Raúl Pedro Castillo Jiménez

Renowned Cuban fashion designer. Director of the Avances fashion group.

"I was born in Vedado in 1958, in a tenement at 3rd and B Street. My mother was of very humble origins, she was a domestic servant, and my father was a pharmacy messenger. They were very humble people but they taught me to persevere. [...] As a child I drew designs for my cousins, who followed me in this madness by wearing my first models. They were very chic: when it came to fashion they loved having the latest. Among my classmates and their mothers I had my first clients.

He began his work in 1981 at the Youth Clothing Company (in Havana).

In 1983, at 24 years old, he created the Avances fashion group, of which he is director, in order to express and promote fashion concerns among Cuban youth.

He has had presentations at different Cuban cultural and tourist institutions such as the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the Hotel Comodoro, the Hotel Riviera, the Son de la Madrugada complex (of ARTEX), among others.

He has represented Cuba in France, where he presented his creations.

Throughout all these years he has appeared continuously in programs for Cuban Television.

On Radio Rebelde he has a permanent slot on the program Visión.

"I would like to do something in film. I would like to design for movies, cinema transcends, that's incredible. As for designing for people, that's not something that interests me specifically right now, film does because it has to do with your permanence in the people."

He has worked as a costume designer in films such as Las profecías de Amanda (1999, by Aarón Vega and Pastor Vega) and Amor vertical (by Arturo Soto).

"I have great respect for fashion and international standards, but sometimes I break away from these and showcase short people, chubby people, who aren't so attractive: there's the average Cuban, today's Cuban, that ordinary person. [...] I greatly respect people who like payé, sequins, feathers, but I always say like the poet: 'The mountain stream pleases me more than the sea.' Cuba first, let's remember that we are not Europeans. The more Cuban we are, the more international we will be with our sun, our people, our customs and our culture."

Castillo is diabetic and in 2021 he suffered amputation in both lower limbs, which is why he finds himself in a difficult state of health and emotional well-being.