Fashion Week Cibeles

“Hello Ladies! Please let me know if you are interested in attending a catwalk.  These are the options and let me know which you prefer and I can give you tickets.”

I don’t think that I could hit the reply button fast enough.  I was so excited.  I LOVE fashion and I LOVE catwalks!  I looked up all of the designers on Google and finally opted for the designers Maya Hansen and American Perez, mostly because of the Spanish workday schedule which as a norm is 9:00 AM to 14:00 then 16:00 to 19:00, making it a long day with two hours for lunch.

My friend replied that I needed to send over a mensajero.  I think that my mensajero got to her office at lightening speed because in only a matter of minutes, I had my lovely tickets to see the catwalks in hand.  She shoots me an email, “Boy, you have fast mensajeros.”  My reply, “They are scared of me.”  She replied that she’s not surprised.  I like things done well and in a jiff.  I was thrilled.

The past week has been Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week.  The Fashion World in Madrid has changed a bit due to the new norms and due to the fact that the catwalks are no longer in Cibeles.  Since 2006, every model that is to participate on the catwalk is required to weigh-in as Spain does not support models that starve themselves.  I think it is great because the models are still tall and lanky but they don’t look emaciated so you can actually imagine yourself in some of the designer clothes.

So yesterday, my Japanese friend and I went to IFEMA which is located a bit a tomar por culo.  In about a half hours time and two metro trains later, we arrived at IFEMA.  IFEMA is the trade fair grounds located in northern Madrid near the airport.  It was my first time there and although the grounds and the buildings are crisp and new, it looked like a metal shipping yard and it most definitely did not have the glamour that fashion calls for.

In the past when the pasarelas were in Cibeles, models could be spotted all over Madrid.  The chicest women in Spain would be dressed in their finest and almost everybody would catch the fever of trying to carry themselves in that model stature and wear the latest.  The publicity was everywhere.  This time around, I noticed that the shipping yard was full of young kids with the latest reddish-orange lipstick on, not the chic debonair like before.

We got on queue for the catwalk at about 18:30 and it was a long queue of about 150 eager fashionites which if you are familiar with Spain, there is never exactly a line, yet a mass of people bunched together in a sort of line with others cutting the line by casually mushing themselves into the queued – waiting on queues in Spain always makes me feel like just one of the cattle waiting to be pushed into the pen. 

“¿Alguien tiene entradas numeradas?” an usher rushes up and down the queue and asks the people.

I look at our tickets and much to my dismay; we didn’t have tickets with numbers on it.  All of my excitement vanished because I knew in that moment that we weren’t going to make it in to see the catwalks.

“¡No puede entrar más gente!” Yep, the usher confirmed what I already knew to be true; no more people were going to be allowed in, not that any of us with a general entrance ticket passed on through in the first place.

What a disappointment.    

Please notice the VELCRO for easy access

My friend and I decided to hacer una vuelta.  We decided that while we were there, we might as well make the best of the situation and take a walk around.  We opted to have a free Nespresso café and try on MBT anti-sex shoes, which I don't think will ever be making a home in my closet, as they are fugly even though my mom swears by them.

I think that the high light of the evening was meeting Guadalupe del Río who is a friend of one of my friends who is from Soria.  She is an up and coming designer and had some really cool pieces on display.  Her clothes can be purchased at a store called Speed & Bacon. 

The second highlight of the evening was heading back to the center on the metro and eating at a restaurant whose specialty is setas – I love mushrooms, not as much as fashion but I do love them!  We lucked out and got a table right by the window.  We had a tasty Bierzo to go with the setas.

Despite the fact that the Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week was a total disappointment, totally over-crowded with chavalas with red-orange lips, I will always be a fan of fashion and I will always make the best of any given situation and I will always end things on a good note.