Karla Martinez de Salas started working as an assistant at Vogue in 2002 and has since worked her way up to become the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Mexico and Latin America. Under her leadership, the publication has flourished as a platform that inspires and showcases the many cultures throughout the vast region that is Latin America. She has a good eye for talent and beauty. With this skill, she ensures that the work of so many deserving and talented creatives within the Latin American community is seen globally.
After her panel for SCADstyle, I was able to have the opportunity to sit down with her at Arts Cafe for an interview.
Mishi Ali: Vogue Mexico and Latin America represents your culture and speaks to your background. How would you say running a publication specifically representing your culture has impacted your passion for your profession?
Karla Martinez de Salas: Well, I think it’s really made me think about how in Mexico and Latin America for so many years there was a certain type of image of a woman portrayed that wasn’t necessarily a reflection of the women of Mexico and Latin America. What I mean by that is, we grew up watching soap operas and looking at magazines where the ideal beauty was very Eurocentric, blond with blue or green eyes, and not that there aren’t blonde, green-eyed, Mexicans or Latin Americans because the country is obviously very diverse, but I thought it really made me think of how to promote women that have darker skin, that are indigenous, and that don’t look European. When I first started working, I was told that women in Mexico like to be dreamy and fantasy-like and I questioned that. I thought we should be working with the Mexican models and Colombian models and Dominican models that have darker skin and put them on our covers, because if we’re not doing it, then who is? So, that’s the approach that I took. That’s not to say that we would never shoot Gigi and Bella Hadid. We shot them both, but I think we really want to celebrate the amazing talent in our countries. That’s kind of my mission.
Ali: Latin America is a very broad, diverse place, and there are so many different cultures within that. How do you take on representing such a vast area?
Martinez de Salas: That’s a great question. It’s really hard. With the team based in Mexico, we make sure that we have writers in Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Panama that can feed us information about what’s going on there and just the fact that in Argentina, they’re going into winter and Mexico is going into summer, so those are things that we obviously need to be mindful of. I think that there are global musicians and stars that are coming out of Latin America and we’re really trying to kind of have our fingers everywhere so that we can cover all of this amazing talent and everything that they’re doing. I think when I first took on the magazine, there were people that were super famous and it was Salma Hayek and Shakira. Now you have people like Karol G that are coming from Colombia. You have Bad Bunny, who we shot three years ago before he was a global star, per se. People like J Balvin, Maria Becerra, and Becky G, who are doing really interesting things in the world of music and now with movies and Netflix, I think the streaming services have really contributed to stars becoming more global. Everyone was obsessed with Squid Game, and who would have thought that a Korean show could penetrate markets in Mexico and Colombia, right? So, I think people are looking for global inspiration more than anything.
Ali: Yeah, I never really thought about how the seasons are different throughout the area that you’re covering.
Martinez de Salas: Yeah, and then Colombia doesn’t really have seasons, so it’s something you have to think about and when thinking about the website. There’s certain trends that always kind of have longevity and are more evergreen and cover different markets. So, I think that’s interesting and helpful. It is key to have someone like a contributor in Peru and Argentina that can look at a story for example, like something like the Met Gala, right, it’s one of our biggest traffic days, but the stories we write are different than the stories that the US site writes because our contributors know what we do in Mexico and for each market that changes, so I think that’s important.
Ali: I noticed that you use your platform, especially Instagram, to bring awareness to some global issues, and recently, a lot of shocking things have been happening in Tennessee and I saw on your Instagram story that you are posting about that and I’m actually from Memphis, Tennessee and the things I see in the news about my home just don’t represent what a lot us believe so, I really do appreciate you bringing awareness to that with your platform.
Martinez de Salas: I lived in Tennessee from pre-K to second grade and people are always quick to judge and talk about the problems in Mexico, but there are people that I know living in Memphis and in Tennessee. My uncle was in the state legislature and marched with Martin Luther King. So, those are things that are really important to me and I don’t know if I’ll be in Mexico forever. I might live in the US again and I think there are issues that are really important to me. Yes, in Mexico, there’s so much violence and it’s a different type of violence, but I think it’s important to show these things. Not just because there are things that sometimes we don’t want to look at and in the end you know, fashion, style, culture, and what’s going on in the world is important for everyone to see. And if I can give a little bit of visibility to someone who might otherwise not see it, then I think that’s something that makes me proud.
Ali: You have a history of being a supporter of a couple of nonprofits. Would you like to speak on some of the causes that you’ve supported and what they mean to you, personally?
Martinez de Salas: Yeah, I grew up in El Paso, and across the border. El Paso is one of the safest cities in the nation. It’s a poor county, which is weird because poor counties are usually more violent but I grew up across the border from squatters. There was so much violence because of the drug wars and everything that had gone on, so we formed this organization to help kids go to after-school programs like soccer and just not be at home and in direct exposure to violent people. If we could help one kid not get involved in gangs or getting involved with a drug dealer, that was really important. That’s something that we founded in 2008 and 2009. It sort of fell off during COVID, but we need to start it again because there are so many problems right now. There’s a lot of work to do, and I feel like we need to target an organization that is helping these people either stay in Mexico and find jobs or come to the US and I think that’s important. I’ve also run two marathons for Every Mother Counts, which is Christy Turlington’s organization that ensures safe childbirth for underprivileged women because, believe it or not, in the US, you have a lot of people that don’t have safe childbirth.
Ali: The big conversation in the art world right now is AI. Some people see it as an encroachment on the industry and others see it as a tool that will elevate the industry. How do you view AI’s impact on the fashion world? How is your branch at Vogue handling this?
Martinez de Salas: I think it’s gonna be really interesting, I mean, we do have a set of guidelines for Conde Nast in terms of AI and how we’re going to work with it. We haven’t gotten to that point yet, but I know that it’s going to help. For example, a friend of mine is starting something that’s a styling tool using AI so it will see your purchases and then the bot will kind of put together a package for you in terms of what you might like, and read your mind in a way. I think those things are interesting. I think everyone’s been talking about this picture of the Pope in Balenciaga which is really interesting. I think we have to be careful, also, because there’s misinformation. I think it’s something that we have to proceed with caution and not jump in exactly the way that people were kind of jumping into crypto in fashion but yeah, I respect it.
Ali: So, something that I worry about is coming from a background that’s kind of overlooked in the fashion world and that might be something you could relate to. It’s like you said, it can feel very Eurocentric sometimes. On top of that working in any professional industry, as a woman, we are often underestimated and have preconceived notions of who you are and what you’re capable of. What advice would you have for young women entering the fashion industry who are facing challenges like this?
Martinez de Salas: I think when I started working, as Latinas, you know, we were taught to kind of blend in. Moving to New York and not seeing people that necessarily had my background and looked like me, I tried to just fit into the crowd, but now I feel like you can stand out and you can really embrace your roots and contribute ideas. Wherever you are in the room, I think having a place at the table is important and when you have a place at the table, you can give your opinions. Sometimes people really appreciate that and a lot of times when we do global stories, we say oh, we can’t run that in Mexico because in Mexico people try not to get into politics and little things like that. I think the biggest advice would just be to embrace your roots. People really appreciate that and want to hear your background. I think that now, with companies hiring people from diverse backgrounds, I remember when I first moved to New York, someone asked me, you know how someone from El Paso could come to move to New York and want to work in fashion and I didn’t understand what she meant. I think what she meant is that she was seeing non-Mexican girls from Ivy League schools and fancy East Coast schools with the parent that called someone to help them get a job and that was not my profile. I feel like I brought something that those girls didn’t and those girls brought something that I didn’t so I think that’s really key. Just kind of embrace who you are and celebrate it.
Ali: Overall, what is some advice that you think students entering the fashion industry need to hear?
Martinez de Salas: I think you should find your voice. I think you should remain true to yourself. You know, social media is a great way to build a portfolio no matter what you want to do. I think before, people were very concerned about moving to New York or LA or Dallas or just big centers and now you don’t need to do that. You can work in different places. Find what your true passions are. Maybe, if you live in a small town and if you want to work in branding, or if you want to work in marketing, I think there are still opportunities in so many different places. In part, it’s because of the way we changed our work style after COVID.
Special thanks to Karla Martinez de Salas for speaking with me!
Words by Mishi Ali.
Graphic by Reem Hinedi.