080 BARCELONA FASHION SPRING-SUMMER 2009
BARCELONA, September 4, 2008 /FR/ – Women at a funeral, close-ups on silhouettes and faces clad in black, crosses of granite, black lace pinned on the black coats with big needles forming a cross over the heart. The coffin is covered with earth and the widows can start their mourning. These were the filmed pictures in black and white screened on the walls of 080 Barcelona Fashion, as the first runway show by Manuel Bolaño was opening to a soundtrack by British composer Michael Nyman –made famous among other works for the music in Peter Greenaway’s ‘The Draughtman’s Contract”.
Exit after exit, Manuel Bolaño has shown that you could be 24 years old and already an achieved designer who can really compete on the international scene and take the runway by storm. The young designer’s widows each had a story rooted deep down in her, which could be sensed through her look, expressing glimpses of it, full of mystery and contradiction.
Suddenly one could wonder about black lace; traditionally used to veil the face, its connotations are also linked to sensuality, lingerie and sexuality aren’t they? This mixture of sorrow and discovery of a new phase in a woman’s life was investigated in many ways by this designer born in the Spanish region of Galicia and who has based his inspiration on 19th century widows on the tradition of Northern Spain and the stories and garments and accessories details that his grandmother has been telling him about.
The result is splendid, with a wardrobe that can easily be worn of course on many a special occasion, embroidered with black crystals and often made of black English embroidery, of traditional crochet work from Manuel Bolaño’s original region. Proportions are fantastic in these designs, the amount of layers of chiffon for instance used in the final dress just strikes the right note, creating volume where it is needed to enhance the silhouette, but letting the shape of a thigh appear when its wearer walks.
Extremely well tailored coats can also easily be worn everyday in Manuel Manuel Bolaño’s pieces, once they are deprived of the accessories for the catwalk. Only just remember if you buy one and wear one –which is certainly something to pertinently think about once these garments will reach the stores- each piece here was conceived with a story behind… of course there is the story of the widow full of sorrow, but also the gossip that went around town for this other one who is said to have actually murdered her husband, for instance, or the tale about this third one who, after years of marriage had discovered that she really was ;ore at ease with other women than with men… invent one story for yourself and become a new woman, just like a widow, whose mourning process also helps redefine her true self.
JEAN PAUL CAUVIN
