Sonia Carrasco: A star is born in Barcelona, amidst London Fashion Week

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 20, 2021

A star was born at London Fashion Week on Saturday, albeit it virtually in Barcelona rather than in Blighty.

 
Her name – Sonia Carrasco, an alumni of the houses of both Celine and Alexander McQueen, who unveiled her second eponymous collection via a video shot around substantial works of landscape art and storied statues in Barcelona.
 
Only one model, dance muse Carla Cervantes, which slightly muffled the effect. For no matter how well they move, few ballerinas ever have the statuesque appeal of trained runway models.

That quibble aside, this was a great first fashion display from Carrasco, who dreamed up a series of really great suits. Some cut like tuxedoes with quirky versions of classic pants, others made up of sharp angle blazers and shirts worn askew.
 
As the video unspooled, Carrasco added in striking offbeat Aran sweater cocktails – a big trend in the season where ecological ideas are uppermost. Her sense of detailing was ideal – embroidering shards of chiffon onto a great thin white duchess suit.
 
The Valencia, Spain-born designer was also sufficiently self-assured to develop her own signature monogram, inspired by the Barracas typical of her hometown. The motif was present in suits, shirts, dresses and a new bodysuit, made of recycled cotton and recycled wool knitwear.
 
Carrasco entitled the collection -75.500000, -106.750000, after the co-ordinates of the Thwaites Glacier, the giant glacier in Western Antarctica, endangered by rapid thawing due to global warming. As a result, the materials came in natural hues – sand, earthy brown, tropical green and navy.

 
Shot before huge sculptures in squares, beneath Mediterranean cliffs or before gray beaches in the Catalan capital, this catalogue of sharp tailoring marked Carrasco out as very much a designer to watch.
 
"The video aims to express that pain we feel when we are incapable of achieving something, a reflection on what will happen in the coming months, the desperate desire to go out, wanting to do things, seeing people and not being able to. Knowing that it is physically possible but morally impossible. Art therefore becomes the temporary remedy allowing the mind to travel and free itself," explained the designer, echoing a common opinion in the midst of the pandemic and potential global environmental disaster.