Alberto Lopez knew he wanted to be a weaver early on, despite the view in his indigenous community that weaving is strictly women’s work.
Now, the Mexican designer is preparing to present his traditional garments at New York Fashion Week next month.
Yahaira Jacquez reports.
From a young age, Alberto Lopez wanted to be a traditional weaver.
But there was one problem.
All the artisans who worked the looms in his village in Southern Mexico were women.
But Lopez - who was born into an indigenous Tzotzil Mayan family - was undeterred.
He convinced his mother to let him walk away from field-work and embrace his passion: making these age-old, embroidered blouses - called huipils, which Lopez says can take up to a year to make.
(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INDIGENOUS MEXICAN WEAVER AND FASHION DESIGNER, ALBERTO LOPEZ, SAYING: "The truth is that you get focused, you forget about things, it's like a therapy, it fills you up with emotions to do it, and you want to see how it looks." Now Lopez's designs are taking him far beyond his village in Chiapas, Mexico to New York Fashion week, where next month, he will present during a week that sees designers like Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang showcase their new lines.
(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INDIGENOUS MEXICAN WEAVER AND FASHION DESIGNER, ALBERTO LOPEZ, SAYING: "I never imagined I was going to be able to go there so soon, what I want is to represent my people and also the women from here, because most of us are marginalized in our communities." The 31-year-old will present a collection he created along with other Tzotzil women from his region.
But New York Fashion Week is just the beginning.
After he showcases his work in the big city, Lopez will travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he's set to give a talk at Harvard.