25/10/2019

Young designers and fashion students shine at the Bloom platform

The first day of fashion shows in Porto, on 19 October, was entirely devoted to the young designers from Bloom, a platform for promoting new talents that once again has its own calendar and exclusive venue. There were ten Bloom fashion shows at the Tram Museum, with the proposals from eight young designers and 12 […]

The first day of fashion shows in Porto, on 19 October, was entirely devoted to the young designers from Bloom, a platform for promoting new talents that once again has its own calendar and exclusive venue. There were ten Bloom fashion shows at the Tram Museum, with the proposals from eight young designers and 12 students from six fashion schools (two per course). For the second time running, Bloom’s fashion production and coordination is in the capable hands of designer Paulo Cravo.

At this 41st event, Portugal Fashion reinforced the participation of schools and courses specialising in fashion in its calendar of fashion shows. The regulars, Porto Fashion School, MODATEX and ESAD – Matosinhos Higher Institute of Art and Design, were this time be joined by students from the Universidade de Lisboa Faculty of Architecture Fashion Design course, CENATEX (Guimarães) and the Higher Institute of Applied Arts from the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco.

“It’s very important not only to give students the opportunity to present their creations in public, but also to contribute to their training, giving them unparalleled professional experience at a big fashion event. This is why we were very interested in and happy to bring the number of participating schools up to six”, the President of ANJE, Adelino Costa Matos, pointed out. He also said that “these six schools give Bloom a wider geographic scope, not limiting it to schools in the Greater Porto area”.

This was the 15th Bloom event, a Portugal Fashion project dedicated to discovering and promoting young fashion designers. This time, the event’s most irreverent catwalk presented collections by Maria Kobrock, Joana Braga, David Catalán, Inês Torcato, Olimpia Davide, Beatriz Bettencourt, Nycole and Sara Maia. These young designers have been at Bloom before and some of them are already beginning to make a name for themselves in national fashion.

The fashion performances by the Bloomers will be accompanied by electronic music played by DJs, in order to create a markedly urban atmosphere. The Bloom Intershow Music will feature Arrogance Arrogance – Ácida, Jackie – Thug Unicorn + Grrrl Riot and Sequin DJ Set.

 “The Bloom project plays a vital role in the emergence of new designers, contributing to generational renovation of Portuguese fashion, the professional integration of young designers and attracting talent to the clothing industry”, Adelino Costa Matos added. “Therefore, following on from the successful experiences in the last two events, we have once again set aside one day of Portugal Fashion solely for the Bloom fashion shows. The quality, modernity and sophistication of the collections by the young designers are more than enough reason for this autonomy from the main catwalk.”

More than 40 young designers supported by Bloom

The Bloom project was created by Portugal Fashion in October 2010, at the 27th event, in order to support, publicise and promote young Portuguese designers nationally and internationally.

Since that first edition in 2010, the Bloom project already made possible to present the collections of 41 young designers and seven brands of new fashion creators. Some of these young Bloom designers have participated in international fashion shows and showrooms with the support of Portugal Fashion, or its complementary commercial project, Next Step, and have been present at important fashion events in London, Paris, Milan, Vienna, Copenhagen and Madrid.

Carla Pontes, Estelita Mendonça, Hugo Costa and Susana Bettencourt are examples of young designers who, following their participation in the Bloom project, have consolidated their careers and are now on the main Portugal Fashion calendar. They have also taken part in several international fashion events with the endorsement of Portugal Fashion.
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