Earlier this month, Delpozo announced the opening of its first store in the Middle East (and the third flagship globally) in The Dubai Mall‘s new Fashion Avenue extension. To celebrate, the brand’s Creative Director Josep Font has flown into Dubai for a whirlwind 48-hour window and we stole a few moments of his time to talk about the new opening, the possibility of collaboration and the adventurous sartorial spirit of the Middle Eastern woman…
Congratulations on the new store opening. It’s beautiful! You designed the space…
I am an architect by trade so I am always interested in collaborating on more elements than just designing the collection. So from the stores to the furniture to the images that come out of the house, they’re all under my vision.
Was there a specific inspiration for the design of this store? Or is there a similar aesthetic to the other two flagships?
There’s always a same line with the other stores. Like the use of organic materials like wood, marble, brass, glass — very noble materials to start the story within the space. It’s the idea of a new concept of minimalism but being very warm.
Why was Dubai the location of choice for the store?
It’s a very interesting market and Middle Eastern women are not afraid of using volume and colour. We had already had a good experience with them and they’re quite adventurous [when it comes to fashion]. They’re not afraid of colours, either.
Which styles are most popular in the region?
The gowns!
There’s been a lot of talk recently about female empowerment — in your opinion, how does fashion empower women?
Part of my job is to empower women, to help them to feel beautiful and good in their own skin through their choice of clothing.
What can we expect to see from the brand in the coming months?
We moved our show from New York to London in February and we’ll still show in London. We have increased and grown our shoe collection with many more styles, colours and option, too.
Plus we have some collaborations coming up. For example, in Spain there’s a photography exhibition called PHotoESPAÑA — it’s its 20th anniversary this year and the S/S18 collection was inspired by a photographer so we’re bringing part of her work to our store in Madrid to exhibit during the festival. We try to do things outside of the fashion sphere also because there is a strong artistic influence to the brand. We’re trying to do different things that make sense for the brand.
And speaking of collaborations, is this something you would consider with another fashion brand?
If it’s interesting then we would be totally open to it. For example, with the World Cup, there’s a magazine [called Achtung Mode] that’s focused on fashion and soccer that is run by Markus Ebner. He publishes it every two years because it runs in line with the World Cup and Euro League and we’ve done a collaboration with them where I’ve designed a sweatshirt and a T-shirt representing Spain. There’s 12 designers and the pieces will be sold through Yoox. This year there’s Isabel Marant for France, Peter Pilotto for Austria for example.
The pieces are unisex and will be sold from May I think as the Cup is in June and all of the proceeds will be donated to a cause for children.
It’s so out of our what we usually do but it’s something fun and different!
