The question “how to be creative” answers more than 132 million entries on Google with pseudoscience that promises to stimulate the brain. The artist is born, not made, or perhaps perfected over time, but there are those who are born with a gift and a sensitivity that make them unique. This 78th edition of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (MBFWM), which presents the spring-summer 2024 collections, has brought all that creativity made in Spain to Pavilion 14 of Ifema to the delight of Madrid residents and other curious people – it is about of the second edition in which tickets were sold to see the shows – who wanted to see the latest fashion trends in situ. And while in the streets the debate is on the future investiture, on the nationalists and on respecting the Constitution, within the Ifema premises the Catalan firms have gained strength and notoriety thanks to a solid discourse, a recognizable DNA and a roof without glass.
If a year ago Pedro Sánchez sat with his wife Begoña Gómez in the front row of Teresa Helbig, this year the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, did so, the same one who awarded him the national Design award last June Fashion. The Catalan, who celebrated her 60th anniversary on the catwalk, starred in one of the largest-capacity shows of the edition. Minutes before the start, it was rumored behind the scenes that the fair workers themselves would have to give up their seats so that all the guests could have their place. “I’ll try to sneak in,” someone said reluctantly. Because missing Teresa Helbig’s show was not in anyone’s plans. From Paris to the state of Texas, like the name of the cult film that marked an entire generation in the eighties. From the city of light and the most beautiful and refined art to the lone star state. The backdrop of this collection is contradiction, in the most reflective sense of the word. Because there is no transformation, evolution or change without contradiction. The result was translated into a collection in which delicate chiffon dresses coexist with garments with rigid materials, such as worn leather with a Western feel.
Simorra made its debut on the Madrid catwalk and left the audience speechless with a recital of craftsmanship through the different ways of braiding a thread using 100% manual techniques. The staging, with a game of tangled three-dimensional fabrics in the center of the catwalk, referred to the search for union – hence the metaphor of intertwining the threads – of an increasingly individualized society. The result on the catwalk gave rise to a collection in which the materials created their own speech in each of the looks. “We know what we are good at and we want to be faithful to it,” stressed Eva Dimas, Brand Manager of Simorra.
Custo Barcelona flooded the Madrid catwalk with color and joy. Geometry, strategic openings and contrast games were the main protagonists of a collection called Object of Desire that delved into the firm’s archive to offer the public an anticipated summer 2024. The person who shared that summer dream was the Spanish swimwear brand Dolores Cortés, which took Balinese tradition as inspiration to devise a collection with giant headdresses and hats that adorned a selection of swimsuits and bikinis with wild prints and natural colors. From Southeast Asia to Malne’s cowboy universe, which fused recognizable elements such as stirrups with glamorous evening outfits. Claro Couture was in charge of bringing innovation to the catwalk with techniques such as the use of the 3D pencil. Inspired by the behaviors of the ocean, from the fluidity of waves to the silhouettes of foam, the designs featured delicate relief overlays that functioned as a metaphor for all the treasures hidden in the sea. And from the ocean to the land, where creativity has no limits or borders. “We are creators, we live from art, and we want to believe in a future where slowfashion has the place it deserves,” concludes Juanjo Mánez, co-creative director of the Spanish brand Malne.
