Paris-based Colombian photographer Alejandra Loaiza has been named a finalist for the Prix PICTO de la Photographie de Mode, one of the most prestigious awards dedicated to emerging fashion photographers. Created in 1998 by PICTO and hosted by Palais Galliera since 2017, the prize supports young talent and offers winners the opportunity to have their work enter a public collection. The 2026 edition is judged by acclaimed French artist Valérie Belin.
Born in Bogotá in 1993, Loaiza originally studied fashion before moving to France in 2014 and working in communications. Largely self-taught, she began photographing in 2016 and turned her passion into a full-time career in 2020. Since then, she has collaborated with leading fashion and beauty houses including Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Lancôme and L’Oréal. Her work has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ and The Washington Post.
Her shortlisted series, Suba, Costa Azul, combining digital and analog photography, is a deeply personal body of work inspired by the working-class Bogotá neighborhood where she grew up. Blending fashion and documentary photography, the project explores how collective memory, street aesthetics and cultural rituals shape identity. Through portraits, still lifes and scenes of quinceañeras and neighborhood beauty salons, Loaiza pays tribute to her Colombian roots, using clothing, hairstyles and everyday objects as symbols of heritage, belonging and self-expression.
