Malta Fashion Week continues on into a new week, so if you think we had a blue Monday… you are wrong.The only blue thing about this Monday were those blue shorts in Parascandalo’s collection!
This was by far the busiest, buzziest day of Malta Fashion Week. The excitement was in the air, the expectation…two fantastic Maltese designers and a foreign designer from Argentina were presenting their new collections and we were there for it!

It felt like Fashion Week had been gaining momentum up to Day 6 and this was a culmination!

Most celebrities, influencers and many members of the general public were wearing Parascandalo and some Gabrielle Fenech in support of our local brands and to show off the incredible pieces! Stunners!
The best thing about all the shows we saw yesterday is that their designs are truly wearable, can be your fashionable street-wear any day but so catwalk worthy!

Without further adieu, let me tell you about the awe-inspiring collections we were lucky enough to witness yesterday!

Gabrielle Fenech – L’Amoureux

Gabrielle Fenech’s new collection is entitled “L’Amolureux” – the Lovers and is inspired by 6th card in a tarot deck. This card symbolises the beauty of communication and understanding within a human relationship and love (romantic and platonic). Gabrielle attempts to tap into the feelings of passion, sacredness and harmony with her collection by use of the material she uses, the textures, colours and design.
Generally I find that the Gabrielle Fenech brand is quite alternative at its core ad there have been collections that have included a lot of vinyl, PVC and the use of more alternative / fetishy fabric. This collection is slightly less clearly alternative. It feels more romantic, classy and soulful but keeping in with the brand and saying authentically “Gabrielle Fenech”. The introductory video gave an idea of something very sensual, romantic, artistic and feminine. The styling was great – all the models had “big” hair teased into a sort of “Queen of Hearts” look, the makeup was beautiful and the clothes… some glossy fabric, looking silky and soft to the touch; careful stitching and nicely fitted wearables; comfortable cottons, asymmetrical skirts and t-shirts with prints themed after the Lovers taros card. An interesting use of colours – still a lot of black and dark shades, but the collection also included brighter and bolder colours, like a pair of baby pink high waisted trousers with suspenders, one of which sensuously slipped off once the model reached the end of the catwalk!

I enjoyed the new collection. It’s incredibly important to re-invent ourselves and our art and Gabrielle did that. She gave us another side of her, still as beautiful as ever!

I kept thinking to myself “Yes, I’d so wear that” and I hope I will soon!

I caught up with Gabrielle after the show to get a comment and she told me she feels accomplished and relieved, that she’s happy everything turned out well and ever better than expected! And she should be proud! It was a fantastic way to kick off Day 6 of Malta Fashion Week!

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Ocantos (Argentina)

Octanos from Argentina was up next! Eduardo, the designer is apparently a man of ay talents – a lawyer, a painter and a designer. He is inspired by art and painting and in this collection entitled “Llama” he concentrated on creating wearables made out of sustainable material, such as the wool of the llama, an animal found in the North of Argentina! Ocantos uses natural dye for the wool colour and along with the wool Eduardo uses silk,and from the looks of it chiffon as well. The colours are bright but nothing too crazy, nice, strong colours – reds, oranges, pinks, greens and blues, as well as greys. The collection is not a summer one but rather look like it might be leaning towards Autumn or Spring looks with the use of scarves and coats, with a peak of the dresses or trousers, suits underneath, partially hidden.
I enjoyed the collection, the use of the wool and the natural materials in the collection, even through bright colours are not really my thing, the clothes looked great and cozy!

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Parascandalo (Eyeconic & Blindofld)

If there is any designer who has built a reputation for being Iconic, for being current, for being represented in the streetwear styles of the youth…it’s Parascandalo. Fresh, young, proudly Maltese…outstanding. When you see a Parascandalo design, you can immediately call it out, without having to know – the colours, the cuts, the fabric – we all remember last year’s collection clearly and can easily identify it in the streets. Parascandalo stays in the public eye all year long, his fashion worn by influencers and fashionable folks all around the island.

Last night Marco presented not 1, but 2 collections! The Eyeconic and the Blindfold. So let’s break it down!

We’ve been seeing teasers of the Eyeconic collection all over social media featuring familiar faces of Malta’s creatives and influencers who then appeared in the fantastic introductory video… it was fast paced and exciting, the music was great and set the vibes, the seats were all taken, Fort Saint Elmo was packed, we were at the edge of our seats, holding our breath…  and after the intro video, the music started, a pause before the first model came out which felt unbearably long until, YES, we finally got an eye-full of the Eyeconic collection!

Marco just has such a beautiful feeling for colours, the way th combines them, the materials.. It was all wonderful and ranged from a mesh top is a bra on top that looked like a pair of eyes, to a red fringed dress, to an asymmetrical layered skirt in white, green and blue…there was a bit of everything, a variety of colours, no holding back but somehow it all tied in together and made perfect sense. The beautiful dresses, akin to the one Sarah Zerafa wore, made of tulle and mesh…mermaid type skirt and a big piece of tulle in front, from the waist, cinched by a Parascandolo belt, all the way up past the decolletage and almost up the the face. Beautiful!

The Blindfold collection is autumn and winter (love you thinking ahead Marco) and the models walked to a song by the Maltese indie band Oxygen, who were in the intro video for this part of the show… I loooved their song Blindfold…a thought on the lines of “what came first, the egg or the chicken…or the collection or the song” did cross my mind but maybe they came about together… in any case, I love this sort of local collaboration and artists supporting each other’s talented work!

The Blindfold gave up a lot of zip up blazers, and jackets, gave us trousers and skirts with cool designs and prints on them, models fully covered in black mesh with eyes / symbols on them. This part of the collection was a lot darker and featured more black colours, which made my inner goth very happy. It gave me Blackcraft Cult vibes too, which is one of my favourite brands.. So you know I was there for this!! For me, so far, this was the collection of Fashion week.
Expectations for this show was high and it didn’t just live up to what we wanted, it beat out expectations to the pulp…there they stood, nervously while we walked past them and out of sight.

If you do not know of Parascandalo…I will just say this – You should.

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My look for the night was one of the first looks I came up with and one I am very very happy with! This look reflects my love for fetish fashion and my obsession with bondage!
The dress, found of the internet, is an artwork that has been turned into a clothing print and printed onto an A-line dress. I wanted this to be about the image and not the body…I paired the dress with a pair on thigh high red boots that I bound with black rope to give them that bondage element, a black faux leather jacket I had bought in Berlin during my August visit in Karl Marx Street and my hair – ponytail plat bound in red rope…the bad that happened to match everything – all this black and red I found while online shopping for fashion week and the whip…came in my bondage kitt I recently got… it all just came together and I couldn’t be more pleased. Plus the makeup and voila, one of my favourite looks for this year’s Malta fashion week.

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What did you think of my bondage look? I am obsessed with it!!!
Now that I have shown it off, this is going to be one of my favourite summer dresses!

I have to mention a couple of awesome people…although everyone turned looks and looked stunning, like…”how do ya’ll look so good every night ugh?”, I have to mention a few people in particular.

Most of the VIPs were wearing Parascandalo. Taryn Mamo Cefai wore such a cute jacket-dress from Parascandalo’s 2018 collection, I loved it. Tamara Webb and Sarah Zefara wore some of the most notable pieces of the new collection. So many people were in chokers and belts and t-shirts by Marco! Luke Brincat looked awesome and quite futuristic in a Gabrielle Fenech piece – LOVED it! I also love the style of MR Klaidas Vaitkus – just sooo cool every night from hair to toe! Finally, I loved Clinton Paul’s look… wow! A Vogue t-shirt and leather pants, fishnet on his face and a baseball cap backwards.. That stunner!

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I have no top picks, my top picks go to the brilliant designs on the runway!

Stay Wicked and let’s Get Freaky! ;)Yours,
Undine.