Cherry Massia's reappearance at Fashion Week: "An emotionally strong woman inspires me. The fragility of the feminine"

• JUAN DIEGO MADUEÑO

  @juandimc

  Madrid

Updated Monday, February 27, 2023-09:49

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• Send location (I) 12 hours drinking with Carlotta Cosials: "LSD start, at 17 years old, I understood the colors of Jimi Hendrix"

• Send location (II) Backstage of Pedro LaDroga: "Sometimes I think what I'm doing walking someone's dog, if I talk to Rosalía"

• Send location (III) The expedition of Camels through Malasaña: "The Resistance is increasingly ass, fart, pee. We would be freaked out to go"

• Send location (IV) Lula Club, Íñigo Onieva's nightclub on Gran Vía: "You can find Ernesto from Hannover mixed with anyone on the dance floor"

Cherry Massia commands location.

At 5:15 p.m. at the Feria de Madrid metro stop.

It is the last day of Fashion Week.

Emerging designers compete for the prize sponsored by Mercedes.

The city's

scene has emerged from Malasaña: the artist Charlie Smits presents his first collection.

Some lone wolves of the night prowl the accesses to Ifema in broad daylight.

Luckily the sun will set soon.

The designer Cherry Massia is actually called Irene Romero, she is 27 years old and in September she returned to her mother's house in Gines, the town in Seville where she was born, and no longer inhabits the fluid, street, bohemian

.

They are the first

: late teens modified by Internet references.

I'm 17 minutes late.

Cherry Massia warned: "I'm going to wear a Puma cap. I'm telling you so you can identify me."

Next to her, her boyfriend Kike, a 3D designer, and the model Júlia Puñet are waiting.

It is the first time that Irene has returned to Madrid since she left, the first time in the last two years that she has entered Ifema without a donkey loaded with clothes and the first time that she has met people who need to verify some traumas, some references and some concerns to open the ban on their territory.

.

As if Irene had abandoned this Erasmus prematurely, which is to live in Madrid with no other responsibilities than to invoke inspiration, breaking the sacred rule of resisting because precariousness and mental fatigue can also become a personality, the reunion is a bit cold.

He has 11 tattoos.

She wears fishnet stockings that appear in the middle of what they call

like a long burst of lights.

A Burberry

and jumper are like dripping chocolate over mint knee-high boots and a leopard print dress.

She has a flaming heart engraved on her left thigh.

The Blumarine bag "is a little gem" that she bought for five euros on Vinted.

17.32.

Júlia greets rapper Kaydy Cain.

Cherry Massia does not stop.

. The more I'm working, the less time I have to update my social networks. So people ask me if I've stopped or I'm no longer designing or what's wrong with me . The reality is that I run the brand alone. Before, some friends helped me out. You can't abuse it. Money is what it is. This is a world where a lot of smoke is sold. Most designers don't have problems

."

We stop at gate number 14.

17.46.

We finished off a few cigarettes.

Lolita Eno appears.

She is a photographer who creates hybrids of people and animals.

She shows the boots.

"I bought them from a toothless turkey in Florida."

She laughs out loud.

She will exhibit in Huertas.

17.52.

Irene forwards the entries to WhatsApp.

As she enters, she falls into the photocall pot.

"In our time there wasn't that much money."

Julia nods.

. I also organized a parade on my own at the Railway Museum. That was very good because I didn't depend on anyone. It was my own work."

Do you consider yourself emerging?

"I'm not emerging anymore but I feel that way.

."

18.02.

Inside, an acquaintance appears wearing a Cherry Massia sweatshirt.

"

", he asks.

We enter the catwalk.

"I founded the brand," says Irene, "with my final degree project. The first collection is inspired by

, Camus's essay. At that time it was grated. With that collection I managed to get here. I'm fond of it because It has given me a lot, but from that time I have bad feelings".

18.13.

People keep coming in.

.

On March 1, she travels to Paris with a handful of garments to the Premier classe fair.

She is preparing a collection of bags with 3D printed handles that she designs jointly with Kike.

"Love," a model who sits in the audience greets her.

He practically crosses himself when he sees Cherry Massia.

"We have worked together."

18.20.

Charlie Smits' presentation video recreates a video game with anime references.

The presentation lubricates the atmosphere.

Then his proposal is better understood.

," Irene adds under the music.

"I have references from

, from raves," she says.

"As a child I spent the day drawing. My mother came to ration my pages. I liked to create characters. She dressed dolls. Clothes are a message."

18.25.

sounds

.

The last model to pass is Samantha Hudson.

The parade ends: "See? All the work for five minutes."

Irene was a complicated teenager who got straight A's.

"I have always been very diligent. I like to do things well.

I don't end up at anyone's house until 12 in the morning anymore, but it is an experience that I've been lucky to have lived. That's how I've met a lot of people. My engineering friends haven't seen it and I'm a bit embarrassed that they've missed that interesting part. At least it has nurtured me. It helps

18.38.

Alejandre's parade begins.

"Look, this is Mei. The first time she walked the show, she did it with me. Nuriel is there too," she points out to one of the models.

"She Now she works for Balenciaga".

Another girl walks so cool that she seems to stop time.

She wears a pale pink outfit.

18.42.

"I don't want to say the name of the brand, but they copied the print from my second collection

. They made it more commercial."

18.50.

There is a queue to enter the

.

Kike does not have accreditation, but manages to go through Júlia's mediation.

"You always have to face it."

There is a

for Martin's Miller gin and another for Mar de Frades white wine.

Irene reaches the edge of the white wine.

. "

Kike and I drink gin.

The cup is concentrated in a short glass.

"

," confesses Irene.

"I had a strange story with someone who disappointed me and took away my desire to work.

.

19.08.

They no longer serve drinks.

Anyway.

fauna

is divided into different versions of Héctor Bellerín and different versions of Samantha Hudson, who has not yet removed the design with which she has paraded and poses and speaks and walks as a queen would walk among the subjects.

Here, deconstructing is a topic.

Dana, transsexual, is very tall.

-Love, I can't write -record a voice note on WhatsApp-.

I have long nails that shit you.

Irene greets

.

"She's my most talented friend," she introduces her to me.

10.19.

"Do you want the chicken?", asks Kike.

From his pocket he takes a McDonald's bag containing battered chicken balls.

19.21.

We smoke a cigarette in the street.

Many of the friends who accompany Charlie Smits decide to leave.

Among them, Júlia, who gives us two tickets for the last parades of the day.

"I hate fashion so much," jokes the designer.

"I think my armpit smells."

Marta Kornelski, creative director, has been in charge of processing our invitations.

She has produced, so to speak, the show.

She actually smells like impostor syndrome.

Smoking is another

.

All conversations end in the same alley: talent.

The concept is manipulated to atone for insecurity.

Talking about talent openly creates a safe space, a bubble in which everyone finds a place.

.

Instagram is the business card.

Everyone has them on hand to teach and praise each other.

Showing the profile is a ritual very similar to the one that occurs when two dogs meet: artists who have not yet turned 30 smell each other's followers and compositions and masks.

19.34.

"At the university I have given classes on the volumetrics of clothing," Irene tells Carolina Lindberg.

She flirts with the possibility of jumping to the other side.

A life without insecurities, with schedules, with talent protected, she hopes.

"

. In fact, I have entered a job bank at the Junta de Andalucía. They could call me at any time."

19.48.

Back inside the pavilion, no one leaves their coat in the cloakroom even though it's hot.

The wardrobe is free.

Irene greets a Tíscar designer, who sells her clothes at a stand.

"Cherry Massia? I'll find you now."

She has already removed the seal: Cherry Massia fits back into the world she wanted to leave behind.

.

"I didn't get used to living here. I looked out and saw other blocks.

. A very distant horizon. And the amplitude", he opens the arms.

19.54.

The stylist Chamo Armada is liking herself in front of a mirror.

Irene breaks the spell.

"How are you?" Chamo asks.

"I needed to relax."

They go through some common places when reviewing the

or

projects .

Chamo pays attention, listens carefully and underlines with firm gestures some of the concerns expressed.

I guess I'm attending the famous listening process.

"Do you come in now? Aitor is cool" and he searches the Instagram store for a couple of photos of Aitor Goikoetxea.

20.11.

-Before being Cherry Massia, I was emo.

Cherry Massia is a name from the Tuenti era.

Masia is my second last name and I liked Cherry.

-Cherry doesn't suit you being emo, right?

How

-Carolina assesses.

20.20.

We return to the catwalk.

"There were times when I couldn't get on Instagram because of anxiety.

. This job is screwed up because you can't separate yourself from your artistic vocation. Work and Life are the same and I can't imagine working in something I don't like. I've been the worst waitress in the world. I didn't know how to treat people. I have social phobia. I'm kind of shy. I didn't know how to carry hamburgers either.

She throws her head down, embarrassed and amused.

"After the pandemic, I decided to set hours. Before, he works all day. I just don't know how to do anything else. I have opted for this."

20.25.

The audience is different this time.

There are, above all, couples of men.

Miguel Valles, makeup artist, offers us two seats in the fourth row.

The prologue to the Aitor Goikoetxea show is a visual allegory of a male orgy.

When one of the actors gets a few drops splashed on his face, the visitors heave a sigh.

The atmosphere is, finally, loaded.

The first model appears.

"The first thing you look at is quality. How the garments are made is important. The second thing is that the concept is understood. You combine everything. The idea is the basis."

The sets are passing.

universe

."

Hedonistic?

."

20.30.

"I have my grandfather tattooed on my chest. He

crying when he saw it. Look, I'm going to show you my grandfather," he makes the feint of taking off his sweater.

"Oh, I can't. I'm wearing a dress."

It's dark around.

We may be the only ones talking.

I am obsessed with breaking symmetry. I am obsessed with odd numbers. Television, for example, always has to be in odd numbers."

20.40.

The next to exhibit her designs is Lorena Saravia, a Mexican.

.

To present a collection, designers must compose a minimum of 16 models.

"I do 21."

She wants to clarify something: "

. I want to find that strength in the emotional part."

20.45.

When the latest model disappears around the corner, like from the Safety car that everyone gives before the author comes out to greet her, we try to find the street.

A woman stops us.

Sorry, it's not over yet.

-Oops.

We sit down again.

"One of the most anxious moments was having to send clothes to California when I was in Chipiona with my mother. They called us. Kylie

. We had to make a shipment on Saturday. It had to arrive on Monday. In the end They didn't use them."

20.52.

They are going to give the prize to the best emerging talent.

Some gentlemen come out and an office worker from Mercedes, from the slope that LinkedIn sniffs out, recites a speech that sounds loudly formal.

, Irene inserts her words to that of the official sponsor.

"The press is not so acid and now it seems that everything is fine."

He sighs when he hears that the winner will go to the Mercedes Benz International Catwalk in Mexico.

The winner is Aitor Goikoetxea.

- Do you envy?

"No." She sounds sincere.

"This industry is so fucked up that you're glad."

21.00.

Kike is waiting on the street.

We walk the asphalt of Ifema while the Nacho Cano show is on: the pyramid was left in a tent.

.

We go down to the subway.

I give them one of the two cards I have empty.

On the platform, I find a forgotten package of Marlboros.

"As you have been generous, the universe is generous with you. When I started I was very upset because I was not selling and I felt bad.

.

'If you do it,' he told me, 'whatever you want will happen.'

So I concentrated on collecting a thousand euros of payroll for the first time.

Two weeks later, on a Tuesday at 3 in the morning, I received a notification on my mobile: a Russian woman had bought clothes worth a thousand euros."

-Those things happen,

-Kike agrees.-

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