Portugal Fashion Week Kicks Off at Lisbon’s New Cruise Terminal

The 42^nd Portugal Fashion Week kicked off on March 17, 2018, at the new Lisbon Cruise Terminal in the building designed by architect Carrilho da Graça. The event opened with Storytailors’ duo João Branco and Luís Sanchez, who promised not a traditional catwalk show, but a fashion show performance. Then, the event boasted a series of big names in Portuguese fashion: Alexandra Moura, Susana Bettencourt, Pedro Pedro, Alves/Gonçalves, Carlos Gil, and TM Collection by Teresa Martins.

From the charm of the River Tagus, Portugal Fashion will head to Parque da Cidade in Porto, with more than 200 acres of greenery stretching to the Atlantic Ocean. March 22 will be almost entirely devoted to young designers from the Bloom project, through which Portugal Fashion discovers, promotes, and supports new talents in the national fashion industry. The catwalk opens with the presentation of the coordinates of the eight finalists in the Bloom Competition. The winner of the competition will be announced at the end of the show.

Pedro Pedro

Also under the Bloom project, six young designers and one label will be putting on their shows throughout the afternoon and early evening. Bloom Intershow Music —a live DJ performance by DJ Kitten and White Haus — will be held at the same time as the fashion shows. The first day ends with the new collections for the cold season by Anabela Baldaque, Estelita Mendonça, and Júlio Torcato.

On March 23 and 24, a large part of the Fall-Winter 2018/19 program will take place with winter collections of well-known designers Diogo Miranda, Luís Buchinho, Luís Onofre, Micaela Oliveira, Miguel Vieira, Nuno Baltazar, and Katty Xiomara. Also of note are promising designers Carla Pontes, Hugo Costa, Inês Torcato, and David Catalán — the latter two making the move from the Bloom project to the main catwalk after their recent participation in the Altaroma calendar in Rome, with the support of Portugal Fashion.

The 42nd Portugal Fashion will also be promoting the ready-to-wear and footwear proposals from major national brands. In the clothing field, fashion shows by Ana Sousa, Concreto, Dielmar, Lion of Porches, Meam, and Pé de Chumbo are planned. As usual, the event program also includes a footwear fashion show, where the new collections by Ambitious, Fly London, J. Reinaldo, Nobrand, Rufel, and The Baron’s Cage will be revealed at the new Lisbon cruise port.

The Brand Up showroom event will take on a broader fashion concept, embracing not only designer fashion and ready-to-wear, but also footwear, jewelry, and lifestyle products. More than 60 brands from various sectors are expected to attend.

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Teresa Martins

In Porto, a real fashion city will be born in the largest urban park in the country, where a megastructure will be set up with capacity to host three fashion show spaces, backstage, showroom, various social and leisure areas, a press room, and more. Of the total area of 10,000 m2 (107,639 square feet) of the megastructure, 8,000 m2 (86,000 square feet) will be fully enclosed, and the structure will be composed of six different modules. The three catwalk areas are 1,000 m2 (10,763 square feet) each, comfortably accommodating about 1,000 spectators per show.

“In this Portugal Fashion, we will be following the organizational philosophy of the big international fashion shows such as the London, New York, and Paris fashion weeks, which favor holding the shows in large removable structures set up in nerve centers of the city,” explained Rafael Alves Rocha, Portugal Fashion’s communications director. “In our case, we want to take advantage of the potential of Parque da Cidade in Porto, a space with excellent conditions for the organization of events: size, comfort, good access, and a pleasant environment. In terms of comfort and functionality, for both those involved in the shows and also for our guests, it is a magnificent solution.”

Lisbon

“Portugal Fashion likes to innovate in its selection of venues for the fashion shows,” added Rocha. “This time we will build a real fashion city that will reinforce the promotional capacity, the aesthetic language and the authorial outlook of designers and labels. This is also the case in Lisbon, with the new Cruise Terminal chosen as the venue.”

^{Photos: Portugal Fashion (3), Turismo de Lisboa}