SAN ANTONIO – To celebrate the lives and memories of departed friends and family, Goodwill San Antonio is hosting its second Dia de los Muertos Fashion Show this weekend.
For months, San Antonio resident Agosto Cuellar has been designing and creating the Day of the Dead inspired pieces.
“We’re taking stuff that has been donated and we repurpose it. So this one has some added extra floral roses and then we added some spiders that we found along the way and we added some glitter to them,” Cuellar said.
The local fashion designer and GoodWill San Antonio team member’s work will be show at this year’s “Walk through the Marigolds” Fashion Show at Muertosfest.
The fashion show stage will be lined with marigolds also known as Cempasuchils. These flowers adorn Day of the Dead altars and lead the souls of our departed loved ones back to the world of the living.
“This is our second year with Muertos Fest and we’re going to be bringing it up a notch this time around,” Cuellar said.
Cuellar created about 13 outfits from head pieces to dresses. Everything came from Goodwill stores.
“Goodwill has given me the opportunity to do fashion with sustainable donated stuff and make something beautiful out of it,” Cuellar said.
Goodwill team members and Good Careers Academy instructors and students will model the outfits for the show.
The inspiration behind Cuellar’s work is his family.
“My grandma Lucia, she taught me to sew when I was like three or four. She taught me how to thread,” Cuellar said.
As the event approaches, Cuellar says the celebration is special to him.
“As a kid, I remember my grandpa and my grandma building altars to people that have passed away and the significance of what they meant, things that they loved when they were alive, things that they cherished, things that they would hold dear in their life,” Cuellar said.
And the designer has a message for anyone wanting to do something similar.
“Keep your passion alive. If you love what you do, keep making it happen. And I think everything kind of falls into place,” Cuellar said.
The fashion show will take place immediately following the procession, which takes place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29 on stage 2, located off of Alamo and Cesar Chavez at Hemisfair.
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