For the first time ever, FTA has teamed up with Inexmoda and ProColombia to create a special category for guest country Colombia. This unique ready-to-wear prize provides young designers with international exposure to new markets, while bridging the fashion and creative worlds of Latin America and the MENA region.
Colombian designers Alejandro González and Andrés Restrepo launched Alado in 2013. Conceived as a dialogue between art and fashion, the womenswear label shimmers with complex structures that tell ancient stories, and pieces that reflect arduous molding work and silhouette development. Both subtle and romantic, Alado clothes stand out for their emphasis on exquisite baroque details. Alejandro and Andrés hail from the fashion-forward Colombian city of Medellin.
Agustín Nicolás Rivero’s label, A New Cross, is handcrafted in Colombia. Driven by the idea that garments should essentially function as a living space – one that comforts and protects – Agustín merges his South American heritage with a minimalist ethos when imagining his designs. His clothes – for women, men and unisex – celebrate diversity and freedom of identity. The Colombian designer also supports fair working conditions, ensuring that his garments are always ethically produced, while espousing rural and urban community values.
Self-trained, Bogotá-based designer Laura Laurens looks to her background in fine arts when she’s creating new designs. She launched her eponymous brand in 2014 with the idea of reinterpreting upcycled military fabrics as a metaphor to reassemble Colombia’s polarized territory. In 2018, she was chosen by Vogue Talents to represent Latin America in Milan Fashion Week, and in 2019 Deutsche Welle identified her as one of 40 female leaders transforming Latin America through creativity.
Through her brand Priah, Colombian fashion designer Juanita García celebrates the work of female artisans who managed to preserve their ancestral art of crochet, a technique that could have disappeared in the face of rapid industrialization. The clothes designed by Juanita are then handmade with ethical practices in the Colombian mountains of Boyacá. Priah’s new Ruana collection reinterprets the traditional South American poncho into a fashion-forward, sustainably made must-have that exudes contemporary flair.
