“The impact of Portugal Fashion is more significant when we provide opportunities outside the country”

Designers Inês Amorim and Reid Baker open the green door of Ernest W. Baker’s showroom in Paris, on the first floor of a building on one of the busy streets of the Le Marais neighbourhood, even more bustling on fashion weekdays, between interviews and meetings with buyers. Three walls are lined with racks of clothing – a gradient of greys, blacks, reds, whites, greens, and a little blue – which will arrive in stores in September. There are 25, for now, from Italy to Los Angeles, via South Korea. It is Saturday and just over 24 hours have passed since the first fashion show by the Portuguese duo, one of the most successful with the ‘created in Portugal’ label.

Asians and North Americans were the most represented at Friday’s show, aboard a boat moored on the Seine, with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. They have been Ernest W. Baker’s most loyal followers since the brand’s inception in 2017.

On the catwalk, with next winter in mind, there was a lot of tartan, total looks, knitwear, furs, long coats, bomber jackets, travel bags, suitcases, red roses (which are the brand’s signature) and crystals, widely used in this collection, in collaboration with Swarovski. This time they decided to take inspiration from “the brand as a whole”, says Inês Amorim. “It’s a best of. We do everything: knitwear, furs, shoes… This time, we also made glasses.”

One of the characteristics of Ernest W. Baker’s work is that it is produced in Portugal, and being closer to the factories was one of the reasons that led a Portuguese student and an American student who met in Milan to move to Viana do Castelo and now to Porto.

Sixteen factories were involved in this collection. The jewellery is developed in Viana do Castelo and Gondomar. The textile work involves units in Trofa, Barcelos, Santo Tirso and Gaia. The footwear is produced in Felgueiras and São João da Madeira. The gloves are from Sabugo, Sintra. And although most of the fabrics are Italian, there is also national production with the Albano Morgado label, as Reid Baker shows in the showroom, where the pieces can be appreciated in the smallest details.

Ernest W. Baker gained international recognition after being a finalist for the LVMH prize, but also when Harry Styles wore a hand-knitted jacket by a craftswoman from Braga, and when musician (and Louis Vuitton’s creative director for menswear) Pharrell Williams and his wife wore her designs at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Until now, the brand had chosen not to present itself in the traditional fashion show format. “It was very good and very quick”, said Inês Amorim, minutes after the presentation. “Our goal is to continue to grow worldwide. In stores, customers, people more interested in the brand, it’s a whole.”

Ernest W. Baker’s fashion show is part of the official Paris Fashion Week calendar, promoted by Portugal Fashion, the Portuguese platform for the internationalisation of Portuguese design, created under the auspices of ANJE – National Association of Young Entrepreneurs and supported by European Compete funds. The French city is also hosting a showroom until Monday, bringing together creations by Behen, Duarte Hajime, David Catalán, Susana Bettencourt, Losiento, Maria Carlos Baptista, Veehana and E.P. Atel Ye.

“We have the specific mission of converting creativity into business”

Paris has been Portugal Fashion’s most consistent destination in its 30 years of existence. “Our impact is obviously in terms of visibility, communication, drawing attention to the Portuguese ecosystem, and all the actions we take, whether in Porto or abroad, are based on that goal. But we realise that this impact is much more significant when we provide opportunities outside the country. Our market is very small and, in fact, it is much easier to attract buyers abroad, to attract orders and to start creating synergies, sometimes between designers and other brands. And, in fact, over the years, whenever we find our most successful case studies, it has to do with this presence”, says Mónica Neto, director of Portugal Fashion, to ECO.

“David Catalán’s brand, which was an emerging designer when it was included in the official Milan calendar, experienced a boom in orders from buyers because of this recognition”, explains Mónica Neto. “Buyers pay particular attention when they see that there is a fashion week label, and a strategy is created to promote the name, which then has a calling card for the opportunity to present the collection to buyers.”

David Catalán, a Spanish designer based in Porto for 15 years, presented his work in Milan a week ago – in another internationalisation initiative by Portugal Fashion – and one of his shiny denim suits caught the eye of one of the guests at the cocktail party to launch the Portuguese showroom in Le Marais.

The doors of 43 Rue Tournelles opened on Friday with a cocktail party to welcome people connected to the industry, such as Kelly Phoenix, actor and director. In addition to Catalán’s pieces, she pauses to look at a satin blazer by Maria Carlos Baptista. “I really like satin, I think I’ll wear it to a premiere”, says Kelly Phoenix. Next to him, Suna Moya, fashion editor at a magazine aimed at the Asian market, says she has been following Portugal Fashion “for six years”. “We are seeing many new shapes and new materials”, she sums up. She is interested in Losiento’s pieces. She shows a green gabardine coat with red lining, which may appeal to the Chinese public, and a floral dress that she sees in Saudi Arabia.

These are the same pieces that catch the eye of two fashion producers, one French and one English, living in Paris, who are scouting during fashion week and visit the Portuguese showroom. “The curation still has room for improvement,’ they say. “Some brands are very strong, they need to make people’s eyes pop”, says the British woman. She had already been to the first Portugal Fashion showroom, a recent strategy that Mónica Neto intends to continue.

Between Saturday and Monday, the showroom shifts its focus to meetings with buyers, and Portugal Fashion turns its attention to Copenhagen, another milestone in the internationalisation strategy for Portuguese fashion, curated by Marques’ Almeida.

“We are in constant contact with creatives and entrepreneurs, with makers, and with this project we have a very specific mission to convert that creativity, that innovation, into business, hence this strategy, which was obviously presented to Compete 2030 in a fund that supports internationalisation”, explains the director of Portugal Fashion. “What we proposed for this period from 2023 to February 2026 was a set of initiatives ranging from scouting and supporting new designers to mentoring and monitoring in the business area and then internationalisation.”

An investment of around €475,000 and a Portugal Fashion Experience

In total, Portugal Fashion invested around €475,000 in six events: Milan Fashion Week (men’s and women’s), Ernest W. Baker’s show in Paris, Marques’ Almeida in London and Copenhagen Fashion Week.

“Over the years, we have evolved and grown as an event, aspiring to be a Fashion Week, making the calendar increasingly professional and more solid. However, with issues of financing, financial sustainability, and transitions in community frameworks, there has been a very rational assessment of what should exist if we have to refine the event and make it financially sustainable”, she says.

Portugal Fashion is already working on a new project for the next community framework. One of the objectives, says Mónica Neto, is to drop “this idea that Portugal Fashion is an event, or a set of events”, and to take it on “as a permanent platform for support, promotion and, always, business and internationalisation” — as, she reiterates, Portugal Fashion has always done. She adds: “Give more visibility to the ecosystem. Who are the partners here? How many companies? Let’s visit them, let’s make this storytelling, which was organic, official, and let’s make Portugal Fashion the platform that brings this visibility. We believe that designers can bring the power of marketing to a country that needs to promote itself beyond its know-how.”

This year, Portugal Fashion will have another Experience edition. “It is a more experiential event, with more curation” and will take place between 1 and 4 July. “We have high expectations of making it an increasingly unique event, because it is taking on a format that is different from what is common in most cases and countries”, says Mónica Neto.

(The journalist travelled at the invitation of Portugal Fashion)