In this return to normality, the Bloom catwalk once again assumes a major role in the Portugal Fashion programme. On the 1st day of fashion shows, 13th October, it will be possible to discover the work of seven brands and designers that are emerging in Portuguese fashion. ARIEIV, AHCOR, Huarte, Marcelo Almiscarado, Maria Carlos Baptista, […]
In this return to normality, the Bloom catwalk once again assumes a major role in the Portugal Fashion programme. On the 1st day of fashion shows, 13th October, it will be possible to discover the work of seven brands and designers that are emerging in Portuguese fashion. ARIEIV, AHCOR, Huarte, Marcelo Almiscarado, Maria Carlos Baptista, Rita Ibs and Vítor Dias are the names that represent, in this edition, Portugal Fashion’s support to new generations of designers.
The first young designer to present his proposals is Vítor Dias, winner of the 1st edition of the Bloom Portugal Fashion by Famalicão Textile City Ecodesign Competition. As the name indicates, it was a competition that awarded new creators whose work revealed special environmental sensitivity and sustainable concerns. The competition was organised by Portugal Fashion together with the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão, with the support of CITEVE – Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal. The final prize was, precisely, the possibility of participating in the 49th Portugal Fashion, under the Bloom project.
Later, the Bloom Upload collective fashion show takes place, a platform that brings together designers at a very early stage of their careers. This time, the works of AHCOR, Huarte and Rita Ibs will be revealed.
This is followed by the fashion shows of the winners of the Bloom Contest powered by Sonae Fashion, Maria Carlos Baptista and Marcelo Almiscarado. With the support of Sonae Fashion, the Bloom Competition is open to young fashion designers, with a view to their professional training, public promotion and integration into the labour market.
The eight finalists of the competition are given the opportunity to present their creations at Portugal Fashion, which happened at the 47th edition of the event. The two winners each received 4,000 euros to develop collections for the autumn/winter and spring/summer seasons and present them at the 48th and 49th editions of Portugal Fashion, in March/April and October 2021.
The last Bloom show will be held by the ARIEIV brand, created by designer José Pinto in 2017.
OVER 10 YEARS OF BLOOM
Portugal Fashion has a long history of competitions aimed at young creators, since the Aliança Programme, launched in 2004. In fact, the discovery, support and promotion of new fashion talents is one of the main objectives of Portugal Fashion, which in October 2010, in its 27th edition, created the Bloom project for this purpose. Since then, Bloom has enabled around 100 young designers and brands and nearly 200 students from nine fashion schools to present their collections.
Some bloomers have participated in international fashion shows and showrooms with the support of Portugal Fashion or its complementary commercial project, the Next Step, thus marking their presence in important fashion fairs in London, Paris, Milan, Vienna, Copenhagen, Rome or Madrid, for example.
Moreover, there is no shortage of examples of young designers who, after their apprenticeship at Bloom, consolidated their careers and today feature prominently in the main Portugal Fashion calendar. These are the cases of David Catalán, Estelita Mendonça, Hugo Costa, Inês Torcato and Susana Bettencourt, who are joined, for the first time in this 49th edition, by the Unflower brand and the young designer Carolina Sobral.
