Arturo Obegero A/W '21 - Puro Teatro

Arturo Obegero entered the official Paris Fashion Week calendar for the Autumn Winter 2021 season, nine months following the launch of his eponymous label. He is presenting a collection acting as a personal message to the fashion world and a tribute to performers.

Puro Teatro is the culmination of the designer’s emotional state, and the feelings he’s been willing to express. Bringing fantasy to overcome the grim reality of inequalities, political and economic uncertainty, and the pandemic is the essential message of the collection.

“The world has become the biggest stage, and everyone performs for attention and validation. I feel that we are in the most beautiful cage called life, a velvet prison.”

A new life is insufflated into old velvet curtains collected from theatres around the world, from Sydney to London. They have been the silent witnesses to amazing performances, to the rigour and dedication of stage artists. Now they will live lives of their own while also carrying the stories, cheers, and tears of the crowds forever embedded in their cotton fibres. This choice reaffirms Arturo Obegero’s sustainable mission by adding upcycling to the label’s values.

Arturo Obegero’s favourite flower, the red rose, is once more a key element of the collection. The designer is fascinated by the age-old tradition of throwing roses at performers at the end of a successful spectacle. This season, the performer becomes the rose as the blood red Saura bodysuit and the Cristóbal top merge. Together they symbolise the ambition that can sometimes blind us.

The Dulce balloon top references Obegero’s fashion hero, Cristóbal Balenciaga, as well as candy wrappers. The belt choking the neck aggravates the garment by adding perversity to the notion of sugar-coating. The Prussian blue Marga scarf is exaggerated to resemble an elegant velvet snake wrapped around the wearer’s neck and upper body.

The backless Volker top in blood red moiré is the exclamation point to the collection. The bows nod to classic haute couture gowns. Pushing forward a fashion cliché, they bring femininity while restraining the face and hands of the wearer.

The collection also features Arturo Obegero’s Signature items from the Palmira permanent collection, with new iterations of the Pedro shirt and Gades trousers in baby blue and blood red. Arturo, take a bow.