We were lucky to catch up with Aaron Camacho recently and have shared our conversation below.

Aaron, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Mind Over Hatter as a name was just a phrase I brainstormed in a bar with a random stranger, and casually decided to go with it.

The concept behind it, the lifestyle, the world, the culture of Mind Over Hatter….. that isn’t something that I came up with, it is something that came up on me. It is something that was always there, a part of me, following me, keeping to the shadows at first, watching me, waiting. A series of events, positive and negative, triggered this creative force, activated this entity, this idea, a catalyst into an epiphany. It grabbed me, and when it grabbed me it did so violently and pulled me down the rabbit hole. So in a way, I stumbled upon it, something special, something bigger than me, a buried treasure. It sparked and ignited a passion in me that I honestly didn’t even know was there, became my life, it made me rethink my way of viewing the world and the way we view ourselves and the wealth that we hold, external and internal.

I didn’t have any intention of becoming a fashion designer, or an artist in this regard; initially I came out to Hollywood to be an actor, lol, but I wasn’t happy about that quest and that scene. And a big part of me felt like I wasn’t really creating anything of my own. I was around “creative” people, but struggling to find an identity as an artist myself. When you’re an actor, you are often not seen as much as an artist, but more of a product or a stock character that is to fit in with/appeal to some audience, some demographic, and I felt like that’s how I was being seen. I wanted to be unique.

There was a certain point when I said yes to myself or to whatever this creative entity that came up on me, took a hold of me. So in a sense, I was awakened and I started creating something of my own. I had some opportunities to attend various workshops and classes and learn how to sew along with other new skills, so some of the elements of what was to be Mind Over Hatter started there. But at the beginning of my path, I was essentially homeless and I couldn’t actually afford the vision in my head. I started collecting pieces off the streets, leftovers, remnants because that was what I had access to. Anything that came close to whatever vision I had. It was this feeling of grit, the tenacious spirit of survival. My early pieces are made with repurposed trash and second hand accessories. Lol. The lost artist now had a purpose. As I would create, my mind would wander into a world of my own, a whimsical wasteland fantasy, taking all the emotions and pouring them in. It was therapeutic, healing. My art saved me in many ways, and many times.

Throughout my art and my fashion universe, the theme of apocalypse and postapocalyptic world is a prominent influence, a thread that spreads throughout my creative endeavors and connects everything. How do we keep going after everything has been destroyed? But there is always a glimmer of hope in the human heart and so we rebuild on the ruins with the remnants of the old. This theme feels so appropriate for me, and I believe that other people
can relate.

It’s what “trauma” feels like. How do we go through trauma, how do we survive it, how do we live? Because trauma, in my opinion, is not just what happened to us, but also everything that happened after and our response to that.

Mind Over Hatter is the spirit of perseverance, a reminder to never underestimate your ability to create, to know that you are enough, and the learning of how to mend oneself. So much so you can create a new identity. It’s about knowing thyself.

It always comes from and leads back to the heart.

People tell me “You have a passion for fashion,” but really, I have a passion for creation. It’s a whole world. I don’t really consider myself a fashion designer even though that is what I primarily do, I consider myself an artist. I’m not just making clothes, accessories; I’m taking my garbage feelings and doing an alchemy, making them into good feelings, into something meaningful. Making something out of nothing. It has been a development of a sense of self. Being reborn as who you want to be; reclaiming your inner power to ward off the Dementors of the world, and perhaps offer it something fresh. A different view. You.

Mind Over Hatter is not only my mission. It’s a special kind of magic. It’s been a way of life I’ve chosen. It’s our lives. But only recently did we make Mind Over Hatter into a professional commitment, a business, and that wasn’t even initiated by me. When I think back on where I was then, and where I am now, it’s like, the life and origin story of Mind Over Hatter is a work of art in itself. I was lucky to have met certain people to help me with this, give me platforms, mentorship, encouragement, and support, and I feel blessed in the sense that I had special people to help to bring this creative fantasy into a reality, and it’s interesting to see how myself and it has grown. Especially when you know that path that you’ve created has heart.

Aaron, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Mind Over Hatter is a Los Angeles-based alternative fashion brand.
We primarily create fashion and wearable-art pieces, including clothing, accessories (with emphasis on hats), and jewelry, as well as custom-made pieces per client’s desire. But our work goes beyond fashion. We like to think of it as a lifestyle, a culture. Around our fashionable items, we are creating a universe.

The first pieces crafted were intricate sculpture-hats (we call them Mad Hats), constructed with found objects that were collected entirely during my day to day travels throughout Los Angeles. Each hat was festooned with details that weaved together to define the Character, an archetype, embodied by the piece.

What started off as a hobby, quickly became a passion and a way of life. Soon after the first hats, I began experimenting with clothing and accessories, breathing into each piece its own soul, its own personality. No two piece are alike. At Mind Over Hatter we dislike the idea of mass production and carbon copies.

Inspired by postapocalyptic scenarios and aesthetic, and due to our sensitivity to environmental issues, Mind Over Hatter primarily utilizes used and discarded media, building our creations from recycled items, fabric and leather scraps, leftover materials, gifted/bartered material, and everyday, found objects. We believe in repurposing, reusing, up-cycling, giving a new life to something old and rejected.

What started off as a hobby, quickly became a passion and a way of life. Now a fashion team of three, we transcend existing genres and nomenclature. For easy reference, we compare our aesthetic to a melange of steampunk, post-apocalyptic/wasteland, and festival fashions, with a dark and electrifying twist.

As a brand and business, we enjoy collaborative projects and experimentation, striving to redefine the meaning of fashion and style through the use of unconventional means. We create for people who own their journey, who push boundaries, and challenge the norm… who appreciate innovation and diversity. Our pieces are meant to inspire, to empower and free the wearer to express their unique personality.

What we do is not for the faint of heart. We see fashion as art and our expression has no limits. We are inspired by everything around us… emotions, philosophies, struggles and victories, personal empowerment, individualism, human nature, gods and monsters, dreams and fantasies, love. We are not afraid to be strange and radical. We’re rough and royal, grungy and sophisticated, dark and whimsical… We go against the grain. Through chaos, we are creating a new level of beauty.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I did not actually fund anything, have any capital, or invest financially into anything at first.
I was sort of lucky in many ways.

I found people who would volunteer their time to do a project with me or teach me. Or let me put my art in their art gallery. Or built a website as a birthday gift or helped find a local market to vend at. I surrounded myself with people who wanted to be there with me because their heart was in it, they believed in it; sometimes strangers, sometimes dear friends; and a lot of the times things would fall into place somehow.

As far as equipment goes… at first I tried to source free items off craigslist and in similar ways, or find something used at a low cost/next to nothing. I would make friends with people who had equipment and tools and borrow theirs, and oftentimes, people would donate materials and tools to this eager artist. A friend of mine taught her own sewing and design classes and a lot of the time I would get leftover fabric from her and work with that. All the friends would give me their old jeans. Nearly all the materials for my early hats came from the streets or some sort of a junkyard, and later on, the crazy backyard of my artist co-op house; essentially, I would use anything that had any potential, wherever I would find it.

And still today, the leading principle of this business is to see what we have available immediately, what resources we have on hand or around us, what can be repurposed and used in an innovative way, and think of a fun and creative way to execute the design, to make the old into into something new.

Little by little I saved up for better equipment, but when it comes to the materials I always source existing instead of buying new.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met my business partner in 2014 in a Sushi restaurant in Hollywood, where I was a busser and they a customer.

We started dating and at the time I was also working on two theater projects, first building strange puppets for a musical, and right after that creating costumes for a play, and I needed extra hands. We started working together and after that we did a couple of other costuming / fashion-related projects. At that time, I had also just finished creating seven of my Mad Hats and a couple of other items, and my now business partner really liked my art and had the idea of putting together a vendor booth for local markets and craft fairs, as well as building a website. This the idea of Mind Over Hatter as a brand and a business was born. Since then we’ve been working together as Mind Over Hatter every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mindoverhatter.com
• Instagram: @mindoverhatter
• Youtube: @mindoverhatter
• Other: SHOP:
  mindoverhatter.shop (NEW online store, w.i.p.)
  &
  etsy.com/Shop/MindOverHatter

Image Credits

Photographers: Flip Cassidy, Brian Patierno, Carmen Curcic, Aaron Camacho