Last Saturday, September 19, a selected group of students from our Master’s Degrees, Diplomas, and Online Courses attended one of the most important events on the Spanish fashion calendar. They did so thanks to an invitation from Mercedes-Benz, which gave them the opportunity to experience Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid from a perspective that is difficult to access when you are just beginning your journey in the industry: from the inside.
Because yes, there were runway shows. But there were also conversations, backstage access, networking opportunities, new points of reference, and the kind of experiences that make you understand that fashion is far more than what happens during the ten minutes a show is on the runway.
A Fashion Week with Madrid as Its Stage
This edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid also arrived with a major new development: Cibelespacio moved beyond IFEMA Madrid, meaning that the runway shows were spread across a variety of locations throughout the city. The Greenhouse at the Arganzuela Crystal Palace, the Crystal Gallery at Cibeles Palace, several venues across Madrid, and Nebrija University became the stages for the 84th edition of MBFWMadrid. And, of course, we were there to experience it all.
The new Cibelespacio, located within Nebrija University’s Communication and Arts Campus, hosted part of the emerging talent runway programme. And, of course, Vogue College of Fashion enjoyed a privileged vantage point from which to experience it all.
The Mercedes-Benz rooftop became our own private viewing platform overlooking the catwalk. From there, our students were able to watch the shows by COTES, Isabel Is My Name, Karla Aguilar, and Miss Take, closely following the work of some of the names shaping the present and future of Spanish fashion while also discovering that Fashion Week is experienced as much through everything happening around the runway as from the front row itself.
After all, a runway show is not simply about models walking. It is music, casting, styling, artistic direction, production, communications, and a collection that comes to life in front of an audience for a few fleeting minutes.
From the Rooftop to the Backstage
While the rooftop offered a privileged perspective on Fashion Week, the backstage area was where we truly got closer to what happens once the cameras stop focusing on the runway.
The experience continued behind the curtain with two particularly insightful encounters. First, students met Karla Aguilar, founder and designer of her eponymous label, alongside Matilde Bliebernicht, designer of Miss Take. During a second session, they met Brandon Abeso, designer of Biyeyemete, and Javier Comesaña, designer of Apolineo Studio.
Through these conversations, our students gained a deeper understanding of the designers’ creative processes, discussed sources of inspiration, and discovered what lies behind a collection before it reaches the runway. It was an opportunity to hear directly from the people building new narratives within Spanish fashion and to understand that behind every look there is a story, an intention, and often months of dedicated work.
And that was probably one of the most valuable moments of the day. Because when you are beginning your fashion education, meeting the professionals who are making things happen is a form of learning that cannot be fully captured in a textbook.
When Fashion Week Becomes a Classroom
A day like this serves a purpose beyond simply checking Fashion Week off a bucket list. It is an opportunity to observe, ask questions, discover new names, and understand how an industry moving at remarkable speed actually operates. It is also a chance to begin building meaningful connections.
For our future students, that is exactly what this experience represented: an opportunity to get closer to the industry from within, to witness the work that happens behind the runway, and to begin developing their own perspective on the field they hope to pursue professionally.
Studying fashion is also about stepping beyond the classroom and seeing firsthand how everything you are learning works in practice. And if this Fashion Week proved anything, it is that in fashion, an invitation can become much more than a ticket to a runway show: it can be the first step towards your future career.
