Photography: Tomás Monteiro
Community. For two years we have looked at this word in a different way, because it brings together so much in itself and represents so much. Together we are always stronger and together we look to the future with hope.
Prevented from being together, the community was the foundation of the last edition of ModaLisboa. Television, computer, app, tablet. These were the tools that united us with national fashion and allowed us to continue to celebrate the best of what is made in Portugal: as a community. For four days, the shows were reinvented and the catwalks came into our homes. And if fashion is a reflection of our times, the designers’ collections were mostly inspired by the strange times we have recently lived through. What we didn’t experience, what was left unsaid and unlived, what we most look forward to. All of this was transformed into items of clothing, footwear and accessories.
On the first day we had presentations from the Sangue Novo platform. After the first phase in September 2020 and selection in October, the competition finalists presented their collections at this show. Andreia Reimão, Ari Paiva, Arndes, Fora de Jogo and Rafael Ferreira took to the main catwalk. Fora de Jogo won the ModaLisboa prize in partnership with the Tintex Textil company: a financial prize and three weeks in the factory.
Ana Rita Sousa’s Arndes won the ModaLisboa prize in partnership with Polimoda, which includes a Polimoda Master in Fashion Design, or Polimoda Master in Collection Design, at Polimoda, as well as a financial prize. Finally, the ModaLisboa prize in partnership with MOCHE was awarded to Rafael Ferreira. This prize is not awarded by the jury, but by the public who vote directly via the app. The prize for this designer was a scholarship
This was followed by Béhen, by Joana Duarte, who presented the Quero-te Muito collection. “Desire is a golden story that carries the sounds of all legends. ‘Quero-te Muito’ is the fire that only dreams can ignite, lying on rich tapestry textures, experimenting with the limits of the possible, like the marbling made in partnership with the Ricardo Espírito Santo Foundation and the accessories that are born from the passion of CEAGAGÊ.” Ricardo Andrez closed the day.
The second day, filled with various conversations and discussions, kicked off with the Awaytomars show. This was followed by Unrequited by Carolina Machado. Filipe Augusto introduced Hibu. Nuno Baltazar closed the evening with Script. A collection inspired by the exploration of film, theatre and television scripts, in which the designer composes visual narratives that intersect the different layers of the character that is, in fact, his imagination. In a continuation, the designer presented a mix of materials, colours and silhouettes that contrast with each other.
On the third day Buzina opened hostilities with Cloud: the past is kept, the future is ours, after the virtual story sessions and talks and the Human Poetics presentation by Polimoda. The brand’s autumn/winter collection is “a point of reflection of a line of continuity that the brand has sought to follow. CLOUD is influenced by the ‘metropolitan baroque’ of Baixo-Minho, where Vera Fernandes, founder of the brand, was born and still works today.”
Also on the third day, the Portuguese footwear industry was featured with the presentation of the video Can an industry be an art form? For the 2021 Portuguese Shoes campaign, which was supported by the Compete 2020 Programme, APICCAPS invited Portuguese ballet dancers and models to star in a photo session by Frederico Martins. Images that commit us to the silence of a new beginning. Experienced, expressive, muscular bodies, accustomed to effort and pushing their limits, bending and stretching, folding and unfolding, opening to the arrival of spring.
Next up was Duarte, with the usual partnership with the footwear brand Exceed Shoe Thinkers, who presented Reef. This season, the designer travelled to *the Great Barrier Reef, to discover underwater cities full of life. In a cool and sporty style, among recycled and organic cottons, marine plastics recycled by the Seaqual Initiative, technological fabrics and coral shades, the designer invites you to dive into this colourful world and discover the beauty of what must be preserved.
This was followed by Constança Entrudo and then by her presentation at Paris Fashion Week. Then Valentim Quaresma presented Metaformosis. This designer has for a long time accustomed us to collections that reflect the theme of sustainability and harnessing. This season, Quaresma used “materials that alluded to cocoon wrappings, achieved through textile manipulation made with waste silk threads using a water-soluble film technique, referring to an imaginary transmutation, creating references to the protection and transformation of the human body through items inspired by exoskeletons.” The night ended with Carlos Gil and the Now Know collection, which talks about the words that gained another meaning with the pandemic: closeness, feeling and sharing.
The final day began with Aleksandar Protic and then João Magalhães, followed by Gonçalo Peixoto with his proposal for colder days. The designer opened the doors of “disco” and transported us to some of the most nostalgic feelings of that era. “The desire for touch and freedom are wrapped up in a vibrant and fun colour palette that makes us dance and sing our favourite songs.”
Luís Carvalho then presented Aurora, an ode to the aurora borealis, a light show that can be seen in the night skies of the northernmost parts of Earth. Ricardo Preto closed the presentations with Unfastened. The designer invited several artists to express their vision of the desire to escape freely in urban space. In collaboration with the artist Pedro Gomes, his urban landscapes were printed with a desire to bring the street into the house and the house into the street. Claudia Efe and Antonio Real added graffiti to the accessories and raincoats.
