Born in Cuba and based in Miami, he later studied at Miami International University of Art & Design, sharpening his pattern-making and textile sourcing before opening his own studio with his wife. His label, Bárzaga, was founded to fill what he saw as a gap: the absence of Cuban representation in luxury fashion. The brand’s guiding principle is contrast, drawing on Cuban and Mexican folklore alongside his own drawings worked directly into the clothing. His debut collection, Insurrection Ommatidium, used entirely dead-stock fabric, handmade in Miami, and took its themes from the American, Spanish and Cuban independence struggles. More recent work has pushed the brand toward gender fluidity, reworking garments historically coded as menswear into pieces built for the female form. Runway experience during New York Fashion Week as a student gave an early platform, and the label has kept building its identity around structure, storytelling, and personal history rather than seasonal trend-chasing; AlejandroBarzaga.com.