Manuel Bolano

Barcelona-born designer Manuel Bolano has a flair for the dramatic, and has fun with fashion which is very refreshing to see. He attended Fashion Design Felicidad Duce, and was awarded the Barcelona Bread & Butter Prize in 2007 for his outstanding final collection. He has won several other awards since then for his designs. He worked with the Mango design team briefly before starting his own collection. Although his garments are incredibly detailed and labour-intensive, he has said that, “this is not about doing haute couture, I still need to learn a lot to get there, but rather about a prêt à porter that I call prêt à couture.” Bolano is a master of playing with and manipulating volumes and proportions with fabric and padded shapes, and still managing to achieve a flattering silhouette on the woman's body.  I am very surprised he graduated from design school a mere four years ago, because his work is much more impressive than many seasoned designers that are presently showing.

Spring/Summer 2011

Fall/Winter 2010

Images from trendland and fashionwindows