Cristobal Balenciaga was one of the greatest designers of the 20th century, who revolutionized women's wear silhouettes during the period of Christian Dior’s New Look. In his early career and throughout his life, he took inspiration from Spanish culture to create his garments and played with shapes and oversized silhouettes. For my project, therefore, I wanted to take an element from my culture and play with the shapes and silhouettes as once done before me by Balenciaga. In this project, I’m looking into the Mexican revolution, more specifically, Las Soldaderas, also called Adelitas, women who participated in the Mexican revolution. Some of these women, due to the fact that it was not accepted or well seen for them to be on the battlefield, disguised or dressed themselves as their fellow male revolutionaries. They would wear trousers, long-sleeved shirts, and thick jackets, with belt-like straps to hold their bullets, although some women did keep their long-length skirts. Making the figure of a soldadera a gender neutral silhouette, more than a feminine silhouette. This also goes into a part that Rei Kawakubo also explored in her designs, transforming the feminine, structured silhouette into an abstract, deconstructed, and neutral silhouette. For my piece, I want to focus on creating a garment inspired by Balenciaga’s silhouette, creating comfort and space, while tying together Kawakubo’s idea of gender neutrality and deconstruction, making a “battle-ready” piece that leads to functionality and movement.