Every season, Portugal Fashion offers the platform for young designers, Bloom, to present eight potential new designers. Showing at Concurso Bloom is the first step for graduating designers to start their career, as they present their collection to the audience of Portugal Fashion. Out of the eight designers, four winners are selected to become part of Bloom, and hence receive advice and mentoring from Miguel Flor and his team. As a result, the four winners will present their collection in Portugal Fashion’s Bloom for two years.
This season, the four selected designers were Amorphous, Inês Maia, Sara Marques and David Catalan.
Amorphous is a label created by Carla Alves and presented the “M001 Cesura” collection. The looks all evoked a sensible issue occurring in some cultures, that is female genital mutilation. When some women are lucky to have fought for their rights and won, some others still struggle to be heard.
Inês Maia, who likes to combine design and photography, showed a collection entitled “Schadenfeuer” (hostile fire). The looks were linked to a music, Mein Herz Brennt, to illustrate the idea of a journey where the end is unknown, and where the journey itself cannot be dictated, like a huge fire.
Sara Marques was inspired by tennis in the 1920s, and more precisely by Suzanne Lenglen, whose way of playing sparked excitement in the crowds. Strong on the court and sophisticated personality were the basis for Sara’s looks. She mixed these with colours taken from artist Jurak Kralik and his “tennising” technique where a tennis player would hit painted tennis balls on a canvas.
David Catalan based his collection on 1970s’ Suedehead subculture that appeared in London. His looks draw the link between how men and women’s garments were similar at that time, and today’s unisex trend.
The other designers that took part in this Bloom competition were Beatriz Bettencourt, FII, KDI and Patricia Shim.
Beatriz Bettencourt presented her collection “Morphogenesis” that represented the microorganisms in our bodies, with the aim to promote self-awareness.
FII is a label by Filipa Fonseca, who presented her “Kunoichi” collection with mix and match ninja garments.
KDI, by Diana Quintal and Inês Gonçalves, showed “2+1_Unlike” collection that was based on 20th century “Cadavre Exquis”, by playing with scale and individual elements working as wholes.
Patricia Shim competed with her “Blindness” collection, illustrating the eyes and the process of going blind.
Der Beitrag CONCURSO BLOOM | Portugal Fashion Autumn/Winter 2016 erschien zuerst auf SUPERIOR MAGAZINE.