Fashion Talent Manuela Juan Through the Looking Glass

Thrilled to share our latest "Talents from the Future" feature, shining a light on the next big names in fashion, design, and art! This edition shines a light on Manuela Juan, a burgeoning force in the fashion industry, renowned for her groundbreaking project, "Mirror Effect." Join us as we journey into the heart of innovation, where Manuela offers a glimpse into her creative odyssey, marking her as a beacon of future trends.

What sparked your interest in fashion styling?

I have been raised by the most amazing woman in the world: my mom. She has always been into fashion and she enjoys it a lot, therefore, she made me thoroughly enjoy it and be into it too since I was just a little girl. I cannot pinpoint exactly the moment in which fashion became a huge part of my life, because, as I mentioned before, it has always been a part of me and truly one of my greatest passions. My favorite part of the day was when I got to get ready for school and pick out my outfit, because even if it was at the crack of dawn, it really lightened my day and gave me a reason to wake up in a good mood every single day. What I do vividly remember though was that, during my high school years, people started to recognize me for the way in which I expressed myself through my clothes and it made me realize that maybe what I enjoyed the most from fashion, which was creating outfits and new combinations with the clothes I already had, could actually become a career and a lifestyle in itself. I have always liked to conduct research and to study fashion’s panorama in my own free time. So, apart from applying to my safety schools, I also applied to an internationally renowned school of fashion with little to no hope. After a few weeks, I finally received an email from them offering me a scholarship that allowed me to study what I wanted all along and to be in direct contact with the world that I had worshiped from afar for so long.

Could you share your journey into the fashion styling industry and how you began your career?

During the first year of university I definitely focused more on learning how the inner workings of the fashion industry, and specifically the styling branch, operate in all its chaos. During this second year I am way more focused on setting my foot down in the real and physical world of fashion, contacting magazines and people I want to meet, while also from time to time assisting in various shootings and runways - the most recent one being the Avavav runway.

From where do you draw your styling inspiration? Are there particular designers or fashion periods that significantly influence your work?

If I’m being honest, where I get the most inspiration from is from the streets. Watching and admiring how millions of people dress in a million different ways, each in their own style. However, I also gather inspiration from my mom and my big sister, who are by far my biggest inspirations, the true icons in my eyes, and my greatest reference point since I was growing up and I know for a fact that they will continue to be them for the rest of my life. Delving more into designers, brands, and creative directors that inspire me I would confidently say that Mowalola, Vaquera, Prototypes, Demna, and John Galliano have the most influence regarding not only my personal style, but also the way in which I style many shootings. They all have a pretty contemporary and visionary outlook in the fashion industry. Therefore, I consider that my personal style leans more towards the contemporary and innovative, connected to the technological and cyber world, - the internet, screens, glitches - a mix and match of things never before seen.

Your project 'Mirror Effect' compellingly invites viewers to introspect their perceptions. Where did the inspiration for this project originate?

I am fascinated by the phenomenon that happens in our brains every time that we look at ourselves for an elongated amount of time - we get completely distorted. It was personally impactful how I would have conversations with people in the past about this and to discover that every single person has also experienced this before. So I wanted to express just that in a way that was artistic, technological, and fashion related. In the research I did, I discovered a few different artists and photographers that played with distortion and from there the idea to use a 3D interactive scan instead of a plain photograph came from. It was imperative that the scan had glitches or errors, representing physically how we see these distortions in our minds. The failure - or the incompleteness - of the shooting is completely intentional and also part of the app itself because it is not so precise, so it was the perfect idea to fully englobe the project’s essence.

What is your concept of self, starting from Mirror Effect?

For me the concept of self, starting from Mirror Effect, is a change that every single human suffers during all our complex lives, because it is intrinsically ours - it is the thing that makes us more human. Feeling distorted once in a while could be good for us, in the sense that it puts into perspective how we really are. It is a constant individual evolution, in which everyone transforms while we are growing up and experiencing life. Your self is continuously writing itself during your whole life - there is never going to be just one version of your self, there are going to be millions of them. And I am not talking about long periods of time, I am talking about days - a person is not the same person they were yesterday, nor will it be the same person tomorrow.

What was the most challenging fashion item you had to manage in this shooting?

There wasn’t a specific item that caused me trouble, it was more so the set design and the garments in general. I wanted to recreate with clothes the physical set so that it was distorted in reality and not just on the final outcome, to give it the touch of an actual warp and not just fully lean on technology - not only for the concept itself but also with the general ambience of the shooting.

How do you balance current trends with your unique vision when creating a look, and where do you see your styling direction evolving in the future?

I will die on the hill that the most characteristic part of any work is the artist’s touch - the recognizability. So, if in any outfit I choose to include a current trend I try to add my own style on it as well - pushing myself to include my vision in the work more than what the trend can add to it. I feel like this is heavily linked with where I want to go and who I want to be in the future, I would love to keep creating visions and techniques for shootings for magazines and publications. And in the following years I would love to be a part of a brand as their stylist and create the brand’s style and image, while transforming it aesthetically and its atmosphere with the clothes and set designs.

Interview by @lluciamarinelli

Images by @manuelajuan

Powered by @istitutomarangoni

Photography, Set Design, Creative direction & Styling: @manuelajuan

Makeup & Hair: @candelassss

Model: @dariorubioo

Clothing: Vintage second-hand tailoring manipulated and designed by the stylist

Proofreader of content: @sk0ac

Special thanks to the fashion styling course at the Istituto Marangoni Firenze

RED•EYE WORLD