The Interview: Marta Coco, 080 Barcelona Fashion Week

There’s been much talk recently about the relevance of fashion shows and, subsequently, fashion weeks. With many brands questioning the expense, time and effort these showcases take, it is prescient for them to work harder and justify their existence.

There was a time, not that long ago, when fashion weeks were a lot like cocktail hour: there was one happening around the globe at any given point in time.

Cities saw their own fashion week as a self-elevation and promotion to help their domestic fashion industry as well as tourism and the overall perception of the city. Smaller fashion weeks sprung up, hoping to emulate their big city rivals, in a calendar already squeezed for time.

“080 Barcelona Fashion”, now in its 23rd edition under the “080” - the city’s telephone code - moniker is being realistic about its ambitions and the new need to promote talent from emerging countries. For the first time, Barcelona Fashion Week threw open its catwalks to designers outside the domestic Catalan market, and looked to international designers from Colombia, China, South Africa and Turkey to provide new points of view for #AW19.

Marta Coco, Project Manager for 080 Barcelona, this is her first fashion week in charge, and responsible for the fashion department for 9 years, says: ”The fashion week is paid for by both private and public funds. The majority of funds, 70% come from the public, Generalitat through the Trade, Crafts and Fashion Consortium (CCAM) and 30% from sponsors, designers and other collaborations.

“The scope mainly is to focus and promoting on three areas - trade, crafts and fashion. We hope to promote crafts and creativity in general. The main objective is promotion.”

Situated in the north-western part of Barcelona, looking down on Gaudi’s magnificent Sagrada Familia, and housed in the masterpiece of a restored art-nouveau hospital - Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau – 080 Barcelona Fashion is in the perfect environs to highlight its creative credentials. But, can cities really afford to put on these frivolous and lavish displays in a time of increasing government cuts and austerity?

“It puts Barcelona into international fashion minds”, says Coco. “We’re not Paris or Milan, but we’re going the right direction. It gives Barcelona, as a city, recognition.”

“Fashion accounts for approximately 7.5% of GDP, including retail.” says Coco. “There are 4,500 manufacturing companies in the domestic fashion business, and 15,000 companies, if you include retailers, employing 60,000 people.” she says.

Catalonia has a long history of textiles and leather working industries. “Fashion is a reflection of this historic background.” says Coco.

“In 2005, (when “080 Barcelona Fashion” started, they had been previous incarnations since the 1980s) many textile companies were dying or were in crisis. People were moving to China and the largest ones couldn’t compete. Companies needed to readapt and rethink their strategies,” says Coco.

“Today, the largest companies are fast-fashion retailers, like Mango. We’re also very big in bridal with companies like Pronovias and Rosa Clará.” she says.

The recent AW19 edition, held last week, of the 080 Barcelona Fashion Week calendar had 30 designers showing, with an additional 20-30 exhibiting in the showroom and, also, 20-30 in the pop gallery. Over the week, they had over 40,000 visitors, with unique numbers around 20,000.

“The city council would like the fashion week to open to citizens, but my personal interest is to focus on buyers and fashion, lifestyle and beauty press. I am dedicated to the professionals. The other side comes by itself,” says Coco.

For the first time, 080 Barcelona Fashion Week is hosting international designers such as Polite (Colombia), Esaú Yori (China), Chulaap by Chu Suwannapha (South Africa) and Umit Benan (Turkey/France).

Umit Benan, previously head of Trussardi and a feature on the Parisian men’s calendar, mentioned his desire to step out from the main carousel of New York to Paris fashion weeks and that he feels that these satellite fashion weeks allows his message and brand to have more impact. He previously showed at Tokyo Fashion Week before being invited to Barcelona.

“If we want to be more international we need to offer global content, not just Catalonian. We said let’s not set an exact quantity, but look to designers who add something to our offer here. We’ve looked to emerging countries for a new perspective of fashion. They were chosen, together with XXL, my international PR agency, and it’s who excites me, and designers and contacts it would be good to have here.” says Coco.

080 Barcelona Fashion Week is carving a niche within the fashion calendar, hoping to offer a stepping stone for international talent on a bedrock of Catalan talent like Antonio Miro, Brain & Beast and Custo Barcelona.

“It’s impossible to compete with other fashion weeks, so we have to find our own niche. I would like Barcelona to be a good platform for talented designers coming into Europe; more about emerging talent than super-established designers,” says Coco.

“I would like a more open vision of fashion, where they can present the whole universe of the brand. Not just catwalks, but maybe present a capsule in a film, a performance, a happening or work with a video maker. We have Sónar here, a filmmaker cluster, and we’re strong in audio and visuals.” she says. “There are many other creative industries in Catalonia and fashion isn’t integrated with them at the moment. We cannot grow, grow, grow, doing shows, shows, shows!” says Coco.

While the established fashion weeks may look slightly snobbishly down on these smaller fashion weeks, it is their more relaxed and supportive approach which will offer brands and designers exposure in an increasingly tough and competitive business. Barcelona is shoe-horned in between Copenhagen and New York, but it highlights that there is a big fashion world outside of the four dominant cities, and these can be where exciting new brands and ideas can bubble up. Fashion weeks can still be used as a vehicle to showcase the importance this industry has to a region’s economy and creativity, and 080 Barcelona Fashion is proving it.