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Three decades of Mexican design and 25 years of history with El Palacio de Hierro come together in an exhibition exploring the world of Pineda Covalin as part of Palacio’s Mexico–France celebrations. Statement attended the opening at Palacio Polanco.
Some materials make a garment. Others end up creating a language. For Pineda Covalin, silk became both.
Thirty years after Cristina Pineda and Ricardo Covalín began translating references from Mexican culture into design, the brand is looking back at its own history with an exhibition at El Palacio de Hierro Polanco, part of L’Art de Vivre Totalmente Palacio, a program celebrating 200 years of diplomatic relations between Mexico and France.
Statement attended the opening of the exhibition, which brings together fashion, archive and memory to tell a story that marks another anniversary: 25 years of Pineda Covalin at El Palacio de Hierro.
From Silk to an Identity
Pineda Covalin was founded in 1996 around an idea that was perhaps less obvious then than it seems today: looking to Mexico as the foundation for a contemporary approach to fashion.
Nature, codices, architecture, art and other cultural references gradually found their way onto scarves, ties, accessories and, eventually, a much broader universe of garments.
Silk became central to that process.
At the opening, Ricardo Covalín recalled how the material became a canvas through which the brand could express its identity and tell stories about Mexico. Those stories eventually traveled beyond the country and became part of Pineda Covalin’s international presence.
When Statement asked him for his statement of the evening, Covalín turned the conversation toward the people and collaborations that made that journey possible.
“We reached 30 years thanks to collaborations, to all the people who have worked with us, to all the partnerships we have built. This place is a perfect example: our collaboration with Palacio de Hierro, where we are celebrating 25 years.”
For Covalín, silk remains “our blank canvas,” while the purpose is still to tell stories — stories that ultimately take on meaning when someone chooses to wear them.
The exhibition presents that evolution not simply as a succession of garments, but as the development of a recognizable visual language across three decades.
25 Years with El Palacio de Hierro
The evening also had a particularly personal dimension.
Pineda Covalin celebrated 25 years at El Palacio de Hierro, a relationship its founders regard as an important chapter in the brand’s growth.
During his remarks, Covalín recalled the path that brought the brand to Palacio and thanked its collaborators, teams and artisans, as well as the people who have worn its pieces throughout the years.
For Rodrigo Flores, Director of Experiences at El Palacio de Hierro, that history also carries personal significance. Flores recalled encountering the project more than two decades ago and the challenge, at the time, of introducing Mexican proposals into an environment dominated by luxury brands.
Speaking with Statement, he described what that history represents to him today:
“Pineda Covalin was, for El Palacio — and I believe for Mexico — the first major Mexican brand that was able to establish itself from the beginning within a luxury department store and also build a story in Europe and the United States.”
It is a perspective rooted in Flores’ own involvement with the brand: as he recalled that evening, he was personally involved in bringing Pineda Covalin into El Palacio de Hierro.
A quarter of a century later, the brand is celebrating its 30th anniversary inside Palacio, as part of a wider program exploring the relationship between Mexico and France through fashion, art, design and savoir-faire.
Materializing 30 Years
Condensing three decades into an exhibition also meant deciding what to show — and what to leave out.
During the presentation, Cristina Pineda spoke about the process as an exercise in synthesis and about the constant pursuit of perfection that accompanies creative work. She also acknowledged the importance of eventually letting go of a work so that other perspectives can emerge.
When we asked her to define her statement of the evening, her answer was simple:
“Magic. Materializing dreams.”
The phrase captures an exhibition that looks beyond recognizable garments and motifs to consider the trajectory of a Mexican project that began three decades ago and gradually expanded its language, collaborations and presence.
From the Archive to the Future
But celebrating 30 years also raises another question: what comes next?
Part of the answer can be found in the work of those now participating in the brand’s evolution.
César Vázquez, who leads fashion design at Pineda Covalin, told Statement that his goal is to “take Pineda Covalin into the future,” developing something more contemporary and youthful that creates desire while allowing the brand to continue evolving alongside Mexico.
That may be one of the most interesting challenges for a company whose visual language became recognizable precisely because of the way it interprets the country.
It is no longer simply a question of preserving three decades of archive, but of deciding how that language can transform.
The exhibition offers a way to look back and understand that trajectory: silk as canvas, Mexico as a source of stories, collaborations as part of the brand’s growth and El Palacio de Hierro as one of its principal partners.
Ricardo Covalín spoke of gratitude. Cristina Pineda, of materializing dreams. Rodrigo Flores recalled what it meant to make room for the brand within Mexico’s luxury landscape. And César Vázquez turned his attention toward what comes next.
Thirty years later, the story of Pineda Covalin continues to unfold between those two directions: preserving what gave the brand its identity while finding new ways to carry it into the future.
The Pineda Covalin exhibition is part of L’Art de Vivre Totalmente Palacio at El Palacio de Hierro Polanco and is scheduled to remain on view through October 29, 2026.
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