After this, the conversation turned from a professional discussion into chat between three Desigual fans chatting about the best pieces, what would be most popular on the streets and deciding what should be paired with what.
Herrero spoke passionately about what she defined as the type of people who are aficionados of the brand.
“People who wear it have a really strong fashion sense. Many people can wear the same piece and one person will not wear it like another. You choose one piece and you make it your own. You wear it however you want and wherever you want.”
Thabourin and I lamented how Parisians and Belgians dress to match the weather (in monochromatic grey) and have a tendency to shy away from bold colours.
At this, Herrero jumped in in agreement about Madrid’s sombre, classic (and weather-dependent) fashion sense vs. Barcelona’s more sunny, vibrant fashion sense (where Desigual is headquartered) with a zeal that could easily rival opposing football teams FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. (She hails from Barcelona).
Indeed, the unambiguous Mediterranean style has made Desigual a tougher sell for the North European market. Predictably, Desigual’s biggest market is Spain, with Italy following in second, and then France. But Herrero was confident the upcoming season would begin to reverse that.
“In Sweden and Scandinavia, they don’t like bright colours as much as we do, and it’s sort of complicated to introduce something to that market, but this collection is one that might buck that trend, and by showing them something new we can start to break into that market.”
For a few moments, we were again distracted by the allure of the beautiful garments before us and the only sound was the click of hangers on the metal rack as we each admired our favourite items. Thabourin fingered a long knitted turtleneck dress in soft pink and grey stripes with orange, purple, and teal accents. I eyed a velour onesie that had an Old World tapestry/Persian carpet quality. Herrero drew our attention to a crane-printed blouse, which was wistfully Japanese. A few of the coats called to mind the wardrobe from the cult movie ‘In the Mood for Love’.
When the collection comes out in stores in August/mid-September, customers will surely look at the new Desigual label and agree more than ever with their slogan ‘It’s not the same’ and are likely to be tickled pink, or red, or fuscia, with the difference.
www.desigual.com
