Charo Izquierdo with her background in communication and a large experience working in the fashion media is the new director of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid.
IFEMA, the institution behind Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid appointed recently Charo Izquierdo new director of this event showcasing the best in Spanish Fashion. This appointment comes as no surprise if we consider this vibrant woman’s experience in the area of communication and fashion. Holding a degree in Information Sciences by the Complutense Univeristy of Madrid she started working as journalist in 1980 at Junia GyJ magazine and four years after took on the role of chief editor of this magazine. After the turn of the 1980’s and until now she took a number of positions in renowned fashion magazines in Spain, having been in charge of launching the first fashion supplement ever distributed in Spain with a magazine: Yo Dona for the newspaper el Mundo. Yo Dona has close ties with Madrid Fashion Week: this event kicks off and is usually preceded by a big Yo Dona party attended by the organisation of the event, designers and journalists and covers the event via a daily free magazine providing insights and helpful information for both the audience and the media. Grazia, the first weekly fashion magazine to be launched in Spain, and Elle Spain relied also on the work of Charo at the helm, along with a number of publications where the new head of Madrid Fashion Week played a relevant role. Charo Izquierdo replaces Leonor Pérez-Pita, better known as Cuca Solana, the woman who was the head of this event since its creation back in 1985. This event previously known as Pasarela Cibeles relied on this woman’s guidance since the beginning and those who are familiar with the event surely retain the image of this woman with the quiet look and gentle walk attending each and every show and walking each designer afterwards to the social area. She had obviously also her word as regards new designers that would later show their work at Madrid Fashion Week. Her work in fashion dates back to the 1980’s when she held a position of deputy director of the New Designers department at the Galerias Preciados, a huge department store that was located right in the centre of Madrid. Cuca Solana will remain linked to Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid as president of its Fashion Committee, a body formed by a group of experts providing advice in a number of management issues. As for Charo Izquierdo she is already preparing the coming edition scheduled for 17 to 21 February 2017 as new director. It will be her task to keep the show running in an event showing on average collections by 42 Spanish designers. We are curious to see what changes will be operated in an event that has often been criticised for both the location away from the city centre and for not having a bigger international projection and whether she will fight a certain tendency in Spain, a large country that often and because of it keeps too much to itself.
Carlos Tomé Sousa
