This week there was a Fashion Show in town with a Loreto Bay
connection – this winter one of the commercial spaces along the Paseo has become
home to Agnes Boutique, a store specializing in women’s casual fashion items
like tops , dresses and wraps as well as accessories and décor items. Although this store was a new addition to
Loreto Bay this season, Agnes and her husband Sergio first moved to Loreto 6
years ago to start their first business here, a small retail shop just off the Malacon
waterfront in town.
After getting a degree in fashion design in her native
Poland, Agnes had moved to London England where she met Sergio and began a
successful career combining her artistic flair for silk fabric painting with
clothing design. Later they moved to Cancun
where Agnes taught fabric painting at a large resort Hotel while she developed
a side-line of designing and making her own clothing line. After several years in Cancun they made the
big move from the Caribbean east coast to the Baja and Loreto arriving here 6
years ago.
Since then, this hard-working couple has grown from their
first location to a combination store and massage studio in the beautiful
Posada de las Flores Hotel on the main square in Loreto, before opening a
second store with a massage room here in Loreto Bay this past Fall. It has been challenging building a new
business from scratch in a small market like Loreto, particularly with some of
the negative factors that have had to deal with over the past several years.
However, faced with these challenges, this resourceful
couple has adapted and diversified, finding new market niches, and by using
their talents and hard work they have managed to grow and develop their
businesses. While they have hired staff
in their store downtown, both Agnes and Sergio give massages in both locations,
so scheduling who is going to be working where and when becomes
complicated! In addition to the store providing
the opportunity for a little “retail therapy” for the Loreto Bay Community Agnes
also gives lessons in fabric painting, Sergio was also doing excellent massages
in a small studio attached to the retail space.
The clothing inventory in her stores is about equally divided between
what she purchases for re-sale and her own line which she designs, hand paints
the fabric for, and then sews herself – talk about vertical integration!
This was the third annual fashion show Agnes has held in
Loreto, a year ago it was held at the Golf Clubhouse here in Loreto Bay and the
year before that it was in a small development north of the town of
Loreto. This year the location was to be
the Oasis Hotel at the south end of the Malacon on the waterfront in town and a
couple of weeks ago, word about a fashion show started to circulate here in
Loreto Bay as well as in town and ticket/wristbands were available at the
stores as well as other locations for 300 pesos (about $25.00 US) which
included admission to the show, dinner and a free drink.
A group of Loreto Bay Homeowners met at the Wine Bar and we
took a couple of vehicles into town to the Oasis. Upon our arrival the large patio area
overlooking the beach was filled with tables, most of which were mainly occupied
by women, with a few brave men scattered through the crowd, visiting and enjoying
pre-dinner drinks. After lining up at
the bar to pick up a drink we made our way to one of the few empty tables on
the far side of the patio and settled in for the evening. As I walked through the crowd, I was impressed
with their dressed up appearance, obviously this event had been taken as a
fashion occasion – compared to the usual casual standards that are the norm in
Loreto. It was also worth noting that
the crowd of over 150 people was fairly evenly divided between Mexican and
“Gringo”, with a strong representation from Loreto Bay.
The fashion show itself began within the hour of when we
arrived and the “T-shaped” runway stage was soon graced by a steady stream of
beautiful models showing off an impressive collection of outfits, many
featuring gauzy silk tops and cover-ups decorated with Angie’s colorful hand
painted designs. After a well received
first showing of the more casual daytime/beach outfits, dinner was served and I
was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the staff getting the meals to
that many people in a short period of time.
The meal itself was also a pleasant surprise, with a chicken breast,
steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes, followed by a delicious and light
parfait desert. 
After the meal was cleared away and drinks were replenished
the second half of the show continued with dressier, more resort-wear clothing
combining some manufactured pieces with Agnes' signature hand painted silk creations
to make some very beautiful outfits. These
were shown off to great effect by the beautiful collection of models (including
Agnes herself) who showed grace and composure both on the runway itself and
getting to and from it from the beach cabana rooms nearby which were used as
their changing rooms.
I was impressed that both halves of the show kept a steady
pace with a new model and outfit ready to “take to the boards” as soon as the
previous one was finished. Their hair
and make-up complimented their outfits and I was particularly impressed with
how agile they all were up and down the stairs and on and off the stage – while
wearing high fashion stiletto heels and platform soled shoes – with never a
stumble!
Following the second half of the show, the entertainment was
introduced; Lalo Companioni, a native Cuban now living in La Paz, accompanied
by a percussionist, and playing guitar over recorded background music, played a
lively mixture of Cuban, Latin, Salsa, and Merengue dance music and was
rewarded by a busy dance floor in front of the stage. I thought it was fitting that Agnes and
Sergio took to the dance floor together and proceeded to put on an impressive
demonstration of several Latin style dances – perhaps dance instruction could
be another side-line of this multi-talented couple!
The music and dancing were still well underway when our
Loreto Bay table decided to return to our own “hood”, with most of us meeting
again back at the Wine Bar for a nightcap and more conversation until “Baja
Midnight” and another memorable evening came to an end. Having an opportunity to get dressed up, and
come together as a community at an idyllic beachfront location in town, to
enjoy good food and entertainment – and appreciate the outstanding artistic and
entrepreneurial skills that are so strong in this small community this was a
rich experience in what it means to be “Living Loreto!”
