As in other major cities of the world, Lima celebrates its own Fashion Week, which aims to showcase and promote the work of talented local designers. In fact Lima Fashion Week or LIF Week has just celebrated its second anniversary with a very successful show opened by the Spanish designer Adolfo Dominguez and featuring the designs of acclaimed local fashion designers such as Gerado Privat, Sitka Semsch, Noe Bernacelli and Ani Alvarez Calderon, among others.

The event was held on the grounds of the Jockey Club del Peru in Monterrico and, as always, was directed and organized by Efraín Salas Vinatea with the sponsorship and support of PromPerú.

This years LIF Week attracted approximately 1,500 foreign visitors to the event and overall 10,000 people attended this year as part of several events programmed on those dates. This was a very important week, during which our designers were given the opportunity to present their work and talents and facilitate a gateway for fashion from creation to consumer.

Perú is a country that has a long textile history and in terms of fashion and design, we have slowly become world-class, giving fashion in Perú a more serious status.

The special guest designer this year to the opening of the LIF week was Adolfo Dominguez from Spain, who presented his Spring collection. I loved the colors, the prints and the flowy feeling of the whole collection.

A model displays part of Adolfo Dominguez\‘s spring collection

The designers participating in Lima Fashion Week 2012 were Ani Alvarez Calderòn, Sumy Kujòn, Edward Venero, Jorge Luis Salinas, Noè Bernacelli, Gerardo Privat, Ana Maria Guiulfo, Fatima Arrieta, Claudia Jimènez, Andrea Llosa, Sitka Semsch and Jimena Mujica, with her designer handbag collection.

Every designer demonstrated his or her great talent. Some, like Sumy Kujón, used Peruvian fibers such as baby alpaca for their modern and trendy fashion designs. Her designs were inspired by Haikus and other Japanese poems, with simple designs evoking on the trees, leaves and branches.

Others, like Gerardo Privat and Noè Bernacelli, presented a more haute design aesthetic, with stunning details and flawless designs.

Privat says that he designs for "the independant ,strong and powerful woman". He always thinks of his clients and puts his heart and soul into every design.

The Noé Bernacelli collection had a very classic and Romantic feel, accomplished by his use of transparent fabrics and hand-sewn details and textures in his designs with a great sense of taste and execution.

Noé Bernacelli\‘s collection

Jorge Luis Salinas showed us a whole new way to use denim with amazing dresses and Edward Venero reinvented patriotic symbols in his designs.

This LIF week showcased the talents and success of numerous Peruvian female fashion designers such as Sitka Semsch who has previously presented her designs in Russia. Her collection featured the used of sequins and shimmer, using beautiful copper and silver buckles as accents for her clothes.

One of Sitka Semsch\‘s designs

Ani Alvares Calderón tried to recreate a dream and a message of freedom in her collection, showing some prints, hand embroidery and transparency on her designs.

Fatima Arrieta’s collection was inspired by silver studs and silver filigree elements that helped her to create a beautiful collection of dresses, with the application of metal wires and woven sheets simulating a belt on some of her dresses.

Fatima Arrieta\‘s collection

Andrea Llosa, a newcomer to the LIF week, brought us back to the basic black, playing with masculine/feminine straight line style designs, using solid colors and textures. Jimena Mujica, also a first time participant, delighted us with her trendy collection of handbags.

Claudia Jimènez took the city with her modern, chic and practical designs for women, and finally, there was Ana Maria Guiulfo, who stated that her LIF week collection was inspired by the luxury and femininity of the 50s, with a modern edge.

Ana Guiulfo\‘s collection

Lima fashion week encourages us to learn about our local fashion designers, their amazing work and the dedication that they invest in every collection. LIF week 2012 confirmed the local talent, innovation and the high standards of fashion design in this country.