Portuguese designer Fátima Lopes announces her show at the Pestana Palace in Lisbon on October 17

The couturier Fátima Lopes, originally from Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, has just announced her new mixed fashion show in Lisbon, scheduled for the night of October 17 at the Pestana Palace. The designer became known worldwide not only for her boldness but also for opening her first international boutique in Paris in 1996 and, in 1999, for walking at Paris Fashion Week, becoming the first Portuguese designer to do so.

Fátima Lopes’ debut in Paris, with a winter collection titled ‘Welcome to the new millennium’, marked the first step in a long international career, later cemented with her fashion show at ModaLisboa in 2000, during which she wore a gold and diamond bikini valued at one million euros, sponsored by the Belgian multinational Ezziddeen Diamonds.

However, one of the great moments of Fátima Lopes’ career also took place in Paris, where she presented the iconic bikini, made of gold and set with diamonds, which entered the Guinness Book of Records.

The designer’s next show, which will take place at 9 p.m. at the Pestana Palace in Lisbon, is called ‘The new era of sophistication and contemporary sensuality’, “an ode to fashion as an art form, where sophistication and elegance converse with sensuality and innovation in a gesture of pure creation,” the eponymous brand said in a statement, describing the 19th century palace, restored and renovated by the Funchal hotel group, not far from the Jerónimos Monastery. as “a setting where historical luxury meets the designer’s characteristic aesthetic modernity.”

According to the label: “The Pestana Palace will be transformed into a setting of elegance and modernity, where the monumentality of the space dialogues with the sophistication of the shapes and volumes conceived by Fátima Lopes,” it adds.

“The collection combines art, sensuality and modernity in a harmonious fusion of structure and fluidity,” the brand announced, adding that “the women’s pieces highlight very narrow waists, pronounced shoulders and hips, necklines and slits, layers and draping, in a wide variety of cocktail dresses and evening dresses, as well as coats, ‘tailleurs’, capes and knitwear.”

The men’s line also reflects “modernity and sophistication”, in this case “through blazers and jackets with draped collars, coats with built-in scarves, asymmetrical shirts” that are presented with “the illusion of a side tie, pants with multiple pleats, oversized jackets with double sleeves in a mosaic of materials, capes and knitwear,” adds the brand.

Burgundy, black, grey, blue, beige and red tones dominate, along with fabrics such as silk, pure wool, alpaca, suede and lace, accentuating the luxurious character of the creations for which Fátima Lopes has become known.