NAME: Josep Font
AGE: 45
PROVENANCE: Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Spain
CURRICULUM VITAE: Font studied architecture at Polytechnic University of Catalonia "to please my parents," but fashion was always his calling. While pursuing his degree, he managed to squeeze in fashion and pattern-design courses at FD Moda in Barcelona.
BACKSTORY: Font started a namesake ready-to-wear line in 1991, showing at Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, and Tokyo fashion weeks. Beginning in 2008, he presented a couture collection during Paris' haute couture week for four seasons.
NEW HORIZONS: Much like Carven designer Guillaume Henry, Font has been tapped to bring new, youthful life (and ready-to-wear) to a historic house. After being courted by Delpozo—a relaunch of the 39-year-old Spanish heritage brand formerly known as Jesús del Pozo—he joined last year as its creative director. Under its namesake founder, the house focused on ultraladylike evening-wear and bridal gowns but was perhaps best known for its perfumes.
LOOK FOR: Optical-illusion patterns; exaggerated, scalloped 3-D pleats; and unusual color combinations—salmon with plum, hot pink with red.
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: For fall 2013, his second season with Delpozo, Font brought the collection to New York Fashion Week, part of a campaign for international visibility on the part of his new employer. ("New York is a window on the world," the designer says.) Indie trio Au Revoir Simone performed at the brand's show, held at Canoe Studios in west Chelsea, overlooking the Hudson River.
VICTORIA STATION: "This collection arose from two apparently opposite and unconnected ideas," Font says, "the organic shapes of contemporary architecture and the delicate femininity of the Victorian age." The architectural inspiration is visible in the outsize, mushrooming skirts of his wool day dresses, while a turn-of-the-century influence can be seen in the delicate embroidered touches on sweeping tulle and organza gowns.
FLORAL FIXATION: Flowers, that ultimate feminine signifier, are everywhere in the fall collection: Multicolored blooms snake up high-heeled booties and onto handbags, while butterfly and flower appliqués decorate eveningwear.
FOREVER YOUNG: Font pictures his customer as an ageless beauty: "Women, like art, have no age." However, the youthful, red-carpet-ready silhouettes would be perfectly suited to the likes of Emma Stone.
PRICES: Knit tops, $500; embroidered silk gowns, up to $11,000
STOCKISTS: The brand's flagship in Madrid, which opened in March (the company plans to open stores in Moscow, Dubai, Shanghai, and New York City); 25 Park in New York; Net-a-Porter; Moda Operandi.
Photo: Javier Tomas Biosca/Courtesy of Delpozo
