MADRID — The numbers looked good, but vendors at Momad Metropolis said retailers were shopping for cheap.
The fourth edition of Momad, which ran in tandem with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid, drew 21,829 visitors, an increase of 3.4 percent over last February, according to IFEMA, the fair’s organizer.
“Compared to other European fairs, Madrid was good, not great, but better than Paris, for instance, which was horrible because nobody came. There’s a big difference between the north and south of Europe. Spain is going for really cheap brands. Spaniards want to consume, but they don’t have the money. The market here is recovering, but only for cheaper-priced merchandise,” said Alberto Rodríguez, general manager of Vilagallo, an upscale Madrid-based apparel producer.
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“The Spanish economy may be getting better but prices are not. To resonate with customers, you have to offer cheaper price points and discounts. Spain has become a low-cost market and in order to survive, we have moved toward a more international collection — or at least a less Spanish one,” he added.
With 150 points of sale in the U.K., its second-largest market after Spain, Vilagallo is currently finalizing a flagship location on London’s South Molton Street to open within the next three months, he confirmed, “and we’re exhibiting for the first time at Fashion Coterie in New York. We know the U.S. is a fickle market but it’s so professional, aggressive and competitive; we think we’re prepared for it.”
Momad was held in four halls of the Juan Carlos I fairgrounds here, and about 10 percent of the attendees were from outside Spain, including major buying groups from Portugal, France, Italy and the U.K. (an increase of 140 percent over the previous year) with additional buyers from the U.S. (up 7 percent), the Czech Republic, Ireland and Lithuania.
Established fashion labels such as Roberto Verino reported retailer interest from Russia, Belgium, Dubai and Lebanon. Momad was “a good show for us,” commented Linda Heras, Verino’s international development director. “There was a lot of interest in the fall collection because we are one of the few Spanish designers showing here and we offer medium to high quality at competitive prices.”
Momad’s multisector product mix — representing upwards of 1,200 brands and companies — featured midmarket apparel, footwear and accessories. The strongest categories were outerwear, including real and novelty furs, wool coats, jackets and parkas; dresses, separates and special-occasion items; handbags and shoes. For the first time, a group of 50 domestic footwear manufacturers including such high-end international brands as Castañer, Chie Mihara and Pretty Ballerinas took space at the show.
Meanwhile, at the 61st edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid, which ran Feb. 6 to 11, the Madrid-based label Alvarno by co-creative directors Arnaud Maillard and Alvaro Castejón, did it again: The duo bagged — for the second consecutive season — L’Oréal’s award for the week’s best collection. They sent out beautiful wool textures and velvety flocked fabrics for a three-dimensional effect, black and beige combos, luxury furs and material mixes like goat skin and Lurex. Plaid was all over the place for coats, dresses, skirts and scarves.
The Alvarno brand, founded in 2009, recently unveiled its first store on the Spanish capital’s tony Calle Hermosilla and in addition, Maillard and Castejón head up the design team for the Paris couture house Azzaro.
Desigual — Spain’s third-largest apparel producer after Inditex and Mango — started fashion week with signature graphics and a frenzied color scheme for girlish dresses and American Western-inspired separates including full, knee-hovering skirts. There was denim, patchwork, geometric patterns, stripes and black/white combinations in a collection designed by its in-house team and not by Christian Lacroix Studio. That one is more sophisticated — and strictly for New York.
With one of the week’s more coherent his/her statements for men mostly and a few women’s styles, Etxeberría looked to minimal silhouettes for an exclusive broad-banded stripe pattern in softly constructed boiled wool for boxy zip-front jackets and an above-the-ankle pant. Other leitmotifs included classic pinstripes and reversible coats, Persian lamb or dyed fox over cloth. Fall colors zeroed in on tobacco, black, gray and chocolate. One of Spain’s up-and-comers, Roberto Etxeberría took his bow in a flamboyant plaid jacket and matching jodhpur pants.
Spanish brand Ana Locking by Madrid designer Ana González has a lot to say for itself — and it’s never quite what one might think. “My clothes have a message,” she admits, also multiple elements of surprise and a certain saucy irreverence. For the coming season, the theme was The Great Imposters “and very Monica Vitti as a dissatisfied woman who dreams of being somebody else,” said Gonzalez, which translated into patchwork faux furs and chubbies, a rash of knee-length — and below — dresses and separates with split skirts, and one-piece dressing. Colors included copper, gray, turquoise, curry yellow and black for double-faced fabrics, a satiny crepe, mohair and cotton Neoprene.
Catalan designer Teresa Helbig referenced art in the Prado Museum, which meant she tapped into mainly dresses and separates including a midcalf length, a few coats and shorts in buttery napa leather and one-of-a-kind handworked fabrics peppered with jet beading, see-through details and sequins. Key colors were black and white and what program notes called Goya yellow and Verona green.
Fronting an artisanal company with a bespoke product range, Helbig sells by appointment only; she has no store. Seventy-five percent of her business is based on made-to-measure and 25 percent wholesale and bridal wear.
The brand continues to test export waters in the Middle East, Russia, Panama and London and last month signed with a public relations showroom in Los Angeles.
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada did an about-face. If there’s a word one doesn’t associate with the multifaceted Madrid designer, it’s minimal. But for fall, she’s never been closer to the concept. Casual separates turned up in splashy brights with hearts-and-flower motifs, but in general, the collection was less predictable and more mature, with a Seventies vibe and most important, toned-down volumes and controlled shaping.
Roberto Verino took a trip through the streets of London, where the veteran designer from the north of Spain came up with a wearable grouping of highly textured silhouettes including jackets and pencil skirts in navy/brown combinations with dyed fur stoles; tailored pants with sweaters and croc-stamped leather, and dressy plaids in silver or red with sequin appliqués.
There were 44 runway shows at Madrid Fashion Week including a trio from Portugal, the event’s guest country, and 11 newcomers.