Barcelona Fashion Week, recognized to the style set merely as 080, returned this October with a sort of fervent confidence that solely this metropolis can summon. It takes place properly after respective trend weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris however by some means brings a contemporary power and perspective to the style calendar.
Set within the backdrop of La Sagrada Familia, the occasion transforms the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau right into a cathedral of craft and chaos — one final hurrah earlier than the present bids farewell to its longtime venue as 080 is predicted to maneuver subsequent yr. There was a bittersweetness within the air, a way that the runway wasn’t only a showcase of garments however a memorial to an area that has seen the evolution of Barcelona trend from area of interest to worldwide. For 4 days, town hummed with the friction of outdated and new — heritage brushing up in opposition to experimentation, sustainability threading by way of spectacle.
Established names walked alongside labels nonetheless discovering their voice, all talking in dialects of innovation. Reparto, Outsiders Division, Custo Barcelona, and Acromatyx every took their flip on the mic, delivering collections that had been as distinct as they had been emblematic of 080’s broader artistic pulse.
Department simply will get it. And by it, we imply the web. Like PAPER we think about the model’s founders, Margil Pena and Ana Viglioneare as internet-obsessed as we’re as a result of their assortment is a fever dream for these of us who’re chronically-online.
The model has constructed a popularity for injecting humor and narrative into trend’s usually too-serious panorama. Their 2025 assortment continued that streak — a playful, genderless wardrobe stitched along with character research. Their overly over-sized t-shirts have turn out to be a staple of the model and this season they doubled down with them rendered in discovered materials and surprising bursts of shade that appeared nearly cheeky of their intentional mismatch.
Models emerged wanting like protagonists from a surreal avenue opera with a really clear nod to 2000 fashion. In reality, you could possibly think about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan carrying any variety of their seems out to a membership circa 2006.
Reparto isn’t designing garments for archetypes; they’re designing for personalities. In an business nonetheless clinging to uniformity, their allure lies within the chaos — a celebration of individuality as efficiency artwork.
Outsiders Division is Barcelona’s personal enfant horrible. Designer David Mendez Alonso has lengthy handled maturity as elective, and this season he doubled down on that mantra. His assortment was a imaginative and prescient of preppy nostalgia and anarchic power — varsity knits colliding with cartoonish graphics, pleated skirts styled with punkish equipment, and shade palettes that refused to behave. It was much less like a typical runway present and extra like a staged act of joyful rise up.
The present felt like rummaging by way of probably the most chaotic closet possible — the sort the place childhood reminiscences and teenage angst coexist in good concord. It’s a label that rejects polish in favor of sincerity, turning trend week’s regular gloss right into a playground for self-expression. Alonso’s world isn’t about rising up; it’s about rising louder.
Barcelona valuein the meantime, reminded everybody why it stays a cornerstone of trend in Barcelona. Custo Dalmau’s namesake label has all the time been synonymous with maximalism — kaleidoscopic prints, saturated colours, and silhouettes that appear to bop to their very own rhythm. This season, the model leaned into that legacy however with a sharper trendy sensibility. Metallics shimmered underneath the Sant Pau arches, whereas asymmetrical cuts and mesh layers performed with motion and light-weight. It was as if Custo had distilled Barcelona’s chaotic magnificence — the mosaics of Gaudí, the sun-baked streets, the unfiltered glamour — into material kind.
For a metropolis that thrives on visible extra, Custo stays its most eloquent translator. Watching his fashions storm the runway felt like a victory lap for the very concept of Barcelona’s trend itself: assured, expressive, and totally unbothered by minimalism.
Acromatyx is just like the shadow to Custo’s solar. Founded by Crystal Franx and Oriol Andrés, Acromatyx is a model that treats black as each language and philosophy. Their present was an train in restraint and rigidity — tailor-made items that seemed nearly sculptural, materials layered with precision, and particulars that demanded gradual wanting. It was darkish, sure, however by no means dreary. The assortment felt cinematic, evoking the temper of a late-night artwork movie the place each fold of material tells a narrative. In an version so saturated with shade and play, Acromatyx supplied the mandatory counterpoint — a reminder that austerity may be its personal type of decadence. Their finale felt much less like a runway present and extra like a curtain name, closing the week with an emotional exhale.
What made this version of 080 really feel particular wasn’t simply the garments — it was the conviction. The occasion now not appears preoccupied with proving that Barcelona belongs within the world dialog. It is aware of it does. And that’s due largely to town’s boundary-pushing historical past in creativity.
As 080 founder Marta Cocca put it: “What makes Barcelona so special is that it embraces diverse aesthetics with a hybridization of styles and, above all, generational coherence. From millennials, through Gen Z, to the new generations. These diverse aesthetics and style hybridizations create an important generational theme, making many audiences feel welcomed and represented.”
Reparto’s irreverence, Outsiders Division’s pleasure, Custo’s spectacle, and Acromatyx’s self-discipline — collectively they kind a sort of manifesto for the place Barcelona trend is headed: daring, aware, and gloriously confident. 080 didn’t whisper this yr; it declared itself. Loudly, stylishly, and with a wink.
This article is a collaboration between 080 Barcelona Fashion and PAPER.
Photos courtesy of 080 Barcelona Fashion.