Carlota Barrera returns to her fond childhood memories of Cuba for SS23.
Carlota Barrera has returned to a core memory of Cuba for SS23. Inspired by a specific journey to the Caribbean country in 2001, Cuba has left a long lasting creative mark inside the Spanish designer’s head, drawing her to make it her creative hub of inspiration over the years. Opening London Fashion Week Men’s, Barrera wanted to stay true to the warmly joyous, oftentimes cheeky aesthetic of her collections, showcasing in a skate park right off of Portobello Road market - drawing upon a rich sense of community of new fluid masculinity where skating, tailoring, and identity live together.
In a juxtaposition between the bustling hurry of London and the warm ease of Cuba, models walked off into the skating ramp runway, as classic Cuban trumpets sounded, transporting us to the streets of Havana through a looking glass of new wave tailoring. Dress shirts received a trompe l’oeil makeover resembling tank top layering, soft lemon sherbet ribbed polo shirts lightened up mixed linen light blue trousers and suit jackets, with silhouettes that accentuate a structure in the shoulders.
Carlota Barrera’s first physical show also featured a new frontier for the designer - pastel neck scarves, lightly grazing and tucked into the neck for a sense of summer breeze, alongside knotted bags matched in the light blues, merging a new chapter for the Spanish designer, one that brings an easy sense of flow and light, rejecting the sartorial codes of rigid tailoring in menswear.
