Not to be outdone by it’s northern contemporary, Barcelona, Madrid also holds it’s own huge wedding fashion-fest each year. Madrid has long been synonymous with European fashion, and while the offerings at Barcelona Bridal Week may be more geared towards a commercial audience, The Pasarela de Novios at the Puerto de Europa Exhibition would not have dissapointed even the most hardcore fashionista.
Highlights:
The collections were shown off well on the circular catwalk, allowing the dresses to be seen from all angles.
Well known Spanish designer, Agatha Ruiz, (for Prada) expressed herself artistically with creations featuring cut out flower and heart motifs. Draped in organza and ribbons and topped off with large bows, her models looked more like wedding presents than brides. I will give her brownie points for designing wedding dresses with pockets though. (It’s about time someone did!)
Agustin Torralbo’s rich colours and pleated fabrics had a sensual air of oppulence and if any of these dresses were chosen for your bridesmaids you can guarantee that they won’t spend the rest of their lives stashed in a hidden wardrobe.
Dresses by Anna Torres were delicate and ephereal, in light fabrics such as muslin, silk and lace, though the collection didn’t seem to have a cohesive focus.
Themes from the Barcelona Bridal week, such as feathers and greek styles were taken a step further by native Madrileño Dyos. This was the designer’s first foray into designing wedding dreses, and the collection seemed a bit hit or miss, with some designs looking polished and couture, while others just seemed clumsy.
Gracia Galindo’s ‘champagne’ gold dresses offered a welcome variation on the traditional white, while other dresses had a flamenco flair in their front slit skirts and ruffled hems and sleeves.
Isabel Zapardiez showed her flair and passion for tailoring, with some truly stunning and unique cuts.
There were more empire waists and fluid lines from Javier Larrainzar.
Maria Alegre took the feather fashion fad to the extreme, by having some of her models hold live hawks. Even this couldn’t distract from her beautiful, bold prints and elaborately embroided gowns.
Martin PerezRippoll threw caution to the wind, and showed skin in short skirts and sheer fabrics.
Although several of Mercedes Alonso’s gowns could have had her arrested for colour abuse, her silver and white wedding dresses were some of the nicest from the whole exhibition, with glittering beadwork and lace.
Novissima has been trying to breath life and energy back into it’s stale brand, and while the dresses on show were nice they showed no where near the same artisic flair and daring sense of fashion that the other designers possessed.
Petro Valverde displayed dresses that were more structured than most other collections, and offered a refreshing change from the free flowing draped fabrics of the Greco-Roman inspiriation.
That´s all folks! Hopefully the length of this post gives you some idea as to why it took me a bit longer than I’d expecting to get it finished. The next few will be bite-sized, I promise!