We. Art. Custo Always. These four words appeared on several pieces in Custo Barcelona’s spring 2025 collection, specifically focusing on the punctuation of we and art. As the popular slang term “period,” where people actually end a sentence saying period to emphasize their previously mentioned statement, Custo Barcelona made its audiences think about what “we” and “art” could mean.
There is a longstanding debate on whether fashion is art, but Custo Barcelona is one of the brands trying to prove that fashion is art, in fact, wearable art. Is it impossible for something to exist simultaneously in the worlds of art and commerce? One tee shirt and one hoodie featured a graphic print of a psychedelic dressed boho chic type, reminiscent of a young Rachel Zoe, riding a bird as she sat among hot air balloons. One of the hot air balloons featured the phrase “We. Art. Custo. Airways.” Hmm, you decide.
Rachel Zoe at the height of her celebrity stylist career in the ‘00s when she starred on her eponymous reality series “The Rachel Zoe Project” on Bravo was one of the first public figures to popularize the boho chic. Simultaneously, the Olsen twins, Mary Kate and Ashley, were also purveyors of the boho chic trend in the ‘00s, as the two favored free-spirited pieces, like billowy shawls and chunky necklaces.
With the resurgence of the boho chic trend, and celebrities including Bella Hadid, Zoe Kravitz, and Emily Ratakjowksi, Custo Barcelona is given an opportunity to shine reintroducing and repurposing the boho chic trend. The boho chic look has also long had an audience at music festivals and Coachella, and many of the looks in the collection were Coachella-worthy.
Notable pieces that could be seen at next summer’s music festivals included a yellow halter neckline glitter cocktail dress with a flowing tulle cape, a green leopard print dress with billowing sleeves, and a white fishnet dress adorned with paillettes and a green tiered truffle trim hem. Trippy graphic prints which include a buffalo with rainbow dreadlocks to a monkey riding a bicycle in a field of corn also added an acid trip art aesthetic to the colorful collection.
With the timing of spring and the music festival season kicking off in April 2025, if Custo Barcelona is aiming for sales, this collection was a smart consumer move. If there’s one thing the music festival crowd also loves to do, it’s shop for new concert outfits.
—Kristopher Fraser
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