Catalan designer Míriam Ponsa has worn yellow on the 080 Barcelona Fashion runway "in solidarity with the political prisoners". This Tuesday afternoon, Ponsa presented a collection inspired by the "pacifist movement" and India's struggle for independence led by Mahatma Gandhi with the idea of representing the "Catalan political process".
This statement comes just days after Madrid Fashion Week saw an ostentatious display of Spanish nationalism with Spanish flag dresses and the anthem at full volume (link in Catalan with video).
In comments to the Catalan News Agency before the show, Ponsa explained that the collection "didn't happen by chance", but came about because she felt "called" by the "current political chaos we're seeing in Catalonia" and needed to "express and channel" her feelings over recent months through her designs. "I would like to transmit hope [with the collection] and, above all, we have to persist in our struggle, peacefully, as we've done so far."
Yellow outfit
The catwalk of 080 Barcelona Fashion at the city's Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau was lit in yellow and Ponsa also presented a model wearing an outfit with a hint of the colour. She was the last of the collection and, according to Ponsa, one of the most "representative and one of those which most symbolises the concept of the collection". "It's made of wool felt and yellow strings which represent oppression," she explained.
As for the rest of her La marxa de la sal collection ("The Salt March", named after the 24-day march led by Gandhi in 1930), dark tones are predominant. According to Ponsa, it has "two experimental lines". On the one hand the union of plastic fabrics with knitted ones; on the other, the union of fabrics which are "very different to each other", like wool mixed with silk. "They're strange combinations which represent the metaphor of union and disunion," she said.
The models wore sandals and many of the outfits included the sentence in English: "Your life is your message", a slogan which could also be heard in the slightly mystical music. At the end of the show, the models, along with the designer, wearing a yellow loop, recreated Gandhi's symbolic gesture, holding handfuls of salt.