Beyond Base
Lisboa Fashion Week - Day 6
I know it took me literally three months to complete this series of essays on ModaLisboa Base. But somehow, whether intentionally or by accident, this is the materialization of what I’ve been advocating for throughout more than sixty editions of TFS - taking time to critique Fashion.
Critique not in a negative sense, but in the sense of thinking, analyzing, sharing and contextualizing Fashion itself. Complementing its inherent visual dimension with a linguistic component.
So, here we go again.
Sunday at Lisbon Fashion Week is always nostalgic. Nostalgic because the fashion family won’t gather like this again for another six months. Missing that adrenaline rush, an adrenaline so characteristic of Fashion Week, an adrenaline that’s also anticipated... At the same time, in this cocktail of emotions, we still have the excitement of having another day ahead of us.
Well, truth be told, with this schedule I managed to stretch out the excitement almost until the next edition.
But as you know, it’s almost humanly impossible to attend every show each day of Fashion Week. So let’s get to our lists: List 1 - the list of all designers and brands that presented their work on this sixth day of the event, and List 2 - the list of designers/brands whose shows I attended and will tell you about.
List 1:
Constança Entrudo;
Nuno Baltazar;
Çal Pfungst; Arndes;
DuarteHajime;
Valentim Quaresma;
Dino Alves;
Luís Carvalho.
List 2:
Çal Pfungst;
Arndes;
DuarteHajime;
Dino Alves.
Çal Pfungst
“13 - dissolving myself in photoshop.”
After launching their career on the Sangue Novo platform in October 2022 at ModaLisboa Oasis, and participating again in the following edition of this competition. Which means that within the Sangue Novo platform they presented 4 collections over four consecutive seasons - SS23, FW 23/24, SS 24, FW 24/25.
They would move to the Workstation platform with the presentation of the SS 25 collection (October 2024 - ModaLisboa Singular). Now, a year later, they return with a collection continuing their dedication to menswear, featuring 10 looks.
Ten looks for which they wrote 13 premises, explaining this concept between eroticism, nature and technology... Though we can infer that photoshop’s popularity has been widely surpassed by generative AI. But this is probably not the moment to start debating whether using tools like Photoshop, without resorting to AI, can be considered digital craft.
Well, when compared to classic menswear, Çal Pfungst’s signature is undoubtedly extravagant. Nevertheless, in contrast to their first collection where their creative idiosyncrasy manifested through shapes and pattern-making, this time it’s glimpsed through styling and accessories.
Veils, masks and other accessories reference natural elements like crowns made of branches or straw.
Arndes
“Summer in the village is the space where old meets new, where memory interweaves with invention, and where Fashion becomes the language of celebrating simple life, yet multiple and versatile.”
Arndes, Ana Rita de Sousa’s brand, has been steadily growing between the Sangue Novo and Workstation platforms since October 2020, at ModaLisboa MAIS. An edition held entirely in digital format during the pandemic crisis. Six months later, the brand’s founder won the ModaLisboa X Polimoda Prize.
Back from her training in Florence, Ana Rita and Arndes moved to the Workstation platform seven seasons ago, without interruption. Arndes’ seventh season materializes in summer vacation mode.
A collection with much of the semiotics that have come to characterize the brand, such as the contrast of fabric behaviors - sometimes fluid, usually in what dresses the body from the waist down, sometimes structured. Always in a characteristic color palette where whites, off-whites and black are always the base; in “Veraneio” they were the entire palette.
Having observed closely and in living color, I always get the sense that with each collection Ana Rita takes one or two “base pieces” and deconstructs them. Often, in my view, the chosen one being the blazer. This time, it seems to me the chosen ones were hoodies and parkas.
DuarteHajime
“In Greek mythology, Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters, known for her hair made of living snakes and a gaze so powerful it could turn anyone who looked at her to stone. However, Medusa wasn’t always a monster - she was a very beautiful woman, later transformed by the enraged goddess Athena after being seduced by Poseidon in her temple. Later, the hero Perseus, aided by the gods, beheaded Medusa using a mirrored shield to avoid her deadly gaze; he used her head as a weapon and later offered it to Athena, who placed it on the front of her own shield.
PETRA, spring/summer 2026 collection, reimagines the myth of Medusa, seeing her not as a monster, but as a symbol of feminine power and transformation.”
In DuarteHajime’s case, the quote is longer. Because I confess that, although I admire the broad scope of deep conceptualization, ever since the brand draws inspiration from mythology, I get a bit lost in the storytelling...
Though not as veteran as the brilliant Dino Alves, Ana Duarte’s brand completes its first decade of existence in 2026.
For Petra, DuarteHajime inserts a novelty into its lexicon - a decorative element, decorative in the sense of having no function beyond ornamentation, and symbolic - wings. This element appears solo as a golden accessory integrated into the pattern-making, as in the case of the gray denim jacket.
Most likely, this was the brand’s first collection where reds, oranges and corals were completely set aside. But for those who already perceive them as part of the brand’s DNA, they’re missed.
Dino Alves
“This collection was designed to, starting from an idea or ideas already pointed out in other previous collections, go further, surpassing the idea itself.”
Dino Alves wanted to go “Beyond” (“Mais Além) - and why wouldn’t he, being the “enfant terrible” of Portuguese Fashion, as he was so often described in the 2000s and early 2010s. Still being compared by various Portuguese authors to Jean Paul Gaultier.
Dino presents us with a vibrant collection that, while exploring previous collections, doesn’t repeat them to the point of extinguishing the flame of happiness that’s always present in his shows, sending our dopamine levels soaring.
In an extensive collection of 68 looks that evolves so perfectly, it almost feels like he’s taking us by the hand through a game... The Fashion Design game.
The game would go something like this:
We start with three torso mannequins apparently bare-chested with draped skirts - different draping, same materials, different colors.
The illusion of bare torsos is interrupted by a mannequin in a lightly draped lilac slip dress and black mini-skirt. Now the mini-skirt gives way to shorts on a male mannequin with the return of the bare torso illusion.
This creates the split for crimson and sky blue to be introduced on two more female mannequins.
And so it would continue... What’s still to come? Anachronistically, we’ll see clusters of black and clusters of white in draped cloaks, colors that had already merged in plaid on both men’s shorts and women’s mini-skirts. Also part of th
is cast, among others: tulle skirts, skirts with hoops reminiscent of crinolines, and the emphasis on breasts through various applications and details, with special highlight on the closing with conical velvet breast appliqués on the dress bodice.
Although this is the conclusion of the essays on the most recent edition of Lisbon Fashion Week, it will return in March... And we’ll share it here. Everything is open, one thing is certain - we won’t be returning to Base.
Shall we keep playing? I’ll be waiting for you.
Meanwhile, support The Fashion Standup by upgrading your subscription.
See you next week!
With love,
Vera Lúcia
So many fun looks here <3
Love this insight into designers I don't know much about. Your perspective is really refreshing!