestyle with a boundary-pushing Latin American. Trust me, you’ll fall in love with their pieces once you see this.
How she designs:
Every season I choose a random subject, that is not in trend of course, and that is visually rich. For example last season I used bacteria, so I interviewed doctors, biologists and looked at pictures so I could make the prints.
This season it was Medellín in the first half of the 20th century, so I went down to the city archives and looked at receipts, posters, publicity, documents, blueprints, etc.
Now, what everyone is probably wondering, where does the name Mon & Velarde come from?
This name represents the brand perfectly, it is the name of Antioquia’s first governor, and now it is the name of a street. It is perfect because it is a Spanish last name but the governor was Colombian so it’s the contrast between Latin America and Europe.
At the shop you can find from fabulous shoes, that I ogle over every time I enter the store, which are designed by her design partner, to antiques she collects; vintage sunglasses from the 80’s, old vinyls and vintage magazines, all for sale. If you can’t spoil yourself at the moment with a new dress or polo shirt, then you can come here to listen to the music and talk to the always nice Marta. This is The Shop To Hangout.
The shop is located in Calle 8 # 37 - 25 (Vía Primavera, diagonal a Il Forno) and you can like them on Facebook here and/or follow them on Twitter here.
