Once the 64 th Edition of the Madrid Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, the old Cibeles Catwalk, has finished, hundreds of articles move around both in written press and online media, and surf the social networks. Ones differ so much from the others that they seem not to describe the same event, or even worse, become redundant.
Fashion shows have evolved in a way in which the collections shown cannot be understood without letting the environment enshroud you. It is hard to describe without having attended. The inspiration of the designers comes from the living experiences which they try to recreate on the fashion show.
Here is where the properties, the decoration, the music and the illumination come into play. Besides the staging, the models make such recreation come true with their way of modelling, step by step they interpret the collection and the result is a whole that engages you. These are the details which transmit the essence of each collection, taking you to Greece by the hand of Juana Martín, to the jungle by Jorge Vázquez, showing the atypical vision of the four seasons of Andrés Sardá o the homesick felt by Hannibal Laguna reflected in his baroque designs.
In this article I do not intend to describe the future trends which have been seen during this week of Madrid’s fashion, as it would be to repeat what has already been written about, but to transmit what can be breathed at IFEMA during these focuses and dizzying days.
It is very interesting to assess what does it fed on, what does it fears and what can be expected from a sector which has been harshly hit by the crisis and the unavoidable current that carries it away: The “low cost”.
What has changed for some time now in the way of understanding and consuming fashion? During the four days in which I have got immersed in this fascinating world, a question moved around cyberspace: “See now, buy now”… dangerous for Fashion weeks?
The aim of the editions of the fashion weeks, apart from the country where they are celebrated, is to present the collection six months in advance, before the new season, that is to say, this week we have had a look to what will be in next Spring.
Under this formula the fashion industry has been structured since its very beginning, but everything is under a continuous change and a new concept wins followers among designers such as Tomy Ford, Burberry or Tommy Hilfiger… “See now, buy now”, or what is the same, “you see it you buy it”. Trends collectors and wearing the latest fashion lovers, exclusive clothes if possible, stand up for getting clothes in the moment and for that very season.
The immediacy which rules our days unavoidably influences the world of fashion. This new vision has caused, for example, numerous and remarkable absences in New York’s Fashion Week, simultaneously celebrated on the same date as Madrid’s one. Designers do not want to show their future collections and opt for focusing on fashion shows which allow them to display “the purest present”.
In Spain, Roberto Verino has been the first to be brave to join this new dynamic based on “breaking away from” BMFWM presenting its 2016 Autumn collection at the 5 th edition of MFSHOW, in the Museum of the suit of Madrid. Its absence in this edition is an indicator of how even the most traditional needles adapt to the new demand. According to the designer himself: “It makes no sense that the clothes shown are not able to be purchased at the very same moment”.
Coinciding in the Fashion show by Jorge Vázquez with Carmen Lomana, well known for being a Spanish high couture collector, I had the opportunity to ask her what would she feel if instead of being about to see the 2017 Spring-Summer collection, 2016 Autumn clothes were on the fashion show (Roberto Verino’s bet in his last fashion show “see to buy”).
Funny and with an eclectic philosophy, she did not hesitate to answer that it would be much more practical for everyone, without stopping setting trends with some future designs. On the other side, Sonsoles Nieto, Protocol director of IFEMA, with whom I enjoyed various fashion shows, gave quite a similar opinion, “It is time to renew the concept of fashion fairs”, she added.
The general opinion is that it is necessary to keep this event as a future trends projector, but introducing the added value of being able to “in situ” purchase the pieces. Another hint to highlight, is the sonsorial experience of each fashion show, design and creativity joined together in a true show in which fashion is lived through the five senses.
As I have previously mentioned, a fashion show is much more than a clothes collection, the staging carries you to the place, the age or the imaginary world where the designer’s “inspiration” was born. Elegance and good taste jump on stage in plenty of the proposals, but in this year I remark one fashion show over the rest: The one by the cordobesian Juana Martin, with the performance of the violinist Paco Montalvo. This young musician has succeeded in recalling the essence of the eclectic concept, creating Flamenco with his violin, and that, in my opinion, is being eclectic.
I take my hat off Paco. Juana knew how to dress her collection ‘Ecléctica’ full of winks to the South and with a strong presence of the bougainvillea with the best music, succeeding in joining fashion, culture, History and feelings together.
Between one fashion show and another, the attendants have been able to enjoy the Samsung EGO ‘showroom’, 15 Spanish new fashion promises assisting direct selling with clothes that suggest the constant evolution of the Spanish fashion.
And the truth is the Spanish fashion and beauty industry is a great model, as Julia González, director of the exhibitions related to this sector in IFEMA, explains to me at the offices of IFEMA. BMFWM has not finished and Julia is already immersed in the next show, the ‘Madrid’ Look Saloon which will take place from the 5 to the 7 of November. On it, the companies and brands of the most representative beauty products and services from the national or International panorama meet.
My general perception of future trends is very clear, all the brands converge at a point: the spontaneity and freedom of expression. What is important is not what you wear, but how you wear it.
Even the sponsors of the event such as, Solán de Cabras, have bet this year with a stand whose decoration and products are based on a comeback to what is simple, natural and healthy, just as its manager Ferrán Hidalgo tell us.
For many of who have “lived” there these days, its juices and snacks have been indispensable during the long work days. Fashion is creativity, continuous search for forgotten essences, of yearns through the touch of fabrics, of unforgettable colours, of frequently unreasonable shapes…
Fashion is expression and, in this exhibitions you discover that everything is related to fashion: art, culture, music, History, architecture, marketing… the need for changing the formula of the fashion shows may be possible, as Ana Dominguez, director of the ‘Fashion ladies’ digital platform explains to me, but any sector related event must not disappear, from her I was able to understand the importance of the fashion world and the need for this creativity overflowing to never cease.
A hug,
Maica Rivera