By Georgina Elliott
From the minimalist simplicity of monochrome to the intricate girlishness of bows, Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week had a trend for every aesthetic perspective. Throughout the week, designers seemed to keep one eye on the past, with some finding inspiration to hike up the hemlines from the effortless chic of 1960s mini-dresses, and others looking to the maximalism of the 1980s puffy shapes and frills. Whether you are a romantic, a maximalist, or even a bit rock ‘n’ roll, there was something you’d fall in love with at Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week.
This year was abuzz with anticipation ahead of Giambattista Valli’s first ever bridal runway show at Barcelona Bridal Night (and we can confirm: it did not disappoint), and attendees also raised a glass to celebrate sixty years of Atelier Pronovias, the OG of Spanish Bridal.
Without further ado, flick through the six trends we love from Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week.
1. An Updated Take On 60’s Minis
In one of two nods to the past, Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week saw multiple iterations of a ’60s-style mini dress. A fabulously functional addition, perfect for dancing the night away à la Swinging Sixties.
First up, Atelier Pronovias opened with a thoroughly modern and structurally strict capped-sleeve mini, featuring white embellishments around the collar. The look evokes a contemporary and — as accessorised with fishnet tights— slightly more rock-n-roll Audrey Hepburn.
At Jesús Pieró, the ’60s were also referenced through a classic a-line shape, with a sheen that makes the dress move like a liquid on the model.
Elsewhere, free-spirited modernizer Yolancris provided a more avant-garde look—hemlines got shorter, and we saw an ultra-teeny high-neck tunic adorned with delicate teardrop embellishments.
And lest we forget the high priestesses of minimalism, Sophie et Voilà, who presented a thoroughly modern feminine offering of a strapless white tunic paired with sheer white trousers.
2. Appliqué Flowers
Floral motifs are certainly not new to the bridal sphere, but this year, Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week offered a refreshed take.
The collections were peppered with flowers, from the playful architectural contributions of Yolancris to the more traditionally feminine perspective of Allure Brides. The latter scattered appliqué flowers down the bodice of a deep, plunging v-neck dress, highlighting the long, sheer sleeves of the dress with clustered flowers at the wrist.
By contrast, the former, Yolancris, put graphic flowers central to the architecture of the men’s looks, creating a textural 3D effect on the waistcoat, which could also be repurposed for a thoroughly modern bride. The concept of flowers as an architectural offering was also particularly beautiful at Isabel Sancis, where sumptuous flowers, descending in size, were asymmetrically positioned down the back of the dress.
Caroline Castigliano opted for a lighter-handed, more delicate approach, sprinkling flowers onto a sheer veil to create the impression of flowers ‘raining down’ onto the model. Castigliano used flowers to emphasise the delicateness of the wearer, both in the barely-there straps of the dress pictured. and in the wafer-thin appliqué flowers that have been asymmetrically applied down the bodice of a halter-neck dress, giving the etheral appearance of hundreds of butterflies settled over the bride.
3. Emphasise The Décolletage
This season, no one can deny that your décolletage is your greatest accessory. This year, simplicity seems to be a priority, and adding a necklace would therefore represent unnecessary clutter. But if you want to bare your neck without sacrificing romance, look no further than Caroline Castigliano. Castigliano’s unique corsetry techniques are highlighted when presented most simply with pared-back accessories, presenting the wearer as uniquely confident and sexy.
Giambattista Valli similarly draws attention to the model’s écolletage, but uses dropped shoulders and soft draping to a more whimsical end to give the wearer the appearance of gliding across the catwalk. And if sculptural drama is more your thing, Atelier Pronivas also emphasises bare and uninterrupted shoulders, but instead employs sculptural shapes at the collar to create a dramatic, geometric effect.
4. Beautiful Bows
Bows have been ever-present for coquette brides for a few years, and at Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week, they showed no signs of going anywhere.
Sophie et Voilà punctuated the pared-back simplicity of their otherwise-streamlined collection with dominant rosette-style bows on the necklines of several dresses. Pictured is a particularly gorgeous chiffon bow that, by asymmetrically emphasising the collarbone, reinforces the simple effectiveness of the non-necklace trend mentioned earlier.
We saw statement bows similarly used at Isabel Sanchis, but instead to draw your eye to the back of the model, either as they were positioned to highlight a back cut-out or as the crowning jewel on a long, white cape. There were other more subtle nods to the bow trend, as we saw at Giambattista Valli, where models had bows tied into their hair, creating a simple but ultra-feminine ballet-inspired look.
5. ’80s Inspiration
We took stock of the off-the-shoulder opera-style puffy sleeves at Demetrios—the ’80s are back. At Atelier Pronovias, 80s shoulders made a statement, from the use of shoulder pads to create an unapologetically powerful horizontal line to a simple mini-dress paired with eye-catching and dramatic candy-floss puffy sleeves. Jesús Peiró seemed to be similarly inspired by shoulder pads, creating structural volume at the shoulder that contrasts the strict, narrow silhouette of the dress.
Giambattista Valli adopted a different, softly romantic perspective on the ’80s, presenting a flowing long-sleeved dress with all the frills and ruffles of one of Princess Diana’s girly Catherine Walker dresses. If this conjures an image of fussiness, never fear; Valli has employed this ’80s maximalism with the lightest of touches, using barely-there tulle to create an ethereal, dreamy effect.
6. Black Accents
One of the most unlikely and rebellious trends to come out of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week was the use of black accents. Could this be another iteration of the 1960s trend? Monochrome employed to the power of Sharon Tate?
Casting our eye over the clean lines of Sophie et Voilà, it is clear that a classically employed touch of black is the key to subversive contemporary elegance—from black strappy sandals ,to a bolder and more visually striking look with black gloves.
And then we saw an unexpected slash of black on the belt of a model wearing a draped sheer goddess-style tunic at Atelier Pronovias. Monochrome was made even more central at Global Bridal House, where a full black skirt was contrasted by a white bodice, drawing attention to a huge bow detail at the back of the dress. High drama!
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