Anga and Neithan Ruiz pay homage to their roots in Neithan Herbert’s latest collection, “Raíz Sin Tierra.”
At the head of Fashion Month, Neithan Herbert unveiled its Spring Summer 2026 collection in a 19th-century house in Mexico City. Titled “Raíz Sin Tierra,” the collection celebrates siblings and co-founders Anga and Neithan Ruiz’s nomadic heritage.
“Roots Without Soil”
“Raíz Sin Tierra,” or “roots without soil” in Spanish, is a heartfelt homage to the Ruiz siblings’ multicultural upbringing. Among their biggest inspirations for this collection is their mother, Ecuadorian entrepreneur Etelvina Pillajo Campo, an Indigenous woman from the Otavalo community. Pillajo spent much of her life traveling alongside fellow Indigenous artists and promoting artisanal work.
Fittingly, she was the first model to walk the runway, intimately tying the show’s motivation with its execution. A series of dynamic looks followed. Movement was a key element of this collection; free-flowing and form-fitting pieces alike featured sweeping contours, indicating motion beyond the extent of the fabric.
”My roots are not fixed; they travel with me and transform across each piece. They are memory turned luxury, past made movement,” Neithan Ruiz shared at the end of the showcase.
Neithan Herbert: Heritage Turned Art
Captured in these diverse textures is also the impact of the Ruiz siblings’ grandfather, a shaman from whom they heard countless stories. This nostalgia is tangible across the collection, whose handmade qualities tell the stories of bygone eras. It is felt in the detailing of a see-through black button-up and the defined waist detailing of a full-length amber dress. Artists hailing from San Miguel de Allende, where the Ruiz siblings grew up, contributed to the smocks, pleats and embroidery displayed on the runway.
Actress Adriana Paz, who keeps Neithan Herbert in her black tie event rotation, participated in the night’s showing. She walked down the runway modelling an asymmetrical floor-length gown. Peruvian model and activist, Juana Burga, was also part of the cast. Burga empowers Latin American artisans through Nuna Awaq and Futurismos Indígenas, initiatives that amplify Indigenous voices and preserve ancestral knowledge within contemporary culture.
“Preserving ancestral knowledge unites the past, the present, and the future. It is our connection to our roots and to the land,” Burga shared about the project.
The front row echoed the brand’s inspiration, reuniting relevant faces in the cultural scene. Show guests included Mexican actresses Yalitza Aparicio, Eréndira Ibarra, Celina del Villar and Sofía Espinosa.
Introducing Mexican and Ecuadorian know-how to the global stage
Translating their upbringing as children of an Ecuadorian Indigenous household growing up in Mexico, Anga and Neithan Ruiz’s latest collection pays tribute to community—to the Indigenous, the local, the forgotten, in their words.
“Raíz sin Tierra” is a reminder that roots are not static; they transform and live in the memory and craftsmanship of those who preserve them. “They live on in the nomadic spirit of Latin America, where identity is not singular but multiple, woven across borders, histories, and generations.”
