NOT EVERYTHING IS LOST

The Bogota international fashion week ends today, but main fashion shows ended last Thursday, a detail I didn't pay attention to and that almost cost me not getting into the last show because I left my invitation thinking the show was Friday night... (If I had missed it I wouldn't have care much anyway) as I missed the one in between the two I was present... Still I made an effort and move my connections pursuing  to get in the one I had no physical invitation for, in the quest I got caught (because in my access pass, my name, well, wasn't mine...) at that moment a friend of a friend gave a waving hand/order and voila I was in, but just like that I felt doing something terribly bad just by sneaking into a show I was openly invited as a VIP (later on this), shows weren't as good as I expected, but I just went to two of them (I have no right to make of it a general statement) 

1- Johanna Ortiz. She showed the same flowy dresses, pants and blouses that you see over and over again and that defines so clear the Latin flare. (In purple, orange and browns), some of her pieces were beautiful, her styling was not! I’ve been to her store, and her quality is good, taken this collection pieces apart and mixed with muted external or more edgy pieces can make hers look really good.

2 - LOFT by Ricardo Piñeres. The closing collection (as I red it) was bondage meets church, but the backdrop image was not that of a church but of a palace room full of chandeliers... so I got lost from the beginning. Dresses for the way to sexy, aggressive women (as he always does for) sometimes dresses were too short, there was to much see through and lingerie was way to small for when you are showing that much. It walked the fine line of porno chic and vulgar stepping more into the second one. The accessories where made by young designers project Maison Finch, from which I adored the bracelets, and again staple marks and more of the usual was there: the shiny, the see through, the uber short dresses, and some maxi skirts, paired with some kind of bathing suit  upper pieces.  A LBD, lots of leather, skinny pants, gigantic white shirts (like your boyfriend's 'next day' ones) those can be cool pieces to mix with your personal wardrobe,  the best look of the whole thing, was the one with a pair of white pants under a knee length white skirt both in leather I think... Decadent.

as the whole show/production looked a bit decadently unfinished as well :s

General aspects:  I'm live proving that you or anybody can get in... That’s something nice because more average people could get access to fashion, and they just have to ask for invitations. Now if they had access to really great fashion, that’s another story... 

On the other hand, room should be given to media, press, buyers, and people that relate, review and push the industry forward. Organizers should focus on this, send invitations to them, locate them, and push the whole industry and communication forces to promote the industry. The whole thing have improve but still a mess a HUGE mess, ORGANIZATION is what it needs, control to the minimum detail, that's how you make things go perfect and smooth. Organizers should take control on more details, the media and VIP  area would get packed in seconds with little control from who is seating where... but I must admit I took seat at the places I was supposed, to enumerate or specify personal invitations could help,  and to have shows in the middle of a major space keeps on looking very fairish...basically there is not specifications on how to develop fashion week or shows here in Bogota, how to organize people, media, editors or bloggers,  if there is a word for it, RANDOM it would be, everything felt very random.  Maybe the only company that could set it up, knows how to set it up, but little of how to make it look stylish and chic as it is supposed to look. The food and drinks offer was very poor, because obviously the logistics group brought the restaurant in town they work with the most… why not bring some more to participation? At least thank god catwalk dividers were fake walls now and not just a piece of black cloth.

That editors from main local magazines didn't go was a buzz, but what should they go for? If all the events year long showcases designers, the whole industry to a national level should be structured: and the main venue for fashion should be the one in Bogota. As every designer is very disperse, some show at some events and some at others... it seems impossible to make of the Bogota 'international' fashion week a strong force in fashion. If events don’t  join forces to produce a mega fashion event instead of several 'so so' ones, the industry is not going somewhere nearly strong.

Pictures above are by local phographer Zuan Carreño, those are the best coverage pictures I could find of the whole event, and they are Polaroid’s which explains why these  ones  look decent the most.