Under the patronage of first lady Mrs. Michelle Muscat the impressive ‘Sacra Infermeria’ Hall of the Mediterranean Conference Centre hosted the much awaited Spring/Summer 2014 Feast Patterns collection from Charles & Ron.

Designers Ron Van Maarschalkerweerd and Chales Borg celebrate Maltese icons, patterns and motifs inspired by traditional festa designs in this colourful high end collection.

Fashion Stylist Caroline Paris noted the contrasts between the bright hues and pastels in her blog post, “Over the years, it always becomes more and more apparent that Charles and Ron love contrasta and to compliment the bright hues were some beautiful pastel fabrics.”.  Lorraine from We are All Divas went a step further in analysing their sources of inspiration, “The collection is cast in a palette of golds, whites and pastels like sea foam green and light lavender”.

Mostly admired by our commentators were a very feminine dress with 50s-60s vintage styling mixed with the Maltese grandiose prints and a laser cut pattern jacket with bold structured shoulders. Other pieces with lace detailing over sheer material were also very much admired.

At this show Charles & Ron launched their leather bag collection for the very first time. Designed in bright bold colours inspired by the blue sea and bright yellow sunshine or earthy tones.

Kylie Cassar wrote about model cosmetics “Make-up artist Justin Brincat created a dark background on the model’s faces, used gold dust on the eyebrows and accentuated the facial features by contouring and highlighting. He also put some colour on the cheeks by using pink blush and created soft smoky eyes with nude lips with clear lip gloss. The make up was dramatic and simple at the same time so that the patterns on the dresses will remain the main focus.”

C&R can be considered to be the top Maltese designer label and this collection has definitely continued to reaffirm this position. Many Maltese people felt proud of this label’s tribute to our cultural identity and Bianca Darmanin echoed many people’s perception in her blog post as follows: “What I love about Charles & Ron is that they always link and take inspiration for their collections from their home country in some way or another, and I truly admire that.”

Gayle Fashion Stylist summed up the ending quite nicely, “For the finale the model came out with a wedding dress which covered her from head to toe in lace (literally), fireworks and Maltese music gave the ending the touch it deserved. This dynamic duo really knows how to put on a show and certainly showed they paid attention to detail till the very end – I felt so proud to be Maltese.”

This event was sponsored by Estetika – The Cosmetic Clinic

A special thanks goes to:
Ms. Lorraine Cini Delceppo and Ms. Cheryl Camilleri from We are all Divas,
Ms. Caroline Paris from Caroline’s Fashion Styling
Gayle Fashion Stylist and Kylie Cassar from Passion to Beauty,
Bianca Darmanin from The Fashion Carousel,
The Clouded Revolution, Marija Debono from All Things Lady and Boffism
for their technical contribution to this post.