From French chic to the madness of the Portuguese, where is the style of the Spanish? "What they say should matter little if you are happy with your look"

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You just have to open Instagram and look for the profiles of some young Portuguese girls like

Rita Montezuma, Caetana Botelho or Vicky Montanari,

to understand why the neighboring country has placed itself on the starting grid of style: its impossible mixes, its colorful looks, its always flat but original shoes, her hair decorations, in short, that game with fashion without rules, that absence of fear in the face of the new.

That, and the continuity with which, before them, occupied the podium: the Danes, who rose alongside Copenhagen fashion week, turning it into one of the most desirable European capitals with the most twist, until creating '

copencore

',

that style that is characterized by boldness, color and a mix of prints.

Emili Sindlev, Jeanette Madsen, Victoria Törnegren and Tine Andrea

are some of the names that created a school.

Fashion as fun

In her profile, one of Rita Montezuma's latest looks is a striped

trouser suit

of different thicknesses in fuchsia and pink, combined with a pink quilted jacket,

feathers

at the bottom and cuffs, a green

net

as a cap on hair and, as footwear,

silver

ballet flats .

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A way of conceiving fashion that is above all fun and for which you need to have

creativity

on the surface.

Don't we Spaniards like to have fun?

Of course.

Aren't we creative?

If we have something left over, it is creativity.

What is wrong, then, that our looks are not capable of creating a style that the rest of the world follows?

The democratization of Inditex

We consulted with

Juan Ferrando, director of the Degree in Fashion Design at the Nebrija University,

who points to an external factor that would have shaped our style: "The world of fashion in Spain is deeply influenced by Inditex," he says, "a giant global that has democratized style. A reality that leads 9 out of 10 women in our country to choose their stores. By launching weekly collections, it causes a changing and eclectic style."

Changing not only in time, but also geographically.

María José Pérez, fashion expert and founder of DModa.io,

points out that

"there is not a single Spanish style, but many:

people dress differently in the north than in the south, in Madrid than in Barcelona. That is why it is not has internationalized, as has happened with the Portuguese and Danish".

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The Spanish way of being

If up to this point someone has interpreted that Spanish women dress badly, it was not the intention of the person writing this at all.

Because that is not the case, it is not that we dress badly, it is that

we do not stand out

above others nor do we provide a unique and different style, and that is not a question of good or bad taste, or of spending more or less money.

Fashion helps us present ourselves to others every day, what we wear conveys what we think and who we are.

That is why dressing in one way or another is a matter of the culture of an entire country, of tradition, of

idiosyncrasy.

We must then investigate sociologically to see why some stand out and others do not.

Fear of standing out

For

Elena Esteban, stylist, personal shopper and expert in fashion 'made in Spain',

"Spanish women are afraid of presenting a personalized style because they want to be inconspicuous, not out of the ordinary, without shine and without attracting attention."

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Where does this need to go unnoticed come from?

According to Esteban, it is "a cultural issue. If you wear something flashy and people look at you on the street as if you were a

weirdo,

you prefer to be invisible and remain integrated into your world. The key is to allow yourself to stop thinking that your shine bothers others." ".

No big references

We review the history.

We have produced great names in fashion recognized around the world, such as the great Cristóbal Balenciaga, Fortuny or Paco Rabanne, but when they crossed our borders their influence was diluted before having created a style here.

If Parisian women still drink from the revolution that Coco Chanel brought about, here "we lack the roots to have clear references that a great couturier has left us," says Ferrando,

"the great masters of Spanish fashion

ended up exiled and did not They left a legacy, we are missing that tradition.

And while the trend of silent luxury suits us like a glove, the one featuring neutral colors, classic constructions and the absence of any stridency, others are the ones that triumph: "In the face of the classicism of Paris, the urbanism of New York And in the alternative of London, in Denmark and Portugal, a mix was created that

was very theatrical,

but also comfortable," highlights María José Pérez, "something different from what was known, and there were those who loved and those who hated those looks: the first because they were a breath of fresh air; the second, because they considered them impossible. And whether you were on one side or the other, there was conversation, which is the key to virality."

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The role of social networks

Of course, that's another point.

Nowadays, with the omnipresence of social networks, it is imperative to be noticed, and both the Nordic women and our neighbors soon discovered that.

And they did not hesitate to

take advantage of it.

Because what draws more attention, a look that mixes prints in vibrant colors or masculine pants with a gray cashmere sweater?

Fashion, which always reflects the time and society in which we live, benefits from networks, which form a closed circle in this sector: the greater the exposure, the greater the success and we start again.

"Amid the wave of practicality, quiet luxury and responsible consumption," says Pérez, "the outfits of Danish and Portuguese women are a spark, a reminder that clothes are also there to have fun and that what they say should matter more. little if you are happy with your look. That is the real secret of their success. Because it doesn't matter if they wear three, four or seven colors, if they mix prints or have exaggerated accessories: they

wear it with so much confidence and joy

that it is inevitable that you attracts that escapist way of fashion, that evasion of reality in the form of colors and silhouettes.

No to fear, yes to daring

We are discovering the keys to the success of some and to our shyness, which Juan Ferrando supports with another fact, the so hackneyed but so true 'we don't know how to sell ourselves': "We Spaniards always think that anything that comes from outside is always going to be better than ours. We miss ourselves. We have to change that mentality, appreciate Spanish brands beyond fast fashion, lose the fear of experimentation and

value our craftsmanship."

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Elena Esteban bets on Italians and French women as the best dressed women in the world for three factors: their femininity, their strength and their personality.

"They think that being a woman is lucky and

they enjoy it."

Do we Spanish people enjoy life?

Of course.

Perhaps the time has come to dare and, every day, in front of the closet,

we play at dressing up.

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