Designing for fall has always been a bit of a mystery to me, a puzzle I could never quite find all the pieces to. I struggled to strike the right tone, find the right palette, and dream up the right combination of prints for a time of year that feels equal parts transitional and fleeting.

Mestiza has become synonymous with brightness and saturated color, the kind of clothes that tap into that desperate desire to travel somewhere exotic. And for a long time, I struggled with what that meant for fall. I personally want a darker, moodier wardrobe once the weather changes, but does the Mestiza girl? For years, I tried everything: little black dresses, dark florals, neutral separates. Somehow, it always felt flat.

I suppose this is a long-winded way of explaining how I finally arrived at Fall 2026. After eleven years of some fall wins and, admittedly, quite a few fall misses, I landed on a collection that, dare I say, I loved even more than spring. How did that happen? I think I started questioning some of the rules I had created for Mestiza along the way. Just because our spring collections thrive on bright florals doesn’t mean we’re handcuffed to them. Who says fall can’t be paisley, geometric, or abstract?

This season, I paid less attention to the literal subject matter of a print and much more attention to how the colors made me feel. I stopped feeling beholden to the codes we had created around what made Mestiza thrive in the spring and summer months, and I think the collection became stronger because of it.

I wanted to experiment with prints that had never really been part of our vocabulary before: geometrics, scarf-inspired motifs, unexpected color combinations, and abstract patterns that didn’t necessarily belong to any one season. The challenge then became finding a way to make all of those ideas live together, balancing the bolder prints with quieter moments that gave the eye room to breathe.

What emerged was a palette that still felt unmistakably Mestiza, but with more depth: burgundy against citron, tobacco and ochre mixed with pale blue, dusty pink against deeper wine tones. They’re autumnal colors, but they don’t feel heavy. They still have that sense of optimism and escape that has always been at the heart of the brand.

- Alessandra Perez-Rubio, Mestiza Co-Founder