It’s defiantly optimistic. As September draws to a close and attention turns toward coats and knitwear, Lopez is thinking about bare skin, salt water, and disappearing somewhere with very little on the agenda. (The closing parties in Ibiza rage on, anyway.) His ideal summer, he says, is “somewhere beautiful, a little sun, good music, good food, people I actually like, and no schedule.” Add sunglasses (double-lensed is the Luar way, of course), a structured signature bag, and “a good drink” to the equation. “Where am I disappearing to? Anywhere with water, preferably somewhere I can be slightly unreachable.”
For Lopez, stripping back the amount of clothing doesn’t mean scrimping on the style. “I’ve always thought getting dressed for the beach is still getting dressed,” he says. “Just because you’re wearing less doesn’t mean you should have less point of view.” That philosophy is perhaps especially apt for a designer whose work has always found energy in people dressing to be noticed. Luar’s visual language was forged between Lopez’s Dominican heritage and New York’s underground nightlife, the latter informing the label’s understanding of performance, self-invention, and being seen. Swimwear, it turns out, isn’t so far removed.
“I think the beach and nightlife have more in common than people realize,” Lopez says. “They’re both places where people are getting ready to be seen.” A swimsuit carries its own particular vulnerability: “There’s nowhere to hide. But I also think that can be incredibly powerful. You’re saying, this is my body, this is how I’m presenting myself, and I’m comfortable being seen.”
The references have been accumulated over time: Dominican beaches, New York summers, old photographs, Christopher Street nightlife, and “the feeling of being somewhere where everybody is watching everybody.” Ibiza contributes its own particular fantasy. “There’s still this feeling of freedom, performance, fantasy and escape.”
“You’re saying, this is my body, this is how I’m presenting myself, and I’m comfortable being seen.”
Raul Lopez
Making swimwear also presented Lopez with a new technical proposition. “You’re dealing with the body in a completely different way, and the garment has to move, hold, and function while still looking beautiful,” he says. His answer was to take the most familiar of beach garments and introduce just enough friction. Some briefs resemble classic Speedos, interrupted by a metal L sitting at the hip. “It’s a very simple detail, but it changes everything.”
Photo: Alva Galim
Photo: Alva Galim
