Christina Aguilera's new music video for Santo premiered on January 20, and it actually has some Toronto connections.
Aguilera's bedazzled jacket in the video was created by Toronto designer Sebastian Guarin, who is the Creative Director for the fashion label Atelier Guarin.
Designing this outfit, however, was no easy feat, as Guarin had only 24 hours to do it.
In an email to Narcity, Guarin explained how he ended up designing for Aguilera and how he pulled it off in just a day.
How did this opportunity come about?
"I had been paying attention to the new era of Latin music Christina was doing, I grew up listening to her and just had to be a part of this somehow," Guarin says.
"I had seen her stylist for her videos on Instagram and I decided to start up a conversation with her; after a little back and forth, she let me know one day that they were doing a music video in Vegas and that I had to have it ready super quick. I immediately said, 'of course', and I had just 24 hours to get it together!"
Did you hit any obstacles while creating the jacket?
"I had a few obstacles, especially the time constraint to get everything ready and shipped on time," Guarin admits." A lot of broken needles, since the sleeves were a layer of leather, a layer of sequin and hand beaded/small beads. They get in the way while you are trying to sew. [...] I also had to re-cut an entire half of the jacket and a whole sleeve again, because a needle had ruined some top stitching."
"Since it was so last minute, I had my pattern-maker help me draft the patterns, and then I had to do the rest all myself, which I usually don't do. Thankfully I also had my friend Alissa come at the last minute to help me do some of the beading work."
"Let's just say it was a lot of broken needles, stress, and no sleep, but it was so worth it!"
Did you know that your design was featured in the video, or was that a surprise?
"[...]It's always a surprise whether or not something makes it in, sometimes things don't go as planned and looks get changed. It was an incredible feeling when she dropped a teaser on Instagram and it had a glimpse of my jacket and of course I freaked out and felt incredibly excited for the video to drop," says Guarin.
While he hasn't been in contact with Aguleira directly, Guarin says he heard that, "she chose my sketch from the ones I sent in, but you never know right? A star of that caliber is very busy and has a lot of people in her team."
"I am hoping one day I can meet her. She is an incredible artist, a blueprint for many of today's new pop stars, and a trendsetter."
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.