Milan, Paris, London and New York have always been the four pillars of fashion, but this year we headed to Barcelona for their 16th fashion week.
At the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium played host to over 40,000 guests and 36 catwalk shows for designers at 080 Barcelona Fashion, the city’s version of fashion week. Headlining the week were Spanish fashion staples, Desigual, Mango and Custo Barcelona but smaller brands got a look in alongside established names with an award show attended by none other than inimitable, bespectacled Iris Apfel. Following a projection of the documentary on her own life and career, Apfel answered the questions of an enamoured crowd, likening fashion and style to, “playing a piece of jazz. It’s about improvisation.”
On the Friday of the event, Celia Vela received the Generalitat of Catalonia National Best Collection Award and the Generalitat of Catalonia National Award for Emerging Design was given to CARLOTAOMS for the “Allegory” collection.
Celia Vela
From the fashion house that has been showing for almost 20 years, the designer’s femininity and attention to detail are her signature and so it’s unsurprising her inspirations for the winning collection stemmed from a tale of romance about a botanist and a girl who loves the seaside. Smooth champagne and green colour schemes along with Chantilly lace and satins took the flirtation with poetry one step further.
Carlotaoms
Elisabet Carlota and Elisenda Oms’ brand Carlotaoms were awarded for their “Allegory” collection. “Allegory” is the giving of form to a concept, a visual representation of an abstract idea. Confused yet? Carlota and Oms’ own allegory was the reflection of their combined creative process. This manifests in the straight lines that cut up shapes and the sharp brightness of the yellow in their colour palette.
For the rest of the week, the 41,750 visitors were treated to plenty more catwalk shows including a closing walk by childrenswear label CND by Cóndor and Bóboli, plus the premiere of Amore Mio the fashion film by photographer Ruven Afanador.
