BARCELONA, Jul 27, 2008/FW/— From September 3rd to 5th, the second edition of “080 Barcelona Fashion” will present the work of 30 designers in the capital city of Catalonia (Spain) for the Spring-Summer 2009 collections.
In a press conference organized in Barcelona on July 16th, Emili Valdero has announced , on behalf of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia’s local governing body), that the catwalk schedule planned for September would consist of 17 designers’ shows, of which 11 are native from or established in Catalonia, 3 guest foreign designers – Petar Petrov, David Steinhorst, and a retrospective show by the house of Lutz- , as well as 2 invited national Spanish companies, Estrella Archs and Alberto Tous.
The runway shows will take place at Pavilion 8 at Fira Barcelona this season. On top of the presentations on the catwalk, the same pavilion will host a showroom where more than 15 designers are to introduce their collections to press and buyers. A program of parallel activities also features an exhibition on the designer Miriam Ocariz.
Sponsored this season by Volkswagen, among other companies, “080 Barcelona Fashion” is an original initiative backed by the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council which aims at providing a platform on which to promote independent designers who work from an experimental and innovative perspective.
This project is part of the 2007-2010 Fashion Dynamisation Plan, promoted by the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, to contribute to the dynamisation of the textile industry. Commited to independent design and to linking creativity and enterprise seems oarticularly pertinent in a region which provides the majority of the textile needs in the country of Spain. But making Barcelona a world reference for fashion – with links to Paris, New York and London – is alos on the agenda, as the aim is clearly the internationalization of Catalan fashion.
The 11 Catalan designers have been selected by an international jury from a total of 23 aspiring companies. Here is the list of theCatalan designers who will show on the runway in September in Barcelona, backed by “080 Barcelona Fashion” : Teresa Helbig, Martin Lamothe, EBP, OSCARLEON, Zazo & Brull, Txell Miras, Gori de Palma and Bambi by Laura. Three young designers emerging from tne Bresols Project are particularly expected, as they could represent a surprise in a particularly lively edition of the Catalan fashion week: Andrea Llosa, Manuel Bolaño and Nerea Lurgain.
[JEAN PAUL CAUVIN]
