Designed during a deeply transformative time, Raquel Allegra's Fall 2017 collection explores a purer and simpler way of life

Pura vida, the pure life

 

 

“I went to Costa Rica and had this total, personal awakening"

 

 
A 1970s erotic anime film, Belladonna of Sadness, was the starting inspiration "It’s really kind of an empowerment story. I felt this interesting synchronicity with this woman basically being persecuted for her connection with nature, and her voice being taken away. It presented this image of new beginnings, of possibility lying before you"

 

"These themes resonated with a period of my own personal transformation and empowerment while designing this collection — culminating in many ways with a trip to Costa Rica to work with horses"

 

 

 
“Like in yoga, when you can connect with your breath and while you’re on the back of a horse—especially if there’s no saddle between you—you can actually use it to find the position with your body, to connect more deeply with the horse” “This one horse in particular, Rambo, was just incredibly gentle”

 

 

The Costa Rican expression 'pura vida' literally means 'pure life' in English, but for the people of that country, it's so much wider reaching. For them, it is a way of life. A salutation, an exclamation, and an expression of someone's general being among other uses, pura vida represents eternal positivity and living life with ease and enjoyment

 

 

 

“When I’m in Costa Rica I feel it through my feet, I feel connected to the Earth. There is something so magical about the pure and simple way of life there that really invites one's truest self to show up”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Shooting the film was very personal for me, a feeling that I wanted to share"

 

 

 

Pura vida represents eternal positivity and living life with ease and enjoyment

 

FALL 2017 COLLECTION
Story + Direction by Raquel Allegra and Margo Ducharme
Camera Nicholas Trikonis
B-roll captured by Margo Ducharme
Model Olga Nazarova Hershberger

Featuring music by
Lia Ices “Love Is Won”
Chavela Vargas “Paloma Negra”
Lia Ices “Higher”
Kaelen Ohm “Awake”
Lia Ices “Waves 2”