Hot on the heels of the solo designer show yesterday morning, last night at Casino Maltese 12 young designers exhibited their work and new collections to the public. Great fashion show modelled by supernovamodels,com, hair by Elaine Galea, Krista Paris and Eva Garden and some really lovely hairstyles (fishtails!) by Dreads Salon.
First out on the catwalk was Edith and she opened with quite a bang...there were lots of lovely pieces and I especially liked the feather details, but of course the most impressive piece was the black dress with a gold leaf cape modelled by Sarah Bonaci and WOW ...this is one stunning piece.
Next was Gremar, a more established designer who has been working as a designer for a few years now, the pieces are lovely and quite exquisite, lovely lace pieces with intricate jewelled details and some lovely dresses made using some type of Serbian 3D technique that gave quite an elaborate effect.
Up next was Marta Gomez Vidal and this collection was quite interesting - aztec patterns, bright colours combined with leather harnesses and some lovely bags. I liked this designer's use of colour and different patterns.
The next designer was menswear, if I'm not wrong this is the first time in the Malta Fashion Week that a new designer has presented a menswear collection. Marco Parascandalo was a lot of people's favourite, his ready-to-wear street inspired pieces are fun, trendy and highly wearable...love the shorts and slogan t-shirts...think he must think about womenswear next.
Churpina - has a very bubbly, eclectic image and that was really reflected in her clothes. They were some very interesting designs and some really nice colour and pattern combinations.
Fransina and her lovely handmade bags was next. I love bags so it comes as no surprise that this was one of my favourite collections, I'm a sucker for a beautiful bag and these had lovely details like wooden handles, slouchy soft material, these have definitely been added to my shopping list.
Mosca really impressed me, her collection was absolutely superb...the material used is wonderful - there were slinky dresses and tops, leather bags with different textures. These pieces felt very 'finished' for want of a better word and of a very high quality. They didn't feel in any way experimental, they are the sort of pieces you would expect to find in a showroom of an established designer.
Lukka had some really lovely dresses and skirts, I loved the main plum colour and the floral pattern. There was a dress in particular with puffy sleeves that I really, really loved.
Taia - Mandy and Alicia's floral themed collection had very nice tailoring - the pieces fit very well and each piece had a good sense of body proportions. They also paid a great deal of attention to the little details like using different materials for buttons and different textures in one piece. My particular favourites were a flouncy skirt that I really fell in love with and a pair of printed, leather boots.
Celeste
This girl is not new to Malta Fashion Week or fashion design and she presented a great collection with a variety of different items, her collection was inspired by the five stages of grief that follow death.
Poshet!
These bags are fun and interesting with a nice dose of quirkiness, a nice handbag always excites me.
Rosemarie Abela was most definitely last but not least....this was some serious brilliant designing work, inspired by Asia and the ancient Samurais - Rosemarie spared no effort or expense. From the exquisite choice of fabrics (lots of silk and lovely knit) to the interesting, unique designs and surreal accessories, I was really impressed, this is one talented girl.
In the past years, I must admit this show was never one of the highlights former, whilst there were always one or two really god designers, few really presented something a bit special worthy of a fashion week and some felt a bit drab and of poor quality. This year I was so please to see how the standard has really shot up and all the designers put in a great deal of effort - thumbs up to all
