Barcelona Fashion Week: Cutting-Edge, International, Grandma-Inspired

Barcelona 080 fashion week is a bit of an oddity among the European fashion fests. The city has a long tradition of style—it’s famous for espadrilles, which even the Barcelona police used to wear—but classic looks aren’t part of the runway offerings here. The 13 Catalan designers who showed over the past three days each took different directions, but all bypassed the traditional suiting and classic womenswear. For its Spring ‘11 session, 080 Barcelona awarded €10,000 prizes to two local talents: Manuel Bolaño’s women’s collection, A Little About Me (pictured), was, he says, “inspired by my grandmother at her house in a country town.” Judging by the billowy jumpsuits, crochet lace body stockings, and layered skirts in rubber or metallic brocade, Gran was one very forward-thinking woman. In menswear, Catalonia’s rising star, Juan Antonio Ávalos, showed a collection called Tropical Knight, full of vivid color combinations such as red and pink. He managed to juxtapose medieval elements like coats of arms with seventies Cali surf-and-skate styles.

In addition to local talent, 080 Barcelona invited five rising stars from across the world to show here this season: India’s Manish Arora, Greece’s Yiorgos Eleftheriades, and three designers from South Korea: Juun.J, Songzio, and Lee Jean Youn, who won last year’s Mango Fashion Awards. “I’ve got two days here after this show, and that’s my summer vacation,” said Juun.J, who titled his Spring menswear collection “Flap” because the airy pieces make him think of birds’ wings. Eleftheriades took the occasion to show his draped women’s looks alongside a selection of his new menswear. And Arora managed to party till dawn every night and still wow the crowd with his Art Deco kaleidoscope pieces dripping with Indian beading and embroidery.

—Rebecca Voight