A Triumph of Handcrafted Ingenuity: The Story Behind 31 Minutos Viral Tiny Desk Concert Wardrobe

On October 6, 31 Minutos Tiny Desk Concert premiered, with the Chilean band making history at NPRs famed series and already surpassing 6 million views.

Alongside fan favorites like Baila sin cesar, Objecif3n denegada, and Mi Muf1eca me hablf3, what also captivated viewers was the musicians wardrobedesigned to blend seamlessly into Tiny Desks iconic set, packed with color, toys, and office ephemera.

The striking visual effect came from the work of the bands costume designer, Catalina Devia, who also teaches at Finis Terrae Universitys School of Theater in the Scenic Design course for second-year Acting and Theatrical Creation students.

She was the one who brought to life the ideas of c1lvaro Dedaz and Francisco Schultz: abThe concept came from 31 Minutos creative team. From the direction, Pancho called me in the second week of August, I think, and said, we came up with this. I told him it sounded fun and accepted. At first I thought it would be easy; as the days went by I realized it wasnt. The 31 Minutos teams brilliant intuition knew it would be funny, a good gag, but we certainly didnt expect the level of analysis its inspired.bb

Even though it sounded simple at first, Devia explained that the creative process was lengthy: abIt took a whileabout a month to study the set and review it again and again. It took a couple of weeks or more to get a high-quality photo from Washington that would guarantee a clean print at any size. I also never thought to ask for the wall height; I trusted I could work from the proportions I perceived by looking at it. I put a lot of trust in my eyebb

abI tried printing directly on white T-shirtsbuying them ready to gobut none of the printing companies I contacted could do it. So I decided to print the fabric and tailor the garments. After testing three shirt patterns, I settled on a kimono sleeve to keep the image continuous and achieve the visual camouflage effect. I finally found a place to print and chose one type of fabric for the shirtsthinking about heat and drapeand another for the dresses, because in the original formation Jani (Duef1as) would be standing; that later changed,bb added Catalina Devia.

The designer thanked Sergio Vergara for his help during production: abSergio won the 2017 Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts, a master of the national stage who began his career with university ballets in the 1960s and is still very active. Challenging projects like this make him truly happyand sharing them with him makes me happy too,bb she said.

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Catalina Devia highlighted what she calls abHandcrafted Intelligencebb: abIts important to understand that a major team makes the show we saw on YouTube possible. Theres a great deal of manual work, and thats fascinatingthe triumph of handcrafted intelligence is remarkable here. As a scenic designer, I was brought in specifically as a costume designer this year, and it has been a very happy collaboration.bb

One of the most talked-about moments from 31 Minutos performance was the outfit worn by the bands pianist, Marcelo Wilson, who also chose to wear a mask of his own face so that even with his back turned, hed still be recognizable.

abMarcelos wardrobe was also a directorial decision, and understanding the logic that none of the shirts should have seams interrupting the printparticularly his, which carries a continuous horizontal imageinvolved trial and error until we created a continuous-sleeve version,bb Devia detailed.

Whats next? For Catalina Devia, upcoming stage work includes the productions ‘Los que van quedando en el camino’ by Isidora Aguirre and ‘Una corona en el fondo de una piscina’ by Marcelo Leonart. For the 31 Minutos team, the next milestone is the premiere of their new film Calurosa Navidad, set to debut in November on Prime Video.

Read more:

abThis is how Chile represents itself to the world!bb: Jeannette Jara hails abChilean creativitybb after 31 Minutos Tiny Desk performance in the U.S.

The right in distress: 31 Minutos triumphs at its Tiny Desk Concert in the U.S.

El Ciudadano