Opening Max&Co Barcelona Flagship Store

To see and to be seen. That was the main concern of most of the fashionistas, it-girls, models, photographers, bloggers and designers who attended the opening of the brand new flag store in Barcelona of Max&Co, the young fashion brand from Max Mara company, last Thursday April, 11.

Invited by my long-time friend Tatel Velásquez from TrendyCrew, there I went not knowing what to expect really. The first impression was good. A two storeys store, with a retro and well-cared decoration, colorful outfits, mirrors everywhere and elegant waiters carrying healthy fresh fruit juices and cava.

View from the stairs

The store is full of mirrors and lively colors

Not knowing much about the brand, I enjoyed the color spectrum and feminine style of the designs hanging around the store. Simple, but well-cared of, a collection made to enhance a woman’s figure with a retro yet fresh touch.

Pale pink is in vogue this spring/ summer

Showing some heel

However, as the time passed by and Barcelona’s beautiful people started to show up, it became obvious to me that no one was really interested in the displayed goods. It was a matter of showing leg, heels, Hermès bags, colorful hats and so on.

Hello, Hermès bag!

And then I realised how lucky I am, not living under the fashion tyranny. Of course I like fashion and trends (who lives unaffected by them?) but it would never occur to me to wear something so that others could recognise the brand or designer behind it.

Fashion is fun, and a way to express one’s personality, but I believe I wear what I like, not what I want others to see on me.

What do you think? Am I wrong to think I have more freedom just because I don’t take fashion and my day to day outfit too seriously?

Shibuya vs Barcelona fashion event

This past Friday I went with some friends to a fashion event organised by website Lelook and fashion brands Onitsuka Tiger and Maryluis. The dress code was pretty original “Shibuya vs Barcelona” so I knew there were going to be interesting looks at the luxurious OMM Hotel basement bar.

It was obviously hard to decide what to wear for such an occasion, I asked my friend Tatel from trendycrew.com, who was in charge of getting the street style looks of the night, but she wasn’t so sure about it either ( or so she said as she’s always perfect on any occasion).

When we got there, it was as expected. The line that divides wearing an original outfit with personality and wearing a disguise was easily crossed by some of the attendees.

Moreover, knowing that there was a coolhunter in charge of selecting the best looks for a fashion catwalk, which got free make-up and hair-styling services pushed some of the fashionistas eager to draw attention to wear pretty much extreme looks. Well just judge for yourself, here’s a collection of some of the best looks of the night!

Monitsuka Tiger models

Photographer Sebas Romero and Onitsuka tiger model

Make up artists at Hotel OMM

The fashion jury

What to wear?

The way we dress is a covering letter, depending on our skills choosing the proper outfit we can assure a good first impression… and we all know you never get a second chance to cause a good first impression.
Barcelona’s design museum DHUB has organised an exhibition called What to wear? dealing with the concept of dressing as a part of building our identity. The exhibition includes around 50 pieces from the Maria Brillas endowment, all of them created by one of the finest 20th century Spanish designers Pedro Rodríguez.

The museum decided to make the visit as participative as possible including a series of activities in parallel of the exhibition. A social media campaign  was launched asking users about their fashion dilemmas when choosing an outfit and last week a vintage cocktail was organised at the museum demanding a vintage etiquette. As usual you can check my Flickr gallery of the event:

A good example of how a good use of online and offline campaigns are able to, not only boost the number of visits by providing a wider notoriety, but also make the experience of the exhibition much more participative and enjoyable.

The Brandery – Barcelona Fitting Room 2011

The 5th edition of  Fitting Room, a designers and artists exposition, took place on July 14th in B-hotel in Barcelona. During this event, that belongs to The Brandery salon, every brand or artist decorated a room to display their creations. Fashion and jewelery designers, painters, shoe makers, all of them tried to create their own world and express the originality of their work. You can see some examples below:

More than the jewels and clothes, I especially enjoyed the decorations and home-made food and sweets that some artists had prepared for the event. It is a much more welcoming way to interact with their work than visiting their shop.

Before leaving I took a look at Lil Collection‘s catwalk introducing its new Curaçao Collection, you can check the pictures on my Flickr.