Spanish for ‘The Little Mermaid’, La Sirenita is the story of a girl who gives up everything she knows for the life she dreamed of and finds herself in an unknown place, where she must learn how to walk and move forward no matter how scarry that may be. This is also the story of every immigrant to have ever made the journey for a chance at a better life. In this photoshoot, I tell both through the lens of my culture, using our history as a visual aid as well as inspiration.
La Sirenita
Since Cuba is an island, the sea has always been both our cage and our highway. Since the beginning of the Communist regime, many have used it to flee the country, This, along with the part the water plays in the fairytale of the Little Mermaid, are what made me settled on a color scheme of black, white and blues. As for the garment itself, I took the ruffles and silhouette from the Caribbean rumbera costumes.
Aside from the ruffles I used pleating for the fabric on the bust to simulated seashells, on the right a pre-pleated polyester chiffon and on the left white polyester cotton which I pleated myself.
Final Look:
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