The Minerva Purse

Made as sort of a three-fold type of deal, firstly as a birthday/mothers day gift for my mom Minerva, hence the name of the purse. My mom immigrated from Mexico to the US in her late teens and became a US Citizen over a decade ago. The things shes accomplished in her life inspire me every single day especially in my work ethic and the things I want to accomplish for her. Her maiden name is Victoria which is the name of the belt buckle used on the purse. As a Mexican, the “Americana” look of the purse sounds contradicting, however, this design choice with the 2nd and 3rd reasons for its creation. It was made as part of the genesis collection, but to alo promote my second collection Spring Summer 2026 “America Needs Farmers”. “America Needs Farmers” is the saying in Iowa to promote the lack of farmers available in this day and age; my second collection is based on the summer I spent and lived in Iowa City, IA. It was my very first time living significantly far from home and from my brother and Mom, and it was only 2 years after my father had passed — so to say at times I had felt alone that summer are just sugar coating things. The thought of my family was and is still my “why”. In all, this purse essentially symbolizes the love for my mom and being far from her that summer AND now as I live across the country during my first collection. The belt is inspired from the American culture that I really felt in the midwest, and the button enclosure is to reflect the relationship between a belt and pants. The reason it is not the typical smooth shape of a purse and has rugged/sharp edges is to pay homage to the building I worked in at Iowa (last slide). This building had a bunch of rugged sharp corners that I always thought was super cool.