Celebrating Peruvian Heritage and Contemporary Design Through the Rhythm of the Danza de las Tijeras
By Gaia Stella Vitale
On a bright afternoon on September 28 at 3:00 PM, Jorge Luis Salinas presented his Spring Summer 2026 collection at Garden Senato, immersing the audience in a fluid dialogue between Peruvian heritage and contemporary vision. The runway pulsed with the spiritual rhythm of the Danza de las Tijeras, an ancestral Andean ritual recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Salinas translated this formidable energy into garments that seamlessly combine structure and movement. The collection featured 38 look, each telling a story of identity and empowerment. Pastel shades lavender, dusty rose, sky blue, and pale terracotta tempered the intensity of the inspiration, embodying the dualities of sound and silence, earth and spirit, motion and stillness. Fabrics ranged from lightweight silks to cottons used for artisanal crochet work, with sharply defined silhouettes echoing the scissor-like precision of the dance. Volumes shifted dynamically: sculpted shoulders, flowing dresses adorned with micro-pleats and ruffles, and fully crochet garments flowed across the runway with rhythmic grace.
The deeply personal inspiration behind the collection emerges clearly from Salinas’ lived experience. The memory of witnessing the dance with his family forms the emotional core of SS26. “For me, the Danza de las Tijeras means reliving moments with my family,” Salinas recalls. “One celebration in particular remains vivid in my memory: the scissor dance. It has color, texture, and shape, and I wanted to gather all of that into a handcrafted collection. I believe I achieved this with a lot of love.”
The collaboration with Peruvian artisans further anchored the collection in authenticity. “I work with women from across Peru, not just a single region. Each brings fabrics that inspire me to create something new. I mix textiles from the north, center, and south to give life to new forms,” he explains. “These women come from social backgrounds I want to elevate. I bring them to Lima to work with me, supporting their families while we create garments together. They are extraordinary people, and their creativity is essential in assembling the collection.”
The pastel palette reflects Salinas’ vision. “Although the scissor dance is very colorful, using these tones made me feel like I was at a celebration… like in a garden. The colors give a sense of movement, like butterflies in the air. This inspired me to use them: beautiful, vibrant, and full of life,” he notes.
SS26 resonates on multiple levels. Deeply rooted in Peruvian heritage while engaging with global fashion discourse, the collection bridges ritual and performative art with contemporary design. By incorporating authentic cultural references without exoticizing them, Salinas situates his work within broader conversations on identity, memory, and modernity. The pastel palette delicately underscores the interplay between fragility and strength, transcending folkloric representation to achieve a refined, universal visual language. SS26 demonstrates that heritage can serve, as a living canvas for innovation and those cultural narratives can remain deeply specific while resonating globally.
With SS26, J.Salinas reaffirms his role as a custodian of Peruvian heritage and a visionary of contemporary design. The show transcends the mere presentation of garments: it becomes a manifesto of identity, resilience, and artistic power. By celebrating the Danza de las Tijeras, Salinas invites the world to dance between past and present, between memory and innovation, making each look a statement of cultural continuity and creative audacity.
