The 2016 edition of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week kicks off with the catwalk shows of 21 Spanish and international labels between 26 and 29 April in Hall 8 of Fira de Barcelona's Montjuïc exhibition centre in Barcelona. This is followed, from 29 April to 1 May, by the professional trade fair, featuring the creations of over 260 brands, half of them international, from 17 countries, especially the United Kingdom, the United States and France, filling the entire exhibition space with their collections of wedding dresses, grooms' attire, ceremony dresses and accessories for the 2017 season.
Rosa Clará kicks off the catwalk show
which for four days will host the shows of a
total of 21 firms, presenting not only
bridal gowns but also evening wear and
ceremony dresses. Among the designers who
are only showing wedding dresses this year
is Pronovias, which is responsible for
closing this year's catwalk show; Rosa
Clará; Jesús Peiró; Cristina Tamborero;
YolanCris; Inmaculada García; Marylise &
Rembo Styling; Israeli designer Galia Lahav;
US designer Justin Alexander; French firm
Cymbeline and Ramón Sanjurjo, who is
appearing at the show for the first time
with his creations for grooms.
Isabel Zapardiez, Isabel Avendaño and
the Canary Island firm M&M will be
showing wedding dresses as well as evening
and occasion wear, perfect for wedding
guests or for any other event that calls for
an especially stylish outfit. This is also
the case of Indian-American designer Naeem
Khan, whose catwalk show will showcase his
latest bridal and evening wear collections
as part of ‘Barcelona Bridal Night', which
brings together key players in the sector
and the specialist media in Hall 8 of the
Montjuïc Exhibition Centre. Meanwhile,
Isabel Sanchís, Ana Torres, Matilde Cano,
Carla Ruiz and Sonia Peña will be presenting
their evening and occasion wear outfits on
the catwalk.
According to Estermaria Laruccia, the
director of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week:
‘It's a huge pleasure for us to be hosting
such important firms from the bridal
universe, who will be presenting wedding and
party dresses that are sometimes genuine
works of art, the result of the artisan
expertise and profound technical knowledge
of these great designers'.
A huge range of products in the
trade fair
The show is reaffirming its European
leadership with the presentation of the
latest products from 260 exhibitors, a 13%
increase on the previous year. International
participation has also grown: this year,
foreign brands account for 58% of the total,
some eight points higher than in 2015, from
a total of 17 countries. These firms, along
with the big Spanish brand names, will be
showing their collections of bridal wear,
ceremony dresses and accessories at the
fair, adding up to a total of over 20,000
items.
In view of this huge offering, as well
as the thousands of trade visitors expected,
the event is looking forward to welcoming
around 400 foreign buyers who were contacted
directly by BBFW through its ‘Special Guest
Program' to attract international buyers
with high purchasing power to the show.
According to forecasts, this year the number
of key buyers is expected to double compared
to last year, with a particular emphasis on
buyers from the USA, Germany, the UK, France
and Italy, the aim being to consolidate the
US and European markets.
According to the show's president, Marta
Raich: 'Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week is a
platform with global resonance and a unique
occasion for both national and international
producers to showcase their creations. It is
also an outstanding promotional tool for the
values that make up the DNA of ‘Made in
Spain' bridal fashions: quality, design,
craftsmanship, hard work and a passion for
fashion.'
Barcelona Wedding Summit, the
sector's new forum for debate
The trade fair also includes a range of
events being organised around the city in
relation to the bridal fashion world. Once
of these is the ‘Barcelona Bridal Summit', a
series of seminars organised by the
publishing house Wedding Media International
and BBFW, which bring together business
owners and trade professionals from the
sector at Caixaforum on 25 April to discuss
the main challenges and transformations in
the bridal fashion industry in Spain and
internationally.
The presentations will be kicked off by
José Luis Nueno, a fashion industry expert
and IESE professor with a PhD from Harvard,
who will talk on the results of the survey
entitled ‘Millennial Brides: Born in the
1980s, Getting Married Today', commissioned
by the show. The survey presents the latest
economic data on the sector in Spain and
worldwide as well as a forecast of how sales
will progress in the next few years. It also
includes an analysis of the most popular
trends with ‘Millennial' brides and grooms –
i.e. those born between 1980 and 2000 – who
are now both current and potential customers
of the bridal fashion sector.
Other speakers include Luis Lara, senior
advisor at KPMG, where he head up the
fashion division; Manuel Ródenas, the
manager for sales, marketing and
international expansion at Raimon Bundó;
Marta Raich, the president of BBFW and
director of Novia d'Art; Pepe García and
Lucía del Portillo from CuldeSac, and event
organiser Toni Seguí, amongst others. The
inaugural address of this first edition of
the Barcelona Wedding Summit will be given
by Joan Aregio, the Secretary of Business
and Competitiveness at the Catalan
Government, along with Rosa Oliva, the
director of WMI, and Estermaria Laruccia,
the director of BBFW.
Edition jornalist Jussara Maria Pires de Moura
Images and videos courtesy of organisation
Edition jornalist Jussara Maria Pires de Moura
Images and videos courtesy of organisation
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