What will you wear for feria?

Preparing for Holy Week processions

Andalusians are great multitaskers. Christmas season doesn't end on Dec. 25th, it ends on January 6, Día de Reyes and it ends with a great parade.  By the end of January early  February, when Andalusians are still thinking of what to wear for Carnival, they are also quietly preparing for Holy Week, and April's Spring Fair! All this, while they work full time, mind you.

Early February is time for SIMOF, Salon Internacional de la MOda Flamenca.  SIMOF it is the most important fashion show for feria dresses.  All eyes are set on the shows, see new dress designs, fabrics choices, colors, hair styles, and accessories.  This year, finally, after following it in the news, for many years, I had the opportunity to actually go to the show.  Yippy!  I was so happy.  

In Sevilla the expo center where SIMOF takes place

Fashion magazine for Feria dresses

The show is four days long, starting on Thursday, and ending on  Sunday.  I went on Saturday, in my opinion the best day.  First, I was just planning to see one show, but once I got there, 2 other famous designers where scheduled right after, so I had to get tickets. The first show was really interesting, more fantastic, theater like designs, but not really for feria.  Her name is Rosalía Zahino and Encarna Solá, is her accessories partner. I felt like I had landed in the middle of Venice's Carnival fashion show. Very exciting and beautiful.  

Pilar Vera was next and Nuevo Montecarlo was third.  These two were packed, so much, that it took for ever to seat everyone, and the show had to start 40 minutes late.  

On the first show, for Rosalía Zahino, I had front seat tickets and I had a great view.  On the other two shows I wasn't so lucky, I had far away tickets, so it was hard to see the details on the dresses.  One thing I can tell you though, is that this year is all about flowers, more than one over the head seams the trend.  The other interesting thing I have seen is the use of two shawls or "mantoncillo"s crisscrossed at the front and back of the dress and then gathered at the shoulders.  Very interesting... I also saw a grey dress, which is a very unusual color for feria, paired with typical pink or white accessories.  Beautiful.

Miniature dresses, adorable!

A beautiful mantón (above) and mantilla (below), in a vendor stand.

Head pieces from Cosafina stand
I tried the purple one, it matches my dress!

My friend tried an interesting piece that looked like a fan, 
it added hight without being overwhelming, 
the transparent material did the trick.

Rosalía Zahino designed the dresses while Encarna Solá designed the head pieces.  Out of this world!  Very theatrical and gorgeous.  The other two fashion shows, had more "wearable" dresses, if your pocket can afford 4 figure price tags.

 Rosalia Zahino and Encarna Solá

 Volante Canastero

A novelty was the introduction of gray and pink combination dresses.  But the shape and cut of the dress did not change much this year.  It was all "volantes canasteros" murmaid shape dress with one big ruffle.

A shawl like this can cost €50-200. 

In between shows, you can visit the stands with other dresses and vendors, and much more affordable. You can see the new tendencies in accessories to enhance your dress, new earrings, necklaces and shawls. The crochet knit shawls is very big this year, as well as the tule shawls.  Transparencies for sleeves are big too. 

And to pin your shawl, a cameo is a must.

Never to young for fashion, or as they say in Spanish: "antes muerta que sencilla"
I'd rather be dead than plain.