Pastiche: From Montevideo With Love

When sisters Lucia and Florencia Ottonello set out to start a streetwear label, they looked to the past. At Pastiche, the Uruguayan designers drew inspiration from odds and ends, channeling the unfettered spirit of fashion’s subcultural movements into a genderless collection that feels at once nostalgic and refreshingly unexpected. Now ten years on, the homegrown brand is expanding stateside.

On the heels of their U.S. launch, co-founder Florencia shares how her roots and creative convictions are shaping Pastiche’s next chapter in conversation with TEETH.

What was the original vision when you launched Pastiche in 2014?

When we launched Pastiche in 2014, it really came from a shared desire to create a space where we could express our own visual language—one that felt intimate, irreverent, and free from the rigid rules we saw dominating mainstream fashion. As sisters, we’ve always had this ongoing dialogue between us that blended humor, nostalgia, and critique, and PASTICHE became the natural extension of that. From the beginning, we envisioned a brand that felt personal but spoke to a larger community, a place for those who don’t quite fit into predefined categories.

How has Montevideo woven itself in the fabric of Pastiche’s identity, and how has it remained at its core throughout your evolution? 

Montevideo is quiet but full of contradictions. It is a city where time feels a bit suspended, where modernity and tradition coexist in subtle ways. Growing up there, we learned to appreciate nuance and imperfection. That sense of understated rebellion definitely shaped our aesthetic. We carry Montevideo with us in the textures, silhouettes, and references we use; it’s in the nostalgic nods, the feeling of improvisation. Even as we’ve evolved, that slower, more reflective rhythm stays with us. It reminds us to create with intention and to stay honest.

Your collections are markedly seasonless—what draws you to designing outside of trend cycles, especially in an algorithm-driven landscape that thrives on the next new thing?

We’re far more interested in building a universe than chasing a trend. Social media moves fast, but identity doesn’t. It evolves slowly, with layers. Designing seasonless and unisex allows us to step outside that churn and speak more directly to how people actually live and dress. Playfulness is essential to our process, it gives us the freedom to explore without the pressure of being “on trend.” Instead of reacting to the algorithm, we focus on creating pieces that feel timeless in their weirdness, things you want to keep and reinvent over and over.

As we find ourselves in an era of nostalgia, vintage references are central to your work. Where do you find yourself returning to most often?

We’re drawn to the 1970s and early 2000s. Both eras had this raw energy and DIY spirit that we love. There’s also something fascinating about how clothes from those times carried social and political tension; fashion was expressive, chaotic, and a bit unhinged. We think the current nostalgia wave comes from a kind of cultural fatigue. People want to reconnect with something that feels real or lived-in, especially in contrast to the hyper-digital present. For us, referencing the past isn’t about copying, it’s about remixing. We’re always looking for new ways to re-contextualize what once was.

You’ve said Pastiche gently challenges conventional standards—how has that guided your design philosophy?

We’re not interested in dictating what’s “beautiful,” we’d rather hold up a mirror to the overlooked, the awkward, the in-between. Through design, we play with proportion, texture, and fit to destabilize the expected. Maybe it’s an oversized sleeve on an otherwise delicate shirt, or a silhouette that’s hard to gender. Our castings also reflect that: we work with people who have presence, not polish. Challenging conventions isn’t just a statement, it’s a responsibility. Fashion has the power to make people feel seen.

Head to pastichesisterproject.com to discover Pastiche’s U.S. launch, and follow them on Instagram for more updates.