People in Spain by Ramiro E.

Ramiro E. is a Barcelona based photographer who became very popular at the beginning of the decade thanks to his editorials on Neo2 and his wonderful work with La Casita de Wendy, a Madrid based fashion label famous for dressing Björk with one of their designs and for being probably the first ones in doing a DIY campaign in Spain, pasting posters of their catalogue's images all over Malasaña, the Williamsburg of Madrid.

Such campaign was signed by Ramiro E.

Ramiro E. for La Casita de Wendy fall winter 0203

The photographer is now documenting the street style of Spain, Madrid and Barcelona mainly, and uploading the images in a photo blog called I Blog Ramiro E. hosted on YoDona's own website.

And what's YoDona? YoDona is the women's magazine of newspaper El Mundo.
What I like of this blog is the respect that Ramiro pays to his portraiteds, no mean comments here, which is a relief in a street style blog.

Other than that... I saw some of my students here, Claudia & Alberto!! That was sweet to see :)

Some People Call Me The Space Cowboy, Yeahhh

Last week there was a three days fashion exhibition at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.

Why such a short exhibition, I don't know, but those who attended said it was worth a look.

I couldn't attend the event because I knew about it once was over but my friend Maria went and took pictures and explained everything to me...

Jockey Underwear, inventor of the men's brief, was celebrating its 75 anniversary. For this memorable date Spanish fashion designer Carlos Díez Díez was called to design several pieces for them.

The exhibition was divided in three sections:

1_ A retrospective of the more significant pieces of the label, from an original linen shirt from 1790 till the Andy Warhol's brief that appear in the cover of Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers.

2_ The collaboration between Carlos Díez Díez with Jockey for this ocassion. (these are the pictures I'm showing from)

3_ Original underwear from Carlos Díez Díez... that is, underwear used for him. Some of them dated back to 1963.

It's really a shame i found out about the date of this exhibition so late!.

Photos: María Serret

Changing Room Winter 08_ If in Barcelona, don't miss it!

Another season, another Changing Room.
It takes place in Barcelona so I won't be able to attend, actually, i've never been there but i've heard really nice things about this event.

It's basically this; One hotel, Chic&Basic Barcelona. One day, December 13th. And 20 young Spanish designers along different rooms of the hotel selling their collections ...

comentrigo
la white
peseta
montse cañadas
juan vidal
barone baronne
intrepida mu
gemma degara
gonzalo cutrina
dora romero
gentz suarez
iris morata
juan vidal
isaacymanu
capricho de muñeca
just4fun .........

music, discounts and gooooood prices.
get ready for Chirstmas ! :)
Hopefully El Fashionista will attend and will tell us all. (She's from BCN>>>)

Karlota Laspalas

I met Karlota Laspalas during my job as fashion stylist for potipoti's AW 08-09 show during Pasarela Abierta in Murcia, Spain.

One day Karlota came to backstage to ask me for safety pins and we exchanged some words. Later I found out that she was one of the students who won the opportunity to show their graduate collections during Pasarela Abierta, being she the one who later won the special award to the best student collection.

Her designs surprised the audience and jury for their quality, and I still remember the long wait to talk to her after the show... that was A big line!

Say hello to Karlota Laspalas...


1.- Hi Karlota!. Let's start with a question that is wondering my head since I started to find out things about you... are you the same Karlota Laspalas that used to win awards on snowboard?
Yes, that's me. Well, life has different phases and that was a good one. I went to Barcelona to study and that meant rent, student bills... too many expenses to pay with a student's salary.

1.- Para empezar una pregunta que me viene comiendo la cabeza desde que empecé a averiguar cosas de ti... Eres la misma Karlota Laspalas del mundo snowboard?. Si es así, a que se debió este cambio de snow a moda? Aunque me imagino q seguiras haciendo snowboard...
Si la misma. Bueno, la vida son etapas y aquella fue una muy buena, llego el momento de venirme a Barcelona, piso, estudios...muchos gastos que cubrir con un pequeño sueldo de estudiante.



2.- One collection and innumerable awards. What are you enjoining the most in the present and are afraid the most in the future?
The truth is that I'm not having enough time to enjoy my present but the most rewarding thing is to see your efforts valuated, not only for the awards but also for the lovely welcome I find everywhere. In regards of my future, I have more respect than fear, although things are going on very well there's still a long way to walk.

2.- Una coleccion y millones de premios. Que es lo que más estas disfrutando de tu presente y lo que más miedo te da de tu futuro? La verdad que estoy teniendo poco tiempo para disfrutarlo pero lo mas gratificante es ver de alguna manera el esfuerzo recompensado, no solo por los premios sino por la buena acogida que me encuentro en los distintos lugares. Y respecto a mi futuro, mas que miedo tengo respeto, aunque las cosas estén saliendo muy bien aun me queda mucho camino por recorrer.


3.- Are you preparing your next collection or you're giving yourself a break to enjoy what's happening?
Right now I'm fully immerse in a possible participation in Modafad. Then i will work on a Madrid fashion competition, followed by Mittelmoda (where I was also selected for the Levi's Award and I will be showing two or three new designs). After that it comes Modorra in Bilbao and maybe then i will start to think in my next project...

3.- Estas preparando ya tu proxima coleccion o has decidido darte un respiro para disfrutar de las cosas buenas del momento? Ahora mismo estoy inmersa en una posible participación en Modafad, luego vendrá un certamen en Madrid, Mittelmoda, en el que también estoy seleccionada para el Levi´s award donde presentaré dos o tres nuevos estilismos. Después posiblemente participe en Modorra de Bilbao y tal vez entre tanto empezaré a pensar en mis próximos proyectos.




4.- What did it mean to you to be finalist of a prestigious fashion competition such Mittelmoda? How was the selection?
It wasn't that different from other contests. Through our fashion school they offered us to participate, so I prepared the long dossier you need to submit and sent it. It is very special to be in there because it is an international contest where they receive a great deal of works and being selected is already a great satsfaction.

4.- Que ha significado para ti el ser finalista del prestigioso premio Mittelmoda? Cómo fue la selección?
No ha sido muy diferente al proceso de selección de otros certámenes. A través de mi escuela nos propusieron la idea y simplemente, realicé el dossier extenso que se precisa para participar. Es muy especial porque es un certamen internacional al que se presentan un gran número de trabajos y estar entre lo seleccionados ya es una gran satisfacción.



5.- During these months of shows I guess you have had the chance of meeting fashion professionals whose work has been very inspiring to you. Who has been the person or people you keep a better memory of?
Yes, i have been very fortunate in that matter too, first for having as tutors for my project no other than Ismael and Sergio from Spastor, such a honor, and second for meeting all kind of people during the contests, people that has shared with me their own vision on fashion, from the jury of each contest to photographers as Javier Ferrer, Manuel Lozano, Juan Francisco Lopez... stylists as you or Analia Lanfranco, press journalists as Leticia Orúe or designers as Alberto from Sinpatrón, Pedro form Pedro y El Lobo, Silvia y Nando from potipoti, Jose Zambrano and Ibai Labega.

5.- Durante todos estos meses imagino que habras tenido la oportunidad de conocer profesionales de la moda de una calidad valiosisima. Quién ha sido la persona o personas a quienes más te ha sorprendido y placer te ha dado conocer?
Si, en eso también he sido muy afortunada, primero al tener como tutores de proyecto nada mas y nada menos que a Ismael y Sergio de Spastor, todo un honor, y después al encontrarme en los diferentes certámenes personas que me han aportado su visión sobre el sector, desde los jueces de cada certamen, pasando por fotógrafos como Javier Ferrer, Manuel Lozano, Juan Francisco Lopez, estilistas como tú y Analia Lanfranco, gente de medios como Leticia Orúe, hasta diseñadores como Alberto de Sinpatrón, Pedro de Pedro y el Lobo, Silvia y Nando de potipoti, Jose Zambrano e Ibai Labega.


6.- What's the difference between men's wear and women's?
For me none. My collection is unisex so I odn't see the difference between woman and man. The fact that I proposed men's wear in the contests is because I think that it could be a different proposal to what's the norm.

6.- Qué tiene la ropa de hombre que no tiene la de mujer?
Para mi nada diferente, mi colección es unisex y por tanto no veo diferencia entre mujer y hombre. El hecho de que haya presentado hombre en los certámenes es porque considero que podría ser una propuesta diferente a las que normalmente se presentan.



7.- Bla Bla Bla magazine with Klaudia Laspalas... Tell us about this project.
It's not exactly a project per se but some designs I created while studying fashion design. Then, thanks to Klaudia, I could collaborate with this magazine where I presented part of those designs.

7.- Bla Bla Bla magazine con Klaudia Laspalas... Hablame un poco de este proyecto. No se trata de un proyecto en concreto sino varios diseños creados durante mis estudios. Luego, gracias a klaudia, pude colaborar en este magazine haciendo una pequeña presentación sobre algunos de mis trabajos.




8.- If you could curate a fashion exhibition in a Contemporary Art Museum, what would you choose?
It could be an exhibition on international young designers. It is always interesting to know what new proposals are emerging in other countries.

8.- Si pudieras comisariar una exposicion de moda en algun museo de Arte Contemporaneo...
Podría ser una exposición sobre diseñadores noveles a nivel internacional. Siempre es interesante conocer que propuestas están emergiendo en otro lugares.

Pasarela Abierta photo album by potipoti

I've been looking for news on Pasarela Abierta since I came back from it but it's been hard to find anything even though the event was crowded with press.

It's a shame and a little frustrating the lack of press of it all, although some people is telling me we should wait till the print publications are out as they might speak about it. I want to publish my experiences in an American publication, but i will keep you updated about this.

In any case, today Silvia from potipoti has sent me an email; they are collaborating with online magazine Soitu and they just published the photo album of potipoti during Pasarela Abierta where you can see yours truly and other goodies... ;)

The images were taken by David Momyer and potipoti.

My hubby, me, Silvia (potipoti), Óscar and Gori from Gori de Palma

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Desde que volví de Pasarela Abierta he estado buscando información sobre ella en internet para publicar pero no he encontrado ni una sola mención, lo cual me ha sorprendido dada la cantidad de prensa que había allí.
Algunos me dicen que habrá que esperar a que salgan las publicaciones en papel y entonces tendremos la parte que nos toca. Por mi parte estoy esperando a llegar a NY para ver si publico mis experiencias en alguna publicación americana, ya os iré informando sobre ello.
De cualquier modo, esta mañana Silvia de potipoti me ha mandado el link de la revista online Soitu, para la que colaboran, y que acaban de publicar su album de fotos durante Pasarela Abierta. Las fotos fueron tomadas por David Momyer y los potipoti.
Un besito.

Just Back from Pasarela Abierta

First of all thanks so much for all your nice wishes on my trips!.

I got to Madrid a couple of hours ago after 4 days in Murcia working in Pasarela Abierta.

I'll post about it as soon as I get more images from it because I couldn't take much myself as I was running around all the time. Now I'm begging my friends to send me some... ^_^

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Lo primero de todo dar las gracias a todos aquellos que me han estado mandado los mejores deseos durante estas pequeñas vacaciones que me estoy dando!!.

Acabo de regresar de Murcia donde he trabajado en Pasarela Abierta.

Postearé en cuanto consiga fotos porque yo no pude hacer muchas ya que me pasaba el dia entero de aca para allá... aquí me tienes ahora pidiendo de rodillas unas foticos pa publicar... ^_^ un besote

Creative Squat

In the neighborhood of Malasaña in Madrid there's a pizza-shaped area that includes Ballesta and the streets around it. It is the "red neighborhood" of the city, a place where prostitution and crime was not something rare.

Till not too long ago, the area housed several brothels, an area that was also one of the most beautiful of Madrid because is located in the old part of the city, where places and houses are really old (some are centuries old) and full of history.

Now some of those brothels have been bought by Triball (Triangulo Ballesta.- Ballesta Triangle) and donated for a month, under the name "Okupación Creativa Ya" (Creative Squat Now), to different artists and designers to promote the culture and bring fresh air to the area.
A total of 13 locations, among them old brothels, a dry cleaner and a meat shop, has been transformed into art galleries and upcoming designers' stores. A project that will last until May 10th.

These are some images from the improvised opening party at Maxluz (C/ Puebla, 13. Madrid) the artistic space by Lujan, Letoy and 100.000 Luciérnagas.

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En el barrio de Malasaña en Madrid existe una zona que tiene forma de pizza y que incluye la calle Ballesta y alrededores. Esta zona digamos que es considerada el "barrio rojo" de la ciudad, donde prostitución y delincuencia eran el pan nuestro de cada día. De hecho, hasta no hace mucho, la zona albergaba unos cuantos prostíbulos y lugares de mala muerte, y esto en una de las zonas más impresionantes de la ciudad, en el Madrid de los Austrias, donde las casas y las calles tienen siglos de historia.

Ahora se quiere revitalizar la zona y sacarla un poco del estado en el que se encuentra. La inmobiliaria Triball (Triangulo Ballesta) ha comprado diversos locales, entre los que se incluyen antiguos prostíbulos, una carnicería y una tintorería, para la venta a artistas y diseñadores y así de esta forma traer aire fresco al barrio.
Durante un mes se han donado 13 locales a diferentes colectivos y diseñadores para que se haga lo que se quiera con ellos. La propuesta durará hasta el 10 de Mayo.

Estas imágenes son de la fiesta improvisdao que se montó en Maxluz (C/ Puebla, 13. Madrid) el espacio cedido a Lujan, Letoy y 100.000 Luciérnagas.

silvia from potipoti

Letoy toys

080 Barcelona

I think is wonderful and really inspiring that so many institutions in Spain promote young and upcoming designers through catwalks and fashion week-ends, but I also think that the fact that there's so many of them (Cibeles and Ego in Madrid, Pasarela Abierta in Murcia, 080 Barcelona in Barcelona...) is not helping too much the designers: press gets dizzy and poor (too many flights to catch), and ends up assisting only few shows. Energy scatters.
Unfortunately this fact can be read whether as an effort from the Spanish fashion industry to support young and upcoming designers or as a war among cities on which one gets the most press and buzz... you never know.
I won't be able to change much with my dissertation though, so here is a little selection of the designers that showed at 080 Barcelona not long ago (March 5-7), a really cool platform if truth is said. Collections AW 08-09
all images courtesy of Fashion from Spain.


Alberto Tous.

View bobble_bee_'s map

Taken in a place with no name (See more photos here)

Martin Lamothe.

View bobble_bee_'s map

Taken in a place with no name (See more photos here)

Material by Product.

Pelican Avenue.

Txell Miras.

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El hecho de que en España haya tantas ayudas institucionales a jóvenes diseñadores a traves de desfiles y fines-de-semana de la moda, es algo de lo que siempre me he sentido orgullosa, pero tambien, dicho sea de paso, no creo que tanta oferta (Cibeles y El Ego en Madrid, Pasarela Abierta en Murcia, 080 Barcelona en Barcelona...) esté ayudando mucho a los diseñadores porque al fín y al cabo lo que esta pasando es que la energía se esta dispersando, y con ella la prensa que al final acaba por cubrir solo algunos de los eventos, y no todos, porque se vuelve loca y no sabe cual es el más importante, aparte de lo que implica estar pagando vuelos, hoteles y demás.
El caso es que tampoco uno sabe muy bien si tanta ayuda es realmente ayuda o simplemente una manera más que tienen las comunidades de llevarse el pato al agua, esto es, de llevarse los laureles del "yo ayudo más que nadie a los jóvenes". No sé. Tampoco voy a cambiar mucho criticando así que pasemos a ver una pequenã selección de algunos de los diseñadores que desfilaron hace unos días en 080 Barcelona, que por cierto, ya que estamos, la selección fue inmejorable.

Pasarela Abierta

I've been invited by Spanish label Berlin-based potipoti to style their AW08-09 collection catwalk at Pasarela Abierta (April 18th and 19th) in the beautiful coastal town of Murcia.

This is such a beautiful thing that's happening because it's the first time i will style a catwalk and also for the fact that I'm coming back to my country after two years of being absentee.

Pasarela Abierta (Open Catwalk) was created in 2002 to support and give a platform to young designers that couldn't have access to the Spanish official catwalk, Cibeles.

Looking at past editions and the list of designers that's showing this year, I must admit that the selection and quality has really improved over the years. This competition has become a real window for really interesting designer, and I will be really excited to meet in personn people like Gori de Palma, Manuel Bolaño or Pedro y El Lobo, who I interviewed for bobble-bee in November 2007.

potipoti spadrilles. spring summer 08

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Silvia y Nando de potipoti me han invitado a que haga el estilismo de su colección otoño-invierno 08 09 que se presentará en la Pasarela Abierta de Murcia los dias 18 y 19 de Abril.

Estoy bastante emocionada con esta propuesta, en primer lugar porque nunca antes había hecho el estilismo de una pasarela y en segundo lugar porque hace ya más de dos añitos que no voy por España y ya iba siendo hora.

Pasarela Abierta nació en el 2002 con el afán de promocionar diseñadores emergentes que no tenian la oportunidad de
desfilar en Cibeles o Gaudí.

He estado viendo desfiles de pasadas ediciones y he de decir que la selección y calidad de los "concursantes" ha ido mejorando con los años y Pasarela Abierta se ha convertido en poco tiempo en una cita importante dentro del panorama de moda española. Y no quepo en mi de alegría de saber que voy a poder conocer en primera persona diseñadores de la talla de Gori de Palma, Manuel Bolaño o Pedro y el Lobo, a quien entrevisté no hace mucho para bobble-bee.

La Casita de Wendy

When in 2000 Björk wore a dress designed by Spanish duo La Casita de Wendy (Wendy's Little House) for different magazines (The Wire, Les Inrockuptibles) and events she probably wasn't conscious of how important a key she was being to make Inés and Iván, members of the label, to be known internationally. A fact that all of us, fans of the fashion duo, appreciate.
Since then their colorful collections has been seen all over the world, Tokyo, Athens, Paris or NY...

King of the Bongo is their SS: 08 collection, apologies if I'm featuring summer stuff but as it happened with Claudia Rosa Lukas' SS: 08 collection, I couldn't help but posting about it because it's beautiful (I can't take my eyes off those patterns) and fun and besides, what a great composition these images do to make Christmas tree postcards? :)




The other good new is that now we stylists in NY can get their clothing for photo shoots thanks to Angela at eL ShOwrOom as well as order their collections if you own a store.
>> In you would like to know more about them.. Filep Motwary's interview

Last But Not Least

It took me sometime to finish the publishing of this series my dear Angela Esteban Librero did of her very personal trip to Santiago de Compostela to enjoy noovo Festival, but here we have the last post and please do not hesitate to take a tour to the other "days" to really know what she is talking about ...

part I // part II // part III // part IV

My personal trip to Noovo Festival in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. (part V) THE END
by Angela Esteban Librero.

The night of day 3, Graham Tabor and I, presented the 3r issue of FLY to the festival.
It was nice because it was the first time I could actually see the issue. Fly #3 was beautiful as always.
My favorite video was an interview about the photographer Shirin Neshat.


* Day 4

Sunday November 4 was sadly the last day of the festival. At 12.30, there was a Presentation of ART NOTES Magazine which I couldn't attend because I had a little party the night before; Santiago, as surprising as it seems, has a lot of underground clubs and after parties going on...

The afternoon was really interesting. Starting with Henrik Vibskov's performance in the Monastery San Francisco. It was very impressive to see the models walking along a pink and blue catwalk which had bikes and music instruments. The instruments were playing thanks to some of the models that road those bikes.


Here a photo of Diane in the first raw, not missing one shot of the show! >>>

At 7:00 pm we went back to the tent to see the four Fashion Shows of International Designers in the Plaza de la Quintana. Starring one of my favorites: Peter Pilotto.

You already know the London based couple, Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos. They showed an elegant collection with interesting shapes, prints and colors. I need to get those tights!!

Peter Pilotto

Then the French designer Romain Kremer.
Half of his collection was Spring/Summer 2007, that was futuristic inspired, a lots of metallic fabrics and grommets. The other half was Spring/Summer 2008 with very interesting patterns.
The model that opened the show is a porn movie actor. Romain asked him to model the night before because he liked him so much...!!

Romain Kremer

Mikio Sakabe is a Japanese fashion designer who Graduated from Hogeschool Antwerpen.
He presented his Spring/Summer 2008, collection called Industrial Dolls.
This collection is much different from what he's done before, if you get the chance check his work out. He had the rest of the collection in Barcelona for the Mango Fashion Designer Award which will give 300.000 euros to the winner, one of the higher awards in fashion.

Mikio Sakabe

Bulgarian designer, Petar Petrov closed the festival. Please, check his S/S 08 collection. Miguel Villalobos had to model the runaway because only the very skinny models (that were just a few) could fit in his clothes!!

Petar Petrov

<<<> In backstage, I discovered the work of Finnish artist, Jarno Kettunen, he was in Santiago de Compostela for the NOOVO festival. Below are some of his drawings.
He made them there during the shows. Guess who is in the guy in black....

More backstage ...

Petar Petrov team // Graham Tabor with Romain Kremer

The closing party was good, we had some Keimada gallega which is a delicious burned and warm alcohol from Galicia.

Keimada // Miguel Villalobos and Diane Pernet


Peter Pilotto // Diane Pernet taking our photo from her room balcony, she is a queen! I love her....

Henrik Vibskov, Joseph Quartana from Seven NYC and on the right Mario Canal, director of Madriz Magazine and the Spanish WAD Magazine.

That was all. I hope you enjoyed the trip... Lets hope there will be a Noovo Festival Second Edition next year, I hope I will see you all there.

by Angela Esteban Librero