“The Space of Illusion”: Street Style in the Surrealist Neighborhood of Roma, México

Fashion is self-expression. It’s one of the reasons why we love to people-watch, and one of the reasons why street style has become one of the defining photographic genres of our time. Few things are as inspiring as seeing the way people dress in their everyday lives (just ask Matthieu Blazy, who continually cites “the streets” as inspiration for his celebrated vision at Bottega Veneta). 

Which is why we are launching a new series that looks at what people are wearing in the coolest neighborhoods in countries around the world. Following the Dior resort show in Mexico City this past weekend, in which Maria Grazia Chiuri referenced Mexico’s rich history and collaborated with many local artisans, we thought it was a good time to ask, what does style in Mexico City look like today? We asked the photographer Dorian Ulises López Macias to show us; they took us around the neighborhoods of México Centro, Lagunilla, and La Roma. Here’s what they had to say about the latter:

“Originally founded in the 1900s, in the final years of the Porfiriato, La Roma was a settlement for the upper class, with sumptuous mansions and palaces. It has continuously transformed since then, and it has been home to many artists through its history. The Mexican historian and scholar Guillermo Tovar de Teresa once said, ‘The Roma neighborhood was the space of illusion. The urban redoubt of an age that began when the century turned, when the wars began and the Revolution came.’ His house is now a museum, and open to the public.

Today the scene is very multicultural. On the same block you can find a man selling used shoes and a showroom with avant-garde proposals; huge lines to buy bread at Rosetta, and huge lines to buy tortas de chilaquiles at La Esquina del Chilaquil.”