It began with ISAbella – co-founder of the FLINTA party collective MARICAS, and a longtime friend of Miista – walking into our Barcelona store one afternoon. Bella and her partner ended up buying the exact same pair of boots, which might not sound all that remarkable – but then we started spotting this pattern again and again: women coming in with their friends or girlfriends, and leaving with the very same style of shoe (Malene and Dahlia seem to be the current styles of choice).

Across our stores in London, Barcelona, Paris and New York, it’s become a quiet phenomenon, and one that makes us proud. We’d like to think that friends who wear the same shoes will stay friends forever.

All of these thoughts led us back to MARICAS – specifically their recent anniversary party in Barcelona. After all, the collective isn’t just about nightlife; it’s about carving out radical, much-needed spaces for queer women and non-binary people to connect, thrive and be themselves. And considering recent moves in the US to enforce a rigid two-gender definition and dismantle DEI policies, these kinds of sanctuaries are more essential than ever.

Is there any feedback you’ve had so far that has made a big impact on MARICAS?
Eloisa: There was one event where the venue wasn’t the best place to throw a queer event, and we got tons of feedback then – but it was all like, “I know you’re trying to make these places work, “ and, “People can make mistakes,” and stuff like that. So it was all very constructive, which has been a nice change from the beginning, when there was more of this kind of cancellation culture going on. When you made one small mistake, people were, like, throwing themselves at you. But now, I feel like, after doing it for some time, people also feel part of it, so they acknowledge that you can make mistakes and learn from them.

Nice. Do you both think it’s true that dance floors can be healing places?
Ferrari: Yeah, I think it's important for people to come together, to have this kind of exchange. Dancing together to music is a very bonding experience, and then also the connections you make at a party that can go beyond nightlife and form into something else – yeah, it's so vital that you have key spaces for like-minded people to come together.
Eloisa: I see this in a lot of queer individuals. Most of us find ourselves in night spaces at the beginning, when we start discovering our sexuality or our gender, because spaces like that are usually much more free from prejudice. I’m from Uruguay, and when I started going to electronic music parties, they were where I felt most like myself, because it was judgment-free. And that then helps you feel more comfortable in your skin during the day as well.

Do you think parties like yours can influence bigger changes when it comes to inclusivity and diversity?
Eloisa: It’s kind of a double edged sword question, because I do think that – with clubs and venues and most commercial places – the people that have the power are still mostly straight men. So change is still needed, and needs to come from positions of power. But for me, it’s helped me build my career, my life – because I met most of my friends in clubs and night spaces. So I think it can help you on a personal level, but there’s still a lot of change needed when it comes to who holds the power in all of this.

Makes sense. I wanted to ask about your view on social media and clubbing. Ferrari, I know you’re based in Berlin, where a lot of clubs make you put stickers over your phone camera as you enter.
Ferrari: I mean, I'm happy that I'm mostly in spaces where phones are either completely forbidden or people have an understanding and no one's privacy is getting invaded. It can be very backwards to have a super strict no phone policy, because it is a marketing tool, and it really helps people’s careers if they have footage of their gigs to post – as long as there's no one who’s super fucked, or maybe in some kind of sexual interaction. But at the same time, whenever I see footage of shows where people aren’t moving and it’s just, like, a sea of cameras, I find it very alienating.

Eloisa, I know MARICAS has had a load of issues with Instagram over the years.
Eloisa: Yeah, it happened a lot at the beginning. It doesn’t happen much now, but I think that’s because we’ve kind of tamed ourselves down. You need to be on there, because it’s a platform everyone uses, and it has helped our project a lot. But on the other side of it, they control the content that you can put out – and they were shadow-banning us, saying we had hate speech [MARICAS means “Faggots”], which is so ridiculous, as we’re a queer party.

Final question, how do you envision the future of women in electronic music? Do you think we're headed towards a more inclusive and supportive environment?
Ferrari: I think these days it’s very much established to have diverse lineups and, like, female representation, I guess, but it's also maybe the bubble that I operate in. Sometimes lineups or certain concepts can feel a bit like checking boxes. It still conceptually needs to make sense – like, you can't create lineups just all based on, like, so-called identity politics. But the people I work with, the other parties I play for, there's a very good understanding of how to create these spaces in a productive way that isn’t just ticking boxes for a marketing tool.