By Sandrine Goncalvès

During last Paris Fashion Week, portuguese designer Fatima Lopes presented « Air », a collection that celebrates a ethereal summer where the wind rushes into the garment to give it shape and size. The designer played with volume, overlays, transparency and draped. The silhouette is sleek, futuristic and sometimes graphic but all remains light and luxurious. The muslin and lace, the satin silk, the flax and the crepe mix to create a fluid and light effect. Finally, the the gradation of four colors recall those that take the sky depending on its mood. 

Fatima Lopes offers this season a surprising and yet infinitely feminine collection declined around the themes of optimism, hope and happiness. According to her, one should not talk about world crisis anymore, it is now time to spread positive messages and good humor. She actually always says she creates clothes just to make people happy.

Thus, summer and joy are expressed by an explosion of bright and cheerful colors with shades of blue, yellow, pink and light grey. The make-up, and especially eyeshadows, is also colourful and bright.

This collection shows a subtle balance between references to the past and a prospective look. Silhouettes are reminiscent of the fifties but great graphic pieces are undeniably futuristic.

Audacity is well expressed in the work of the form. Some clothes are literaly thought of as sculptures of fabric. Volumes are pronounced, looks are structured and shoulders are sharply shaped. However, clothes stay nevertheless extremely comfortable and aesthetic. 

Always wearing vertiginous heels, a woman who dresses in Fatima Lopes likes to get noticed and be seen. The cuts are really suggestive and nothing is ever too much. The necklines are also sexy and would totally enhance generous breasts. The audience was very receptive to this glorification of the woman’s body and was visibly impressed by the audacity of sexy swimsuits. Always in tune with the times, Fatima Lopes’ actually knows how to celebrate all types of women and their forms.

Much attention is paid to details, to the work of the lace for example, or to the way a piece of fabric is folded. The designer also plays with a variety of lengths and alternates extremely short dresses adorned with pleats for texture and very long evening gowns. The collection also includes trousers such as modernised harem pants or elegant urban jumpsuits. As a final touch, colourfull bags and accessories add flair to these summer looks. This variety shows the designer thought about the women’s wardrobe as a whole as she offers both day and evening outfits.

Again, Fatima Lopes’ collection proves very feminine and it sublimates sensual women, her constant aim being to make women glamorous and sexy. According to her, it is not a question of beauty as no woman can be perfect. It is a question of tailoring. Known as provocative at the beginning of a carreer, Fatima Lopes’ work has gained class and wearability. She is definitely a woman who likes to dress women and has proved so for over ten years in the parisian catwalks.