Pietà is a fashion label born in the prisons of Lima, Latin America
The project is born in a prison of Lima and successfully developed in others prisons. The collections are entirely produced in prisons without any external help. Even our models come from here. In this way it allows inmates, often left to their own devices, to independently generate an income and develop their skills allowing for a faster rehabilitation. Each day of work decreases the prisoner’s sentence by a full day.
An impertinent and irreverent project, independent and spontaneous. Far from the marketing diktat, it offers an alternate conception of fashion. This project, influenced by the counter-cultures, refuses to submit to the social norms of a society devoted to the mass consumption. No logo, a black empty tag and no standard sizes. We do menswear. Sometimes goods for women too. The important is to make cool stuff.
Prison Workshop
All the Pietà clothes are created in the fashioning, knitting, and leather workshops of the different prisons where the prisoners produce, with passion and pride, garments that will travel around the world. Every piece is unique, numbered, made in limited edition, and signed by the craftsman who made it. Pietà uses natural, ecological and recycled materials, working the most noble and rarest fibers on Earth such as alpaca, cashmere, pima cotton or silk. Garments are composed of simple and minimalist cuts, from hard life inspiration for everyday life, with a story emerging behind every piece.
Pieta Chef d’oeuvre of Michelangelo
This project was named Pietà after the chef d’oeuvre of Michelangelo. A piece depicting a difficult scene of accepting the Divine will, without any lamentation or pain. It is about sobriety and dignity. This is the state of mind of Pietà: in spite of our difficulties and prejudice, we don’t give up. We demonstrate good work, humility and simplicity while being full of hope for the future. Finally the Pietà is the last step before the Resurrection, and a new rebirth.
Gracie Opulanza
When I first received this e-mail tears were falling. You see life is always full of choices. In the heat of a moment we make good and bad choices throughout our life. But the journey never ends there. For me it’s never how you begin a race, it’s how you endure it, face it and turn what seems an impossible situation into dignity. We all need a purpose in life. A reason to dream, a reason to hope, a reason to feel we are making a difference. For me Pieta shows us no matter who or where you are. Impossible dreams can be achieved. The only obstacle getting in the way is YOU.
