For Mexican fashion designer Patricio Campillo, Día de Muertos is more than a holiday honoring those who have passed away. It’s a celebration of life, love, and the enduring connections that remain long after someone is gone. Now, he’s bringing that philosophy to a new collaboration with Tequila Don Julio, transforming one of Mexico’s most recognizable traditions into a limited-edition bottle that bridges fashion, art, and cultural heritage.
Unveiled during Campillo’s Spring/Summer 2027 runway show at New York Fashion Week in September, the Tequila Don Julio 70 Añejo Cristalino Artist Edition Bottle is inspired by El Puente Eterno, or The Eternal Bridge, the brand’s global Día de Muertos campaign. The design depicts two souls reunited through the symbolism of cempasúchil, the marigold flowers traditionally used to guide departed loved ones home during the holiday.
For Campillo, the inspiration came from a desire to reinterpret the relationship between life and death through a distinctly Mexican perspective.
“The most special part is that kind of bridge between the living and the dead, and the fantasy and the reality,” Campillo told me in an exclusive interview.
The artwork features two faces, including a skull made from marigolds, a deliberate choice intended to transform an image commonly associated with death into something joyful.
“Mexican culture has that ability of making everything a satire or a joy or a source of just happiness,” he explained.
Marigolds hold particular significance during Día de Muertos, which is observed annually on November 1 and 2. Families traditionally create ofrendas, or altars, decorated with photographs, candles, flowers, and favorite foods and drinks to welcome the spirits of departed relatives.
In Campillo’s experience, the flowers are a powerful symbol of remembrance and connection rather than sorrow.
“We do a path of marigolds from the entrance of the house to the ofrenda, and that’s supposed to be…the bridge where the people come from the dead to the living,” he explained.
He described how the scent and appearance of marigolds evoke an atmosphere of celebration in Mexico, where death is acknowledged as an inevitable part of life rather than something that must be approached exclusively through grief.
“When anyone sees marigolds here in Mexico, I don’t think anyone’s ever been sad,” he said. “It reminds you of a kind of celebration that is inevitable.”
Although Día de Muertos imagery has gained international recognition, Campillo hopes the meaning behind the tradition resonates just as strongly as its colorful visual identity.
“This tradition is…a healthy way to cope with loss and it’s a healthy way to cope with death,” he told me. “It’s an amazing way to just kind of understand life and the joy of it.”
He believes that perspective has the potential to resonate far beyond Mexico.
“If it was universal, I think the world would be a happier place,” he added.
The collaboration also marks an unexpected full-circle moment in Campillo’s career.
Long before he became a fashion designer, Campillo studied marketing and worked at a public relations agency in Mexico. One of the brands he represented was Don Julio.
At the time, he was responsible for promoting the brand, coordinating campaigns, and communicating its identity to journalists and other audiences.
“I was the one who was pitching profiles and pitching people for the campaign,” he recalled.
Roughly a decade later, Campillo has gone from promoting the brand’s creative campaigns to becoming the artist behind one of them.
“I know. It’s such a full circle, right?” he said, reflecting on the unexpected reunion.
The collaboration debuted at New York Fashion Week during an event at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, overlooking the East River and Brooklyn Bridge. The celebration brought together more than 200 guests, including musicians, fashion figures, and other notable personalities, while introducing Campillo’s latest collection alongside the artist-edition bottle.
The limited-edition 750-milliliter bottle is available at select retailers nationwide, with a retail price of $69.99, offering consumers a chance to bring a piece of Campillo’s Día de Muertos-inspired artistry home.
For Campillo, seeing the collaboration extend beyond the runway has been particularly moving.
“It’s very surreal, for example, seeing the bottle and the billboards in Times Square,” he told me.
Part of that disbelief comes from his unconventional journey into fashion.
“I did not go to fashion school,” he said.
Instead, Campillo built his career through a combination of marketing experience, cultural exploration, and a growing passion for design. Today, his namesake label, CAMPILLO, has become a platform for reinterpreting Mexican identity through contemporary fashion.
“The exercise of recontextualizing culture and heritage and tradition of any kind is very interesting,” he explained.
Rather than simply reproducing traditional clothing or historical references, Campillo is interested in how familiar cultural elements can be transformed into something new without losing their original meaning.
That philosophy is evident in his Spring/Summer 2027 collection, which explores a different kind of remembrance: the desire to preserve moments of personal happiness.
Partly inspired by a hiking trip with his mother in Chiapas, Mexico, the collection translates intimate memories into wearable designs.
“I think it was just really interesting to me to be able to freeze a specific feeling or a specific moment into clothing as a vehicle for an analogy,” Campillo explained.
The collection progresses from neutral, earthy shades into vibrant oranges, pinks, and yellows, with gradient fabrics inspired by the colors of sunrises and sunsets.
For Campillo, the transition also represented an opportunity to challenge the established visual identity of his brand.
“I wanted to strip off a lot of the things made me feel my comfort zone,” he said, explaining that introducing more color allowed him to expand CAMPILLO’s creative vocabulary while retaining its recognizable identity.
Some of the collection’s most memorable pieces emerged through experimentation rather than meticulous planning.
One of his favorites features reconstructed jeans layered over bright orange pants, a design that developed spontaneously during fittings with his team.
Campillo described his studio as a lively, collaborative environment where music plays and ideas evolve organically.
“There’s a lot of emotion going into it,” he said, reflecting on the excitement of watching a design come together.
That sense of joy has become one of the most meaningful aspects of his career.
“When I was young and I didn’t really know what to do with my life, I didn’t think that there was something that I could make a living out of that would bring me so much joy,” he told me.
Today, his workdays can involve experimenting with unusual materials, unexpected silhouettes, and increasingly ambitious creative concepts.
And despite his growing international recognition, Campillo still finds it extraordinary that the same curiosity that once inspired him to explore fashion has become the foundation of his career.
Asked which personal memory he would preserve forever, the designer didn’t mention a runway show, a major collaboration, or a professional achievement.
Instead, he recalled the first time he rode a horse.
“It was scary, but I just couldn’t get enough of it,” he said, remembering the connection he felt with the animal.
It’s a revealing answer from a designer whose latest projects are united by the idea that our most meaningful experiences deserve to be remembered.
Whether through a childhood memory transformed into clothing or a marigold-covered bottle honoring loved ones who have passed away, Campillo’s work explores the ways art and design can preserve what time cannot.
And as Día de Muertos approaches, his collaboration with Don Julio offers a reminder that remembrance doesn’t have to be defined by sadness. Sometimes, the most powerful way to honor those we’ve lost is to celebrate the love, joy, and memories that remain.
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