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PORTUGAL Fashion Week Fall 2022/3: Viva Vivacious Colour!
Olé Tactile Textures, Olá Ingenious Patterning! You’re Invited to a Festa of Feisty Fabulousness .

All Image Credit Portugal Fashion Week, Portugal Fashion on Facebook and Participating Designers

Strategic daisies – at Marcelo Almiscarado

Portugal Fashion Week celebrated 50 years of feisty fashion with an impressive 30 designers showing their collections live on the runway. It was HOT with new talent, the energy was palpable, the enthusiasm unstoppable! And if there’s one trend that was overriding at this Autumn Winter 2022/3 fashion week, it was COLOUR! Colours were unapologetic, they were bright, they were everywhere – as if designers had enough of the past couple of years’ inoffensive loungewear for cosying up in the privacy of one’s own home! It was a refreshing affair, to say the least, the addition of the presence of a contingent of African designers – who never shy away from colour added to the va va voom! It was an ode to parties and dinners outdoors, to days at the Mediterranean and evening celebrations at rooftop restaurants and city cafes.

The Alfândega do Porto, with its stunningly scenic views of the Douro River and the hills of Lisbon, hosted this event once again. Apart from the live shows there were discussions, showrooms and launches, and parties! All events were very well attended – no empty seats to be found anywhere!

There was an epic fashion trail throughout the city, with catwalks in places other than the Alfândega such as Diogo Miranda’s runway, the Ernest W Baker’s installation at the Ateneu Comercial do Porto and the inauguration of the exhibition Portugal Pop, A Moda em Portugues 1970-2020 at the Casa do Design in Matosinhos. Here at least 40 sensational designers shaping the history of fashion in Portugal were strutting their stuff. To boot, to visitors and locals alike, the city of Lisbon looked spectacular from the vantage point of all these scenic portals.

‘Incubator platform’ Bloom once again promoted young design talent such as David Catalán, Estelita Mendonça, Hugo Costa, Inês Torcato, Susana Bettencourt, Unflower and the young designer Carolina Sobral. Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) focused on promoting African designers, 8 of which were represented at Portugal Fashion Week. There were forums dedicated to jewellery and footwear, bags and leather goods with shows by Luís Onofre, amongst others. Fashion schools took to the opportunity to showcase the work of their students and promote fashion education in Portugal, all to an impressively high standard. Hair and beauty wizards created their own fantastic sideshows to the main events.

We’ve struggled to contain the collection of goodies in this article – the talent was so inspiring and vast it was an almost impossible task to single out just a few. Join us for a snapshot of this hugely inspiring fashion week.

VIVA VIVACIOUS COLOUR!

Colour, delicious colour, was the signature of this Autumn Winter 2022/3 fashion bonanza. Colours were vibrant and unashamedly vivid – from brightest primaries – reds, blues, greens, yellows … to neons of all shades and saturated ‘off-shades’ like chartreuse, lavender, poison green and petrol blue. If one was to single out one shade that popped up in many places, it was ORANGE! From peach melba to tangerine and rust, life-giving, warm, optimistic, extroverted and flamboyant shades of orange were the stars of the show. Colour blocking and the combining of unusual colour palettes (e.g. red and green which should ‘never be seen!’) worked very well, as did the quirky combination of red and pink as seen in various collections.

Colour, colour and more colour!

Red, fuchsia and burgundy, a winning combination – at Judy Sanderson

A teal safari jacket with tangerine trousers – at Judy Sanderson

Jacaranda blossom purple – at Bello Edu

Acqua and black – at Carolina Sobral

Burnt orange in this collection – at The Ladymakerlive

Treble red velvet – at Judy Sanderson

Orange, the colour of the season juxtaposed with cobalt blue – at Hugo Costa

Poison greed mixed with bottle green and black – at Ahcor

Red and pink – always a winner

Tangerine, yet another shade of orange – at Nopin

‘Red and green are never to be seen’ – not! At Kateryna Samoilen

Slate grey and wax blue with a pussybow! – at David Catalan

Lettuce green bags and bottle green frocks

Crafty prints in blue and lemon- at Abiola Olusola

Volume n this avant-garde pillar box red corset – at Kateryna Samoilen

OLE TACTILE TEXTURE!

Texture provided the tactile and crafty element that was so prevalent in Portugal Fashion Week 2022/3 for Fall. Knitwear and crocheted pieces adorned many of the collections, as did macramé, patchwork and embroidery, to fabulous effect. These hand-crafted specialities gave pieces a sense of individuality and a touch of the hand-made. Many collections had a decidedly ‘slow-fashion’ feel to them, often thanks to the exquisite textured details that embellished either entire garments or strategic parts thereof. Fused lace effects, bold fabric weaving, origami folding techniques, faux fur, bubble padding and even metallic knitting were seen in the offerings – all extremely inspiring and inviting to the touch!

A Crocheted ensemblesin sea green – at Marcelo Almiscarado

A striking crocheted ballgown – at Mariajo Aoo

Fused lace in ecru – at Chumbo Foot

Origami folds in a host of shades – at Mariajo Aoo

A chartreuse crocheted dress – at Mariajo Aoo

Faux fur/hair – at Mariacarlos X Inesmanuel

Delicate lace – at Andreia Remao

Jacquard weaving creates a fabulous textile texture in this belted-midriff top

Leather and faux fur – at Nuno Miguel Ramoz

Padded patchwork is exceedingly striking in this cut-out bodysuit – at Matilde Ramos

Patchwork and hand-painting techniques create wonderful surface textures – at (Re)West

Tweed, knits and lace criss-crossing – at Carolina Duran, Leonardo Moura, Mafalga Fidalgo

Seventies-style knits and shapes – at Susana Bettencourt

Knits create exquisite textures – at Susana Bettencourt

Fused lace and oversized woven fabric strips create texture

A bobble-weave Fifties-style top -at Kreyann’

OLE SURFACE PATTERNS!

From tie-dyed ‘cow patterns’ to classic leopard print, from tartan to plaid, from polka dots to stripes, textile surfaces were vibrant, youthful and characterful – a far cry from the somewhat stayed ‘mature’ and mostly black collections we’ve seen in previous fashion capitals this season! Interesting looks came about with designers boldly mixing different prints, or mixing prints with weaves in ‘clashing’ and non-traditional combinations. Leather insets created unique pieces with memorable surface patterns. Equally, ingenious patchwork inlays made many of the garments into one-off heirlooms, as did the creative application of oversized lettering and overt branding.

Tie-dye and sheer chiffon – at Victor Day

A mix of uncanny partners – floral lace and snowflake weave – at Ahcor

Two-tone black and white always looks fresh – at April & Alex

Stripes and cubes – at Nopin

‘Cow’ print cotton looks very modern – at Victor Day

Leather insets make for a very unique end-product – at Darya Fesenko

Snowflakes and striking make-up – at Ahcor

A babydoll plaid gown in shades of orange – at Daniela Antunes

Classic leopard print -at Sophia Kah

Frilly tartan and new-age make-up – at Ahcor

Plaid patchwork in orange and rust shades – at The Ladymaker

Oversized lettering and logos – at Miguel Venue

Take you pick of shoes to match your stripy dress!

Print on print: cow print works well on this coat – at Alexandra Moura

MALLEABLE METALLICS

Shimmery shine never quite loses its everlasting allure and in Portugal Fashion Week Fall 2022/3 metallics came in all shades – from silver and gold to rust and chocolate, teal and petrol blue, and they were sizzlingly hot! Even leather and faux leather got the metallics treatment – to fabulous effect – and some ensembles featured a double or treble dose of metallics. The ingenious combination of woven woollens or knits with metallics offered very interesting contrasts.

Bottle green metallic leather mixed with an unusual shade of blue – at Estelite Mendon

Rusty metallics in these dresses – at Katty Xiomara

A metallic leather bolero with voluminous sleeve – at Katty Xiomara

A metallic-knit choker – at Bello Edu

Sleek metallic shimmer – at Davii

Treble silver metallics – at David Catalan

Padded chocolate metallics in this waistcoat – at Alves & Concalves

CLASSIC (BUT WITH A TWIST)

The classic certainly got a good dose of the avant-garde from various designers. Classic sportwear got cropped, chopped, deconstructed and elongated, classic tailoring got quirky additions, asymmetry and slashes for effect. Classic British tailoring featured in many of the collections, but oftentimes these were modified by these forward-thinking designers to take on novel shapes.

Leather – but not as you know it – at Mariacarlos X Inesmanuel

Sportswear chopped and cropped for effect – at Estelite Mendon

A classic off-white coat is worn over a slashed leotard and low-slung leggings – at Kateryna Samoilen

A classic trench gets a rounded front – at Huarte

A classic safari catsuit gets sleeveless – at Huarte

A pirate coat gets laced up

A medieval-style babydoll dress in … black! – at Bello Edu

Classic drapes and slashing in ice blue – at Miranda God

A scarf and a headband update this classic navy suit – at Miguel Venue

A strappy top gets worn over a classic coat – at Alexandra Moura

A necklace replaces the classic shirt – at Miguel Venue

We’ll leave you with a last look, one that sums up the festive spirit at these Fall 2022/3 collections: a bit of texture, some surface embellishments, scalloped edges, padding, plaid, tartan and innovative hair and beauty, COLOUR, COLOUR, COLOUR!

Adeus, goodbye until next time!