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El Atelier
You still haven't realized...
The politics of the non-politics in fashion has transformed into a fundamental rule in a world that
almost became perfect. You don't dress in what you like or what feels comfortable, what could
make you happy; you dress in what you are ordered to wear, what feeds what I call Dead Usufruct.
A product of your agony.
You live a dead life without theater, almost repetitive. What do you see in what you put on? What do you feel? Do you even feel anything? At Che21, we prefer to see an atmosphere,
an identity, a personality that escapes from a fairy tale: your story. Lived experiences,
adventures, laughter, tears; all in the perfect color of your day.
In every garment, a human footprint, beginning to look from within your own presence.
To dress without a purpose is to breathe without breathing. To feel simply because you are alive,
to be a witness to yourself. By rescuing a forgotten garment, you speak of what you have been
taught to forget; you begin to remember your true essence. To find in a piece of clothing that story to coexist with beauty.
Creating beauty in a world of poverty, not through a fashion that never truly existed,
but through a garment that reminds you of Life.
Aún no te has dado cuenta.
La Política de la No Política en fashion se ha transformado en una regla fundamental en un mundo que casi llegó a ser perfecto. Tu no vistes lo que te gusta o queda cómodo, lo que podría hacerte
feliz; tu vistes lo que te ordenan, lo que les da lo que llamo el usufructo muerto. Un producto
de tu agonía.
Vives una vida muerta sin teatro, repetitiva. ¿qué ves en lo que te pones encima?
¿Qué sientes? ¿Acaso sientes algo?
En Che21 preferimos ver atmósfera, una identidad, una personalidad que se escapa de un cuento,
tu historia. Vivencias, experiencias, risas, lágrimas; todo en el color perfecto de tu día. En cada
prenda una huella humana, comenzando a mirar desde dentro de tu presencia.
Vestirte sin un propósito, respirar sin respirar. Sentirte porque simplemente estás vivo, para ser
testigo de tí mismo.
Rescatando una prenda olvidada hablas de aquello que te han enseñado a olvidar,
comienzas a recordar tu verdadera esencia. Encontrar en una prenda esa historia para convivir
con la belleza. Crear belleza en un mundo de pobreza, no a través de un moda que no existió nunca, sino a través de una prenda que te recuerda la Vida.
Creating Fashion Without Creating Fashion
(English Version)
Of all the arts I have practiced in life, this is the one that has allowed me to express myself most freely
with the soul. So much history, so much humanity in infinite colors.
From the corner of my mother's room, I watched in silence every detail, every measurement, every
centimeter jotted down in the dressmaker's notebook as she began to shape a dress. Every Wednesday.
That sacred date was celebrated throughout my childhood, my adolescence, and even into my adulthood.
Of all the arts, of all the ones I have loved, this is the one that chose me. Like those impossible loves one carries in life, far away where the devil lost his poncho. Those forbidden loves. Always in love, but always from afar; from the corner of that room, present yet in silence.
It is one of the most visceral arts and, at the same time, one of the most abused in our history.
I do not believe fashion was born to be a futile habit; it was born out of necessity: to cover oneself from the cold or strip down from the heat, out of a fundamental need for survival.
There is only one sin in humanity, and it has nothing to do with paradise, but tragically with the ego.
The ego transformed a magical simplicity into something frivolous. And ever since, everything changed.
Dressing went from being a transparency to an oligarchic necessity: I no longer dress for myself,
now I dress for you. Seasons, obsolete paradigms, and obligations appeared.
Why do I make clothes? What do I want to say with them?
I make clothes to remind us that we are beautiful. And I believe I make them because they help me
find myself. So that, in the middle of this chaos, we do not forget that we are alive, we do not forget
our dignity or our capacity to create.
I do not want Che21 to be a clothing brand. I want it to be a conversation with the soul.
That, my dear friends, is Che21.
Crear moda sin crear moda(Versión Español)
De todas las artes que he practicado en la vida, esta es la que más me ha dejado desenvolverme con el alma. Tanta historia, tanta humanidad de infinitos colores.
Desde el rincón de la habitación de mamá, observaba en silencio cada detalle, cada medida,
cada centímetro anotado en el cuaderno de la modista que comenzaba a dar forma
a algún vestido. Todos los miércoles. Esa fecha sagrada la celebré durante mi infancia,
mi adolescencia y hasta en mi adultez.
De todas las artes, de todas las que he amado, esta es la que me ha elegido. De aquellos amores imposibles que uno lleva en la vida, allí atrás donde el diablo perdió el poncho. Esos amores prohibidos. Siempre enamorado, pero siempre de lejos; desde el rincón de aquella habitación, presente pero en silencio.
Es una de las artes más viscerales y, al mismo tiempo, más ultrajadas de nuestra historia.
No creo que la moda haya nacido para ser una fútil costumbre; nació por una necesidad:
cubrirse del frío o despojarse por el calor, por un fundamento de supervivencia.
Existe un solo pecado en la humanidad y no tiene que ver con el paraíso, sino trágicamente con el ego. El ego transformó una mágica simpleza en algo frívolo. Y desde entonces, todo cambió.
Vestirse pasó de ser una transparencia a una necesidad oligárquica: ya no me visto para mí, ahora me visto para ti. Aparecieron las estaciones, los paradigmas obsoletos y las obligaciones.
¿Para qué hago ropa? ¿Qué quiero decir con ella?
Hago ropa para recordarnos que somos hermosos. Y creo que la hago porque me ayuda a encontrarme a mí mismo. Para que, en medio de este caos, no olvidemos que estamos vivos, no olvidemos nuestra dignidad ni nuestra capacidad de crear.
No quiero que Che21 sea una marca de ropa.
Quiero que sea una conversación con el alma.
Eso, mis queridos amigos, es Che21.
Mamá a los 80 años en los escalones de Versalles. Toda la elegancia de la historia resumida en la más pura simplicidad.
Can we have a philosophy even after the earthquake?
(Aug. 12, 2026)
We are going through really fundamental changes. I can’t say difficult times, because we make
times difficult or malleable ourselves. But what I can say is that there will be some who rather
stay and some who choose to go ahead. Everything is cool.
Why did I choose to make clothes, and what do I want to say with them?
Recovering a forgotten garment and giving it a new life—neglecting that buy-use-throw away
logic—I think is a way of respecting Life, nature, Our History, Everything.
We all have our favorite old sweater, our favorite T-shirt, even our favorite pair of wasted socks.
I have a sweatshirt with Betty Boop that I have been wearing for the last fifteen years.
An old jacket is not only old material; it has a history, and we all have one.
We live in a world that throws away too much—clothes, objects, places, sometimes even people. Che21 believes that what has been forgotten can still have another life.
"I don't make clothes to have more;
I make clothes so we remember that Life is beautiful."
My clothes speak of us, of you, of me; they are always whispering a secret.
We have to create things that mean something.
We are still here. We can still create.
Clothes can transform us and help us choose who we want to be.
Che21 is not a conventional fashion brand; it's simply a way of loving yourself in the middle of a painful world, so you don't forget that you are still alive.
We are all beautiful.
That is exactly what I am looking for with my clothes:
to start a conversation about being alive.
Francisco Casabal
Che 21
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