TRENDSETTING from MODAPORTUGAL
by Luca Imbimbo
“Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed – there’s so little competition.” – Elbert Hubbard, writer
Trying to compete with yourself is an act of courage. Competing with others is a way to test yourself.
The thirty finalists of the MODAPORTUGAL contest are quite aware of this and have challenged themselves in the evening of December 19th with “catwalk” hits. Coming from ten different schools and six different countries (LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION / UK, AMD – Akademie Mode & Design / Germany, ESMOD PARIS / France, POLIMODA and ARSUTORIA SCHOOL / Italy, IED MADRID / Spain, ESAD, FA.U LISBOA, MODATEX PORTO and ACADEMIA DE DESIGN AND CALÇADO / Portugal), the designers introduced their collections to a jury of experts led by Eduarda Abbonadanza, president of the Associação ModaLisboa. To welcome the event, the Alfândega do Porto, the suggestive complex that overlooks the Douro river.
Besides the prizes for the winners – just for the record, Zhikai Yang from ESMOD PARIS winning as Best Overall Collection and Stephanie Grosslercher from POLIMODA winning as Best Overall Shoes – all the finalists had the opportunity to get in touch with the operators of the fashion system and with the production partners of the future.
As usual, we have selected three names. These are our three “promises” poised between passion and self-awareness.
Zhikai Yang – #orientalexpress
The 2018 winner’s collection is very direct to China – the one sensitive to changes. It is a mix of craftsmanship and innovation, pragmatism and conceptualism. Natural colors and comfy volumes, all the garments are a tribute to a tradition violently thrown into a measurably contemporary dimension.
Frank Lin – #sartorialdeconstruction
It is a masculine and sophisticated collection. The winner of the Best Collection for Germany deconstructs the classic male wardrobe, bringing it back to a modern essence, credibly young. His customized garments are personalized. His inspiration? The influencers.
Giulia Masciangelo – #materialstripes
The collection of the winner for the Best Collection made in Italy tells us her story. The collection that she presents is fun and reasoned together. It is a complex system of stripes that adorn the natural fabrics and enhance the technical ones in contrast. It is a light, material and concrete collection.
Bershka Spring/Summer 2019 Campaign
VIA Design Graduate Show 2019
Daniel Solano captured by the lens of Arthur Coelho and styled by Dana Fracalossi, in exclusive for Fucking Young! Online.
For his second couture show closing Haute Couture Week, Kevin Germanier chose to have fun.
Glass Cypress’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, The Ones Who Flee, is a meditation on movement, not just physical escape, but the deeper act of resisting what binds us.
For Oakley, it’s been five decades of innovation, turning science into design, and refusing to blend in.
Alan Crocetti’s latest collection, Hard Core Fantasy, is a deeply personal exploration of identity, desire, and self-protection through jewelry.
Francisco Terra’s 15th-anniversary collection for Maldito is a midnight ride through memory, a fever dream of teenage longing stitched into lace and rhinestones.
LARUICCI’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection bottles the chaotic charm of early 2000s Hollywood.
PRISMA’s latest collection isn’t about hiding but about what happens when you stop trying to.
HEREU is marking its 10th anniversary with Memory. A Play of Twos, a photobook that captures a decade of creative exchange.
In a time of movement and uncertainty, Estelita Mendonça’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection questions what clothing means when stability feels like a luxury.
We talked with Ziggy Chen to learn more about the thinking behind PRITRIKE, his process and his relationship with materials.
Take a look at C.R.E.O.L.E’s Spring/Summer 2026 backstage, captured by the lens of Spencer Stovell during Paris Fashion Week, in exclusive for Fucking Young!
Glenn Martens’ Maison Margiela Artisanal collection doesn’t just borrow from history, but it fractures it, reassembles it, and wears it like a second skin.
This weekend, Eastpak reminded us that backpacks aren’t just carriers of belongings – they’re carriers of stories, creativity, and identity
For Spring/Summer 2026, A. A. Spectrum finds inspiration in quiet moments, the natural ease of creativity, and the unforced beauty of renewal.
For Spring/Summer 2026, AV Vattev’s Bohème collection takes its cues from two iconic worlds: the effortless cool of French New Wave cinema and the raw energy of British music subcultures.
Concrete Husband talks about turning psychological collapse into industrial soundscapes, confronting darkness on Berghain’s dancefloor, and why dark techno is, above all, sexy.
Maciej Poplonyk photographed by Arthur Iskandarov and styled by Egor Telenchenko, in exclusive for Fucking Young! Online.
Titled “YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE,” the visuals strip away ambiguity, trading fantasy for sharp, cinematic storytelling.
We met Yoon Ambush – Co-founder and Creative Director of AMBUSH – in Paris during Men’s Fashion Week.
Les Benjamins has turned its attention to the tennis court with a new collection that mixes sport and style.
GUESS JEANS has officially arrived in Tokyo, opening its first Asian flagship store in the heart of the city’s fashion district.
WHOLE is a pilgrimage for the global queer community, a temporary world where joy, radical acceptance, and self-expression reign supreme.
Alexis Otero captured by the lens of Lucas Lei, in exclusive for Fucking Young! Online.
Levi’s® is celebrating Oasis’ long-awaited reunion with a new collection that combines the band’s iconic style with classic denim.
There’s no bitterness in the heartbreak here, just the sense that longing isn’t defeat, but proof you’re alive.
We had the chance to catch up with Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based designer Kody Phillips in his Paris Fashion Week showroom where he unveiled his Spring/Summer 2026 collection.
Dean and Dan doubled down on their love of fashion’s most dramatic moments, remixing 80s power dressing, 90s grunge, and 2000s excess into something entirely their own.
Gerrit Jacob’s latest collection, GAME OVER, isn’t about surviving the wild but about surviving the grind.
Telekom Electronic Beats (TEB) and 032c are turning 25, and they’re celebrating with a capsule collection and an installation by Harry Nuriev. Titled All is Sound.
