Flying Solo: María Ruano Creates the HECHO II Fashion Collection

Hacer Studio

‘Hacer’ means ‘to do’, or ‘to make’. I realized some time ago that ‘Hacer’ is what excites me – doing, making, sewing, designing, generating concepts, making collages, making garments in 3D, cooking. That sense of action, everywhere, is ‘Hacer’. Later, when I founded my studio, ‘Hacer’ was the natural name for it.

From here I wanted to find a harmonious contrast, and this led me to plastics and velvets. I took sculptural references that merge with patterns that are always references for me, such as Worth and Balenciaga and I created scarves to complement these patterns. My grandmother used to wear scarves when I was a child; here, I dressed my virtual models in these scarves in the same way that my grandmother would wear them (I am a romantic). And this is how I play, to create my collections; for me, fashion is a very serious game – but it is still a game. My collections don’t usually have a theme; I tend to talk about them as sensations materialized in clothes, or in features of a culture.

When HECHO began to take shape, I wanted to propose the first three HECHO collections as an evolutionary trilogy. HECHO I would be completely digital; HECHO II would be digital, and combined with the Hitos/Milestones collaborations; HECHO III will be include both digital and physical garments.

Artwork by María Ruano

Books of Cloth and Paper

Normally I keep things like fabrics, clippings, magazines (throughout my whole life!), and use them for my creative game. This is what happened with the Wolfgang Tillmans photo, for instance, which was a clipping from a 90s magazine. Using these resources, I build, for example, color palettes, and in parallel I make these books of fabric and paper in which I capture shapes and sensations. I created an artbook that detailed my first collection that was completely virtual, HECHO I.

HECHO II: The Warrior’s Rest

I presented my second collection, HECHO II, on January 28. The title of the collection, ‘The Warrior’s Rest’, is directly drawn from Bushidō, the way of the warrior – just as the collection is itself, in fact.

The concept of the scene you see in this HECHO II is that these women warriors are in Semâ – this is how I’ve named this domain where they are waiting in peace; it is a waiting room that bridges the space between their world and the metaverse. There are no battles in Semâ. They are resting, now, waiting to begin a mission of exploration.

The Hitos Collaborations

In this collection I reproduced virtual garments, and I collaborated with different artists to create a number of different artworks in parallel with this. We call these collaborations ‘Hitos’; the artists draw inspiration from the key symbols of my collection – from the helmet of the warrior in HECHO II, for example – and use this inspiration to represent the sensations of the collection in new ways. They’re essentially a way of converting and growing the cultural impact of our creations, born from a new perspective of fashion that begins in the virtual space and extends into the real, physical world.

Artwork by Roi Pardo, one of the Hitos collaboration artists.

Fashion in 3D

I began working with 3D because I thought this was the path I had to follow in order to continue walking within the fashion creation circuit. Also, in truth, I simply found it interesting; it was an area I wanted to pursue. Then, with the COVID situation, I think my vision proved to be correct – working in 3D has allowed me to continue working and growing. 3D also allows me to communicate more accurately with clients and teams, both in physical companies and when working remotely. I can show my technical processes more visually, and more completely. Working in 3D lets me capture ideas with a level of freshness – and also provides me with a 360-degree image that I can reflect on later, more deeply.

Texturing

With textures, I think you have to learn by playing around, and experimenting with parameters without fear (this is very important when playing with practice files!). You mix things around, and take a few risks, and then you treat the lighting, mesh, and texture as one overall creation.

Rendering

In terms of how I approach rendering, I use the Clo3D renderer for short shots or small scenes, or for example to create a lookbook (I know that it’s considered a complimentary software, but it works for me). I think that by adjusting the appropriate parameters you can get shots of a quality and realism that other renderers don’t necessarily give, for this type of project. I found this to be true before the Substance integration in Clo3D, and now it’s even easier. Afterwards, if I have to recreate a certain creative direction with scenes, or implement animations in several elements, I might render with Octane, for example.