Reina Quinonez

Reina Quinonez

Collection

"i'm alive and i love you" by mourningdreaming

This collection examines the world we live in under colonialism, searching for a rebirth of indigenous ecologies through an embracement of joy, and a ritualistic approach to small acts of love. To gift, to bead, to adorn, to embrace, to play, are all actions we take to create new eutopias. Worldbuilding is an act of resistance, as we prioritize care for ourselves, our communities, our land, and our belongings. In this collection, I hope the audience can ask themselves to imagine, imagine, imagine.





My goal is to plant seeds of belonging among all of those who feel like they can’t or they don’t. Through my work, I commit to holding my community with warmth in the palms of my hands.

Bio

Reina Quinonez, designer behind Mourningdreaming, is a graduating fashion design student and a decolonial scholar. Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York, Reina’s design work channels their experiences of cultural displacement through mixing streetwear aesthetics with fantastical childlike wonders. Reina uses fashion to provide forms of escapism as coping mechanisms for marginalized people. 

The name Mourningdreaming comes from the 6 stages of decolonization as described by decolonial activist Poka Laenui. We mourn something we cannot grasp, a period of time no longer in reach. We must mourn so that we can dream.

In their design practice, Reina uses worldbuilding as a practice of decolonization; as both “mourning and dreaming”, translated through outrageous color palettes and childlike silhouettes, and often juxtaposing this escapism with real struggles represented by elements of maturity. 

WebsiteInstagramEmail
VisitorsClose