Virtual Exhibitions: Be Fernández-Pacheco

By Tegan Price • Head of Creative: The Sole Womens • 10 May

Earlier this week, we caught up with Blanca (Be) Fernández-Pacheco, illustrator and sneakerhead from Madrid. Her urban, edgy style of photography and her pastel, linear illustrations enticed us to get to know more.

Having always being interested in illustration and streetwear, Blanca now combines the two by drawing streetwear related pieces. Blanca puts a relatable twist on her work by adding in quirky written detailing to her illustrations.

By using purple/blue/pink as her main colour scheme, Be's work almost seems to have a Risograph print style. The minimal lines, fashionable content and comedic detailing leave you feeling fascinated and wanting to see more.

Be's fashion sense shows her interest in street culture and her shoe collection reflects the same. A selection of popper track pants, Burberry trenches, and logo tees are among her fits and both of her Instagram feeds are guaranteed to impress.

I don't think it was at any specific point of my life. I have always loved to choose my own clothes and sneakers but I haven't always had the money to wear what I wanted. What I love about fashion is how it can communicate the way you are, it sends a message about yourself to the world. I feel more identified by streetwear and “boys” clothing than with another kind of fashion because of the way I am.

I have always loved drawing and I've done it ever since I was a child. However, I started to do it more seriously about five years ago. During my first year at University, I started to do street art with a friend; I loved the feeling that people would somehow see my work and it made me get back to drawing a lot…

…After that, I went on to live in Milan for a year and I did very little street art there. When I came back to Spain I had stopped with street art but it helped me to focus on what I wanted: I worked harder, I studied editorial illustration and started to upload my works to Instagram. Instagram has since helped me with promotion and landing some commissions.

Feelings. I mostly get ideas for my drawings from dreams and thoughts, sometimes colours that I see that inspire me to create also. I focus on the beauty and strength of women, art and fashion to represent that ideas because these are things very present in my mind.

As I said before, I have always loved to choose my own clothes but, like most of us, I think we develop styling and knowledge about fashion over the years. For me, this interest grew stronger when I met my boyfriend, Fer. He has very good taste and he is always aware of the new releases and drops, so he has taught me a lot. He always keeps me up to date (otherwise, I'm a bit of a disaster with remembering launch dates!).

The Adidas x Raf Simons Ozweego