Esteban Cortázar Takes on Paris Saint-Germain

PARIS — Having recently designed costumes for the Miami City Ballet, Esteban Cortázar pivoted to a very different project: a summer capsule collection for French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain.

Launching Thursday on PSG.fr, on Goat.com and in all PSG stores in the U.S., France, Asia and Qatar, plus the 574 Lab boutique in Medellín, Colombia, the effort is called “Paris Latino,” reflecting Cortázar’s adopted fashion city and his roots in Colombia.

“I’ve always been so inspired by my culture, so I’m very excited whenever I get a chance to design around it,” he said over Google Team from Miami. “We kept it simple, but interesting — and with soul.”

Cortázar decided to collaborate with a range of artists, artisans and specialty ateliers across Latin America, leaning on Chilean designer Mario Faundez of Studio El Guerrero for patchworks and embroideries; Colombian collective Popular de Lujo for prints and graphics, and El Salvador’s Sequence, which recruits youth from gangs and uses craft as a rehabilitation tool, to create funky bracelets.

“There’s little mini stories within the project that have a lot of meaning,” Cortázar explained.

He enlisted Cheboards in Costa Rica to create a surfboard, Matamba in Colombia to weave beach bags, and France’s Rebond to apply Popular de Lujo prints to an official soccer ball.

The apparel skews sporty, festive and easy to wear — including sweatshirts, hoodies, linen shorts, camp shirts and blousons. The PSG logo, with its stylized Eiffel Tower, mingles with tropical birds and plants. Colorful drawstrings are among the small, eye-catching details.

Fabien Allegre, chief brand officer of PSG, said the club sought a way to “express our closeness to the South American community from an artistic point of view.”

He lauded Cortázar’s work for spreading “positive energy” and a “joyful and colorful message, with a touch of bohemian chic.”

A fashion wunderkind, Cortázar showed during New York Fashion Week in 2022 when he was only 17, moving to Paris five years later to helm Emanuel Ungaro for a short time. He’s operated an eponymous brand off and on for many years, putting it on ice during the pandemic to explore new design challenges like ballet costumes, and soccer merch.

Separately this week, PSG said one of PSG’s star players, Argentine World Cup winner Lionel Messi, would leave the club over the summer at the end of his contract. Other PSG players hailing from Latin America include Neymar, Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes and Keylor Navas.

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