MADRID — Spanish designers are having a rough time. Plagued by ongoing recessionary worries and apathetic industry support, Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week turned out a pretty lukewarm product.
“It’s been a bad year; God only knows where I found the strength to finish the collection,” said Carlos Díez, whose off-beat label featured one-piece dressing and flippy summer separates in tropical colors and white with such quirky touches as fringe made from shoelaces and paper wigs.
The Madrid-based designer, who collaborates with Converse and Jockey and, at one time, the now-defunct jeans brand Lois, said he was “desperately” looking for a manufacturer. “I can’t do it alone. In times of crisis, fabrics at 200 euros [$267 at current exchange] per meter are not an option. On the other hand, I could have fallen off the radar here like Carmen March.” The talented Mallorca-born designer shuttered her business including two Madrid stores last spring.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
Held Sept. 17 to 22 in the Madrid fairgrounds, Cibeles featured 50 designers and 44 runway shows (similar to the February edition) alongside a group of young talents whose one-off items were on sale to the public.
The runway offering was eclectic but just about everybody referenced the Seventies with high-waisted flared pants, a plethora of ladylike dresses, a little macramé, novelty knits, all-in-one rompers and jumpsuits, girlish beach separates, and swimwear with a retro feel. Continuing trends included asymmetric and wrapped treatments, some transparencies, and white and black, not necessarily together.
The six-day event drew a limited international crowd. Retailers — reportedly from Mexico, Turkey and Latvia — and about 30 fashion editors from the U.S., Mexico South America and Western and Eastern Europe were invited by the Ministry of Commerce’s Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade.
Cibeles’ official budget remains around $4.5 million, sources confirmed. Standout collections included:
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada: Whatever you think of her fashion pranks and bubble-gum colors, she is a runaway success story here with upcoming catwalk shows planned for Vienna, Uzbekistan, Bucharest and Sri Lanka. In New York, she’s moved retail locations from Wooster Street (Diane von Furstenberg took over the location) to a larger store on Greenwich Street with a 750-square-foot selling space designed by Karim Rashid. In Cibeles, she sent out checkerboard patterns, hearts galore on waistless dresses, bloomers, belts, sunglasses and heels, and a flashy full-skirted sequined ballgown in silver and fuchsia.
Adolfo Dominguez: Easy men’s wear pieces in rumpled linen and knitwear is what the iconic brand did best. The women’s line, designed this season by Dominguez’s 24-year-old daughter, Tiziana, came up with some pure-lined dresses and separates with slits, spacey knit pieces and demure knee-hovering lengths based on the Seventies and Gaudi’s modernist architecture. With 600 stores in 33 countries, Dominguez is poised to launch a 21,500-square-foot megastore with five levels, an art gallery and a vegan cafe on Calle Serrano, Madrid’s main — and newly renovated — shopping artery.
Andres Sardá: Traditionally one of Cibeles’ most stylish shows, this season is an homage to Helmut Newton, “meaning seduction rather than sex,” clarified Nuria Sardá, designer and daughter of the founder. The Barcelona brand’s core classifications, swimwear and lingerie, opted for high-rise silhouettes, cutouts, garter belts, loads of black, a luscious pale pink and metal breast plates.
Roberto Verino: A combination of disco chick and Goth, the collection featured a coherent inter-seasonal grouping of short baby-doll dresses in tulle and chiffon; wide high-rise pants in textured raffia with leather jackets and duster coats; animal prints, and a generous sprinkling of jet beads, feathers and Swarovski Elements.
Sita Murt: The Barcelona-based knitwear specialist kicked off with cable-stitched mini-shorts followed by knit tops, cardigans and rompers in chalky white, mint and grass green. With 1,900 domestic sales points and 20 stores in Spain, Murt is hot on the expansion trail. Last May she opened her first international flagship in Paris’ Marais district.
TCN: The Barcelona label referenced Brigitte Bardot in a crowd-pleasing collection full of bikinis, bandeau tops and retro-styled swimwear in sophisticated florals.