From Posadas to New York: Exploring the career of Palomo Spain

At the beginning of July, designer Alejandro Gómez Palomo, creative director of his label Palomo Spain, received the 2024 National Fashion Design Award in his home country of Spain, an accolade that recognises his revolutionary contribution to menswear, his ability to fuse haute couture and ready-to-wear with a unique aesthetic of Spanish flair, and his constant innovation that has captured the attention of critics and audiences internationally.

His talent has been recognised with awards such as Vogue Spain’s Who’s on Next and the GQ Men of the Year Awards. From his debut in 2016, through his collaborations with prestigious brands, to his television appearances, Palomo has built a successful and constantly rising career. At FashionUnited, we take a brief look back at some of the highlights of his career.

2015: Palomo Spain is born

After graduating from the London College of Fashion in 2015, Alejandro Gómez Palomo, originally from Posadas, a small town in the province of Córdoba, southern Spain (where he has kept his workshop all these years), set out to give a voice to men who did not feel represented by the prevailing menswear in the country.

Challenging the norms with creations that oscillated between Haute Couture and ready-to-wear, evoking designers such as Galliano and Christian Lacroix, he created his label “Palomo Spain”. A name that already profiled him as a potential ambassador of national fashion beyond the borders.

Orlando

Inspired by the classic novel by Virginia Woolf, he officially presented his first collection for Autumn/Winter 2016, entitled “Orlando”. This collection caught the attention of the cult store Opening Ceremony, which acquired the line for its locations in New York and Los Angeles, as well as CR Fashion Book, the fashion magazine founded by Carine Roitfeld, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris.

Debut at NYFW

Just a year after presenting “Boy Walks in an Exotic Forest”, with which the designer affirmed to FashionUnited at the time that he was going to “keep working hard and that I deserved that attention” he was receiving, Palomo Spain was invited in 2017 by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to present his collection at New York Fashion Week. With his “Objeto Sexual” collection, he managed to attract the attention of both critics and international celebrities such as Beyoncé, who wore a Palomo Spain design to introduce her twins in an iconic Instagram photograph in 2017.

Next stop, Paris

In Paris, Palomo presented his collection ¡Palomo, por favor!, with a small show held at the former Mona Bismarck American Center (now the American Center for Art and Culture), followed by the “Hotel Palomo”.

The halls of the iconic Hotel Wellington in Madrid were transformed into an impromptu catwalk to present the looks of this proposal, which recreated a hotel routine, from morning dreams to evening toasts, in a rebellious combination of irony and glamour.

International figures such as Lindsay Lohan and Pedro Almodóvar were in the front row, and among the catwalk models, Rossy de Palma, Samantha Vallejo Nájera and María Fitz-James surprised.

One of the designs from this collection was included in the exhibition “Camp: Notes on Fashion”, organised by The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (MET). An exhibition that each season kicks off with the traditional Met Gala, one of the most important international events for celebrities and fashion lovers.

A Great Master of Sewing

Between February 2018 and April 2024, he participated in six editions of the Spanish Television talent competition called Maestros de la costura, hosted by Raquel Sánchez Silva, in which Palomo was one of the three members of the jury, alongside María Escoté and Lorenzo Caprile, who guide the contestants on their journey to become masters of sewing.

His first book

In April, Palomo’s first book would be released, a comprehensive review of the seven collections presented by the designer to date, from his beginnings with Orlando to Wunderkammer.

Collaborations

Alongside Puma, Palomo would bring his signature style to the world of sport for the first time, a collection that would precede other collaborations, such as the one developed with the equally Spanish brand Bimba y Lola, which would be announced by surprise during New York Fashion Week.

In 2023, Solán de Cabras announced the launch of an exclusive bottle alongside Palomo Spain and Swarovski, incorporating the same crystals, synonymous with luxury and elegance, which he used to create the costumes that Chanel Terrero wore during her performance at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, where she represented Spain with the song “SloMo”.

It is no surprise that Palomo Spain’s distinctive style has conquered the stage, as his designs have been sought after by renowned stylists since his humble beginnings to dress celebrities such as Harry Styles, Rita Ora, Miley Cyrus, Rosalía and Madonna, thus consolidating his rising reputation.

Dancing with the Stars

In an honour never before bestowed upon a Spanish designer, who also shone with Swarovski, Palomo was one of the protagonists of the tenth New York City Ballet Fashion Gala, an event founded by Sarah Jessica Parker in 2012 to fuse talents from different artistic disciplines.

For this special edition, Palomo designed the costumes for the original piece “Play Time” by choreographer Gianna Reisen, with music by Solange Knowles. For this universe, he created a total of 10 monochromatic designs, in shades ranging from lead black to aqua green and burgundy, showcasing his creative ability on a prestigious international stage.

This has not been the only costume proposal in his career, as we have also been able to enjoy many others, such as the costumes for Silk, a work by Spanish choreographer Iván Pérez with whom he had collaborated at the Paris Opera Ballet with “The Male Dancer” in 2018.

Guest Designer at Jean Paul Gaultier

In 2021, Palomo Spain was invited to collaborate on the collection for Jean Paul Gaultier as part of a strategy adopted by Puig to revitalise the brand, through the reinterpretation of its iconic style and values by recognised international designers.

The designer participated in this collaboration alongside the design teams of Ottolinger, Nicola Lecourt Mansion, Alan Crocetti and Marvin M’Toumo, bringing his unique and fresh perspective to the legacy of Jean Paul Gaultier, thus helping to update the brand’s image and connect with contemporary audiences who value inclusive fashion and aesthetic experimentation.

Palomo Spain x Zalando and Camper

Recently, he has also collaborated with the European marketplace Zalando to create an exclusive capsule collection entitled “La Verbena del Palomo”, although he had already launched an exclusive collection with the Canadian luxury platform SSense in 2019.

In addition, he participated in an innovative Camper proposal, which consisted of a capsule collection of 18 unique models. This was developed collaboratively with 18 prominent figures and brands, representative of the most disruptive trends in the fields of fashion, art, music and postmodern cinema.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.ES. Translation via AI and edit by Rachel Douglass.