‘We want to sell Mexico to Mexicans’: Why Mexico City’s fashion boutiques are celebrating native talent

To reach the entrance of Xinú perfumes, a fragrance shop in Mexico City’s Juárez neighbourhood, you have to weave between other shoppers down a busy path flanked by plants. Inside the wood-and-glass building, crowds of customers spray their wrists, sample tester strips and marvel at the magnificent space, which was designed by Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. A short walk away, a queue is beginning to form outside Lengua, one of the city’s new jewellery shops, opened in 2025 to spotlight the work of Latin American designers. Outside, two clients sit on a bench and patiently wait. And why not? It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, with the sun streaming through the trees.

Hugo Rosellón, the shop’s owner and jewellery designer, also has another outpost nearby. He tells Monocle how the city’s transformation has increased consumer appetite for Latin American brands. He leads us past Lengua’s glass boxes, which are filled with silver earrings and gold chains by designers such as Puerto Rican Hernán Herdez. He says that customers who would previously have spent $300 (€260) on jewellery are now buying pieces priced at $5,000 (€4,300) or more. “That’s why we decided to open this new place,” he adds.

Over the past decade, a wave of homegrown brands has emerged as Mexico City’s popularity as a destination has risen. “So many people are travelling here,” says Montserrat Messeguer, who launched her namesake brand in 2017, specialising in Western wear and high-end artisanal cowboy boots crafted in El Bajío, where they have historically been produced. “It has been a great opportunity to open shops adjacent to businesses serving food,” she adds, noting that most people who come to the city have traditionally been drawn here by its culinary and architectural appeal. Now, they’re coming for retail too. One of Messeguer’s three locations is just around the corner from popular seafood restaurant Contramar.

Visitors from the US and Europe venture to the residential neighbourhood of San Miguel Chapultepec, where Chava Studio’s flagship shop is located. Founded by US-born Olivia Villanti, Chava quickly built a global reputation for fitted shirts in neutral palettes, with extra-large cuffs and crispy cottons.

Villanti moved to Mexico City – her husband’s hometown – in 2020 and started out making shirts for herself using fabrics from Gilly e Hijos, a company run by her in-laws, and importing textiles from Europe’s best mills. When people began asking where she got her button-downs, she decided to expand her production. What began with seven made-to-order designs has since grown into a company with fully fledged tailoring collections for men and women, as well as a selection of shirts sold off the rack – a hit among her international clientele.

“People want to go home with something,” says Villanti. She worked with Sebastián Mancera of architectural practice Taller 3000 to renovate her new boutique, a calm oasis clad in wood panels. The boutique’s unfussy location also captures Chava and Villanti’s independent spirit, and has opened up opportunities for visitors to see the city in a new light. The quaint neighbourhood is dotted with contemporary galleries, plus the Casa Luis Barragán museum, as well as a series of new favourites such as Saint bakery and Comal Oculto, an antojería that’s ideal for post-shopping bites.

The new wave of creativity across the city is changing the way that residents shop too. “We used to overlook things that were made in Mexico,” says designer Patricio Campillo, who was a semi-finalist in the 2024 LVMH Prize, an annual award run by the luxury group to support emerging designers. Campillo has a shop in Juárez; he tells Monocle that foreign appreciation has inspired locals to embrace homegrown brands. This has allowed him to be more experimental with his designs, price his pieces more competitively and collaborate with artisans on more intricate techniques.

Meanwhile, the city’s creative revival is spurring story tellers of all kinds to spread the word about local designers and artisans. Jessica Ramírez, the director and co-founder of advisory firm The Consumer Collective, points to the power of podcasts. “A lot of Mexican ones have very strong followings,” she says, adding that much of South America looks to Mexico as an entry point to the rest of the world.

This is partly why global luxury houses are now following suit. WGSN’s Mexico City-based trend forecaster, Catalina Marin, says that, unlike more established places such as the US or China, Mexico City’s overall luxury market is still expected to grow by 5 per cent in the next five years. “We are seeing growth of the upper-middle class and new luxury consumers: younger shoppers entering the market earlier,” says Marin, pointing to the recent arrivals of labels such as Tiffany & Co and Carolina Herrera, both of which have leaned into localised marketing experiences. The latter created a special collection for the Mexican market at El Palacio de Hierro, one of the city’s best-known department stores.

“Hermès is creating visual merchandising with Mexican architects and designers,” adds Marin. “The approach is more localised.” In 2023, Cartier launched a major exhibition, Cartier Design: A Living Legacy, curated by Ana Elena Mallet and designed by architect Frida Escobedo, both from Mexico, at the Jumex Museum. Ramírez adds that the city has become a stop on film press tours too. “Netflix has been betting on Mexico City,” she says. “These things go hand in hand.”

On Avenida Presidente Masaryk, a street in Polanco lined with brands such as Max Mara and Hermès, there’s no shortage of people carrying designer bags. Local shops such as Lago and Ikal, which showcase Mexican designers alongside international names, have become go-to destinations too. One person helping to drive this integration is Karla Martínez de Salas, the editor in chief of Vogue México y Latinoamérica. “She has done a fantastic job with Mexico, highlighting the culture and putting it alongside international high-end brands,” adds Ramírez.

Marin notes that Latin American labels such as Carla Fernández are also becoming increasingly attractive because consumers want items that are unique. “Women from Central or South America are not necessarily going to New York any more – they want something that tells a story,” she says. Eduardo Dubost, Ikal’s owner, adds that he has been seeing a lot of brands from places such as Colombia and Argentina using Mexico as a gateway to the global luxury market. “The country has turned into a platform,” he adds.

Back in Juárez, the queues start to disperse, revealing a neat line-up of beautifully designed shopfronts. “We have realised that we have to elevate the retail experience if we want to optimise our sales,” says Campillo, who shares a space with local design brand Varon. At Lengua down the road, the design of the shop – a boxy space clad in red Talavera tiles – has become a reason to visit in itself. “It took eight months to finish,” says Rosellón, proud of the space that he designed. “This is an ode to sculpture and Mexican luxury,” he says, adding that it isn’t just a shop for big-spending travellers. “We want to sell Mexico to Mexicans.”

Read Monocle’s complete travel guide to Mexico City, here.