Lisbon Fashion Week celebrates its October edition under the motto Luz (Light) on a new venue, this time in the heart of one of Lisbon’s most beautiful parks thus shining again a light through fashion on iconic places and buildings in the Portuguese capital.

Twenty three fashion shows by both Portuguese designers and brands and a pop-up store offering national products mark the October edition of Moda Lisboa as the Lisbon Fashion Week is better known, the name of the association in charge of this event since 1991. Pavilion Carlos Lopes on Parque Eduardo VII is the new venue for the shows that start on Friday 6 with Patrick de Padua, a designer who focus on menswear with a twist for club nights and laidback days. The show goes on with Duarte, followed by Sangue Novo where new talents will show their designs, followed by Lidija Kolovrat who combines her fine art of print with garments with avant-garde attitude, the very same avant-garde penchant that is there in the jewels designed by Valentim Quaresma who follows next and who, after decades focusing mostly on metal has been betting recently on different materials. The first day ends with Ricardo Preto known for his  fine tailoring for men and women.

Saturday kicks off with Imauve + Carolina Machado followed by David Ferreira, the designer famed for his extravaganza on the catwalk and who caught the eye of Björk, the Icelandic gnome who wore one his dresses at a concert in London in 2016. Awaytomars show is scheduled for 4.30 P.M. where you will be given the opportunity to see the result of the joint work of this project that gathers creative minds from all over the world. Nuno Gama comes next, one of the most renowned menswear designers in the country and who cleverly combines his fine tailoring with national imagery for contemporary men. After this star of menswear comes Aleksandar Protic who sure knows how to design relaxed but elegant garments for women. Come October temperatures are usually still high for the beachwear of Brazilian brand Cia. Maritima. Ricardo Andrez comes next with his elegant and modern interpretations of menswear that have conquered the heats and mind in Spain where he was awarded both prizes and showed his collections before becoming a regular presence at Moda Lisboa. Christophe Sauvat comes after with his garments that attract a growing boho audience. Day two ends with Dino Alves, a designer famous for his regular work in the area of performing arts dressing a myriad of artists for number of shows, events and the lot.

Day three begins with Morecco followed by Nair Xavier x Diniz Cruz where we will be given the opportunity to see what has changed in Nair’s work considering her work with the brand Dielmar where she improved her tailoring skills. Around 4 P.M. shoes take centre stage with the show by shoe brand Eureka, a brand known for regularly inviting Portuguese designers to develop shoes for its stores and which offers great designs at affordable prices. Shows continue with Olga Noronha, followed by Nadir Tati and later with Luis Carvalho who focused on the 70/80’s new wave last season. The show by menswear store Mustra precedes the show by Filipe Faísca the designer who masters the fine art of making women look extremely sexy with his designs.

In-between shows Wonder Room gives you the opportunity to see and buy Portuguese design from men’s grooming by Antiga Barbearia de Bairro, shirts with a vintage touch by Daniela Ponto Final or groovy bags by Fluo just to name a few.

Carlos Tomé Sousa

A tradição ainda é o que era e nos tempos que correm ainda se vai ao barbeiro… e ainda se oferecem calendários.

A marca Antiga Barbearia de Bairro, a agência de modelos Central Models e o estúdio Flying Studios juntaram esforços e lançaram um calendário que reproduz o imaginário das barbearias com a ajuda de alguns actores e modelos mais conhecidos do País. O resultado são doze fotos brilhantes, uma para cada mês. Este calendário foi apresentado no dia 12 de Dezembro no Purista Barbiére em Lisboa e contou com a presença de grande parte dos intervenientes nesta grande produção, nomes como Raquel Prates, Virgílio Castelo, Paulo Pires, Adelaide Sousa, Francisco Cipriano, Astrid Werding, Fernando Luis e Joana Aguiar entre outros. A ideia de lançar um calendário deste tipo surgiu à mesa de um café numa conversa entre três amigos que se juntaram e cujos percursos profissionais acabariam por agilizar a produção deste calendário. “O olhar atento para as antigas barbearias nos bairros típicos portugueses, tem sido o mote de inspiração para o recuperar de hábitos e produtos meio adormecidos no tempo”, afirma Luis Pereira, fundador da Antiga Barbearia de Bairro, marca 100% portuguesa que há uma década vem lançado toda uma serie de produtos em Portugal e no estrangeiro, que remetem para os aromas das barbearias e cujo packaging se inspirou nas formas e cores dos bairros típicos de Lisboa e do Porto. “Depois do pincel, creme e sabão de barba chegou a vez do Calendário, que sempre vimos pendurado nas nossas barbearias, ter também o nosso olhar”, afirma. São várias as barbearias representadas nestes calendários, escolhidas a dedo como o cenário para as produções que ilustram cada mês. Tó Romano, director da Central Models, a mais antiga agência de modelos do país e um homem dado a estas coisas que recuperar o que é bonito e tradicional sem desviar os olhos do futuro, é outra das caras à frente deste projecto que retoma a tradição dos Calendários da Central. “Este projeto primou pelo entusiasmo geral de todos quantos nele participaram, pelo sentir da relação entre Imagem / Tempo / Beleza e pela importância que a esta atribuo de sabermos caminhar para o futuro com o melhor do nosso passado”, disse. Tudo isto não seria possível sem a preciosa colaboração dos modelos e actores que aceitaram prontamente o convite para darem a sua cara e corpo a este verdadeiro manifesto, ajudados por uma equipa liderada por Ricardo Santos dos Flying Studios, para o qual “este projecto está cheio de desafios que, com uma linguagem despretensiosa, ajudámos a realizar. Uma experiência única, que transformámos em oportunidade.”

Carlos Tomé Sousa

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