Photo courtesy of Mateo Dorado

Strings sophomore Mateo Dorado poses in the shirt he designed.

With over a thousand students in the Dreyfoos student body, there are a thousand different ways to dress, but one shirt stands out in the crowd. It is a black long sleeve t-shirt with Madonna on the front and three white stars on both shoulders and the chest. The line logo “Louvré” is printed on both sleeves.

Strings sophomore Mateo Dorado is breaking into the fashion industry with his clothing line, Louvré Visuals. He, his design partner and photographer design stylish street wear.

“I’m highly influenced by [trends in] Europe, some of my favorite designers are Moschino and Jeremy Scott,” Dorado said.

Dorado began his brand when visual junior Emily Gerstein connected him with the company that printed the shirt for the Women’s Empowerment club.

“I have a family friend who does promotional printing and she discovered a new process called Direct to Garment printing,” Gerstein said. “I thought it would be what he was looking for, so they were able to produce his first shirt.”

Dorado’s friends support him in his fashion company, and are ready to lend a helping hand for him.

“I’ve always been supportive of [Dorado’s] line I think he’s very talented and I think he’s going places,” digital media junior  Jessie Bornstein said. “I always try to give my constructive criticism anyway I can because I think that it’s going to be amazing.”

However, Dorado took his pursuit one step further by working with a student from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Dorado sent his designs to be produced with brands like Diesel Jeans and Lacoste.  He noticed that the majority of Dreyfoos students shop at similar places, and wanted to stay away from common trends.

“[I wanted to] make something that I like for myself, and see if other people catch on and become interested,” Dorado said. “I like the fact that I can make limited pieces other than mass production because you probably won’t see many people with it.”

Dorado focuses on the affordability of his clothes, as well as using young artists in Palm Beach to do photo shoots of the clothes and design his website.

“We’re big on helping local talent,” Dorado said. “There’s always people who are in our same position as videographers, photographers and musicians, we feature people like that on our website.”

Louvré Visuals integrates skate culture and street wear designs in hopes to bring style back to skating.

“Brands like Supreme and Huff all originated from skateboarding,” Dorado said. “I’m really trying to bring style back to skateboard culture.”

Anyone can purchase Louvre Visuals designs by going to LouvreVisuals.com, following Louvre Visuals on Instagram at @LouvreVisuals, or talking to Dorado. He is currently selling one shirt on his website for $22.