THE LISBON DIARIES

...romantic warriors

by Stefan Siegel
NOT JUST A LABEL was kindly invited by Moda Lisboa to attend this season’s local fashion week in Cascais, a picturesque seaside resort not far from Lisbon. Who would have known that Lisbon would be at the forefront of one of Fashion’s most promising cities? Well, to see it is to believe it and NOT JUST A LABEL, I must say, was highly impressed. In a well organised 4-day event, the Portuguese fashion scene celebrated itself: between amusing appearances of local celebrities, pompous cocktail and dinner parties, over 20 local designers presented their Spring/Summer 2009 collections. Even if the commercial feel was hard to miss, several designers pleasantly surprised us and demonstrated a mature collection ready for an international audience. The spirit of rising Portuguese talent was underlined by several young designers’ exhibitions like the Workstation or the InLoco Store, a support to showcase local and upcoming creative’s.

1ST DAY: Alexandra Moura: Beige and black worked like peas in a pod at Alexandra Moura’s show with a fanatic range of knitwear, stripes, diagonal buttons on men’s cardigans and the classic trench coat appeared in several occasions.

Alves. Gonçalves’s spoiled us for choice with dresses; a rock chick theme surfaced from red and white prints and one particular number which was a white fitted knee length dress, with cut out pieces on the shoulders. Gonçalves also experimented with various silhouettes, including a one shouldered black dress with large shapes of draped fabric going across the bodice. The show was sponsored by Cartier and Zanotti, spotted sitting front row were the crème de la crème of Cartier’s most loyal socialites.

2ND DAY: Pedro Pedro: Interesting textures, leather and quite an odd looking hat featured at Pedro Pedro’s show. The show also included captivating motifs on tailored jackets which brought a lot of excitement with mixed with geometric prints and figure hugging suits, perfectly suited for the working woman.

Ana Salazar: Known as one of important designers in Portugal, Ana Salazar brought forward a beautiful range of fabrics (particularly, satin) that were complimented by experimental shapes, simplicity and a few eccentric outfits!

3RD DAY: Katty Xiomara: Katty Xiomara’s bordered the line of feminine and masculine with floaty skirts and silk dresses combined with jumpsuits and tailored shorts with large pockets which, reminded me of a harlequin look with bowl hats and loose tulip shaped skirts.

White Tent: Probably one of the best shows, very simple white/blue/pastel-colour palette, use of modern fabric and transparent latex leggings worked wonders!

4TH DAY: Aleksandar Protich: Another one of our favourites and although the show was short it was by the far the most impressive. Protich’s use of skin tight leather trousers (one even pleated) floaty chiffon black dresses and draped nude pink dresses secured loosely at the waist captured a biker/rock chick theme.

Lara Torres: Origami shapes and fabric that appeared almost like paper certainly had our heads turning at Lara Torres’s show. With a colour palettes that was mainly dominated by white, the show was truly magnificent with cut out holes in the fabric that draped across and down on loose fitted dresses. The show was also quite theatrical with white powder dispersed around the model’s eyes, looked almost like masks.

Ricardo Dourado: Silver and white dresses trotted down the runway at Ricardo Dourado’s show, the collection’s screamed hot couture with large flower motifs that took up the whole front side of a pink nude numéro. In addition, billowing mutton sleeves and diaphanous chiffon shirts captured a romantic yet warrior like feel to Dourado’s show.