The secrets of La Condesa for DiverXo

Experiencing the restaurant from within and working closely with Dabiz's team was vital to understanding the fantasy world surrounding DiverXo. I was struck by how Dabiz is like an orchestra conductor with very clear values reflected in every detail of what he does. The food, the cutlery, the decor – everything follows a single pattern that inspired us to create the uniforms for the entire team.

I felt that these garments should speak for themselves, just like every detail in the DiverXo restaurant does. Thus, we devised a concept for each role within the restaurant, inspired by Oscar Wilde's story Alice in Wonderland.

This beautiful story begins with the Caterpillar, who works at reception. In the story, the caterpillar constantly asks Alice: "Who are you?", and since this is the question the diner must answer to begin their experience, the uniform is inspired by this character. It is a fitted tunic in black twill with a mandarin collar and contrasting red twill cuffs. The entire jacket is embroidered with different motifs: the word "Diverxo" in gold soutache on both front panels and mirrored, gold branches (taken from the fantastic fauna of the film), butterflies (since the caterpillar is destined to become a butterfly), and mushrooms (very present in the restaurant's cuisine and, curiously, the food on which the caterpillar sits to smoke).

The maître d'hôtel is responsible for guiding you to begin your Diverxo experience, which is why she is the Queen of Hearts, dressed in a fitted red twill frock coat, a color that represents the power of this character. Embroidered on the fabric are chilies (representing the cuisine of contrasts and the character's personality), hearts (the essence of the queen and the cuisine), and flowers of different sizes (this character's obsession with painting them red instead of white) that invite the diner to create their own interpretation.

The head waiter, represented by The Mad Hatter, is responsible for maintaining order during service. He will wear a blue twill frock coat, decorated with ribbon embroidery on the cuffs (a nod to the original character from Tim Burton's film), arrows (since the head waiter will be in charge of showing the order in which dishes should be tasted), and spoons (essential for tea, the Hatter's favorite time).

In our interpretation of this marvelous story, the waiters are represented as the army of playing cards, as their function is to battle to make the service a success. The word Diverxo will appear embroidered on the cuff of the black tunic, as well as a shield formed by the letters XO (the restaurant's brand), butterfly embroidery, and red soutache embroidery on the front.

The sommeliers recite the wine list. Their uniform is inspired by the characters of The Twins, because the restaurant, precisely, has two great wine experts. In addition, the morphology of these characters resembles that of the pig, so representative in Diverxo, and which is represented with wings. Their garment will be adorned, as it could not be otherwise, with vine leaves, grapes and tendrils.

It was a wonderful job in which the entire La Condesa team was filled with enthusiasm and fantasy, becoming children again to envelop the diner with our jackets in a new reality that brings them closer to Dabiz's gastronomic experience, and gives them the opportunity to reinterpret each garment according to their perspective.