Fashion industry wears Porto’s DNA again

The hustle and bustle have returned to the corridors of Alfândega do Porto. The city has been wearing autumn/winter trends, created by young and renowned names in national fashion. In the 50th Edition, Portugal Fashion chooses the colors of maturity, optimism, and economic and social importance.

Being a production assistant, hairdresser or makeup artist at a fashion show is always having a bunch of hair clips in your pocket, your fingers wide open to hold several pencils and brushes and even a can of hairspray always ready. All this seconds before any model enters the catwalk.

It is these quick and coordinated details that, in the eyes of the public, make the production of Portugal Fashion look simple. And, at the 50th edition, it almost is.

At least for Susana Bettencourt. After starting to sew dresses for the dolls, making exclusive pieces for Lady Gaga and having taken her knitwear to Paris Fashion Week, the designer returns to Portugal Fashion with “security and maturity”. “We no longer get carried away by fantasy or madness, and this ends up showing in our collections and even in the backstage environment”, she confesses, assuming that “we are already prepared for everything to go wrong and we have a solution anyway”.

With a collection inspired “by the DNA tables, by our fingerprint”, the designer sought “the expression through colors in search of the identity of each of us” to present at the event in Porto. “It’s incredible, we already have the bug and really missed having a show”, confesses, happy with the return of the public, with whom the show gains another meaning and a purpose”.

Upbeat focus on the fashion business

For the director of Portugal Fashion, this event always wants to go beyond the catwalk. “Editions with round numbers like this always makes us think about what the focus, the strategy is, especially in a context as challenging as the current one”, shares Mónica Neto.

Highlighting the importance of the return of the international delegations and the networking moments that the easing of restrictions allows, the director of Portugal Fashion hopes that, “at the end of these four intense days, which are intense, there will be many results” for the fashion business.

Happy with the audience’s comeback, but with her eyes already on what could come from the political and economic context that lies ahead, Mónica Neto believes that “there is a great sense of resilience, of optimism, because what we have been doing, especially in partnership with the industry, is very strong and has a huge competitive capacity here at an international level”. Therefore, she reinforces, “we maintain optimism”.

The biggest fashion show and an economic and social cornerstone

After a first experience, as a result of the partnership established with Afreximbank, an investment bank committed to the dissemination of the African creative and cultural economy, Portugal Fashion’s catwalk lights up again for the creation of 20 designers from Africa.

The president of Associação Nacional de Jovens Empresários (ANJE), responsible for Portugal Fashion, believes that this “is one of the great partnerships we have made”. “These designers come looking for an industry and, therefore, we are also revitalizing fashion and supporting the Portuguese industrialists”, highlights Alexandre Meireles.

The head of ANJE admits that having “the public back en masse” at the shows “is anything else”, after two years of working under strict conditions, but always “helping our designers, creating online platforms for them to sell”.

“We will continue with to innovate to react to adversity and have Portugal Fashion as the biggest Portuguese fashion show”, guarantees Alexandre Meireles, reinforcing the certainty that “it makes no sense to have Portugal Fashion without the city of Porto. It is a project of the utmost importance, both economically and socially, for the city and for the entire region”.

With the support of Porto City Hall every year, Portugal Fashion is a project under the responsibility of ANJE, co-financed by Portugal 2020, within the scope of Compete 2020 – Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalização, with funds from the European Union, through the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional.

The 50th Edition of Portugal Fashion lighted up the catwalk, Saturday night, with shows by Luís Onofre and the duo Alves/Gonçalves.