Runway
Surkana, the Barcelona brand known for color, prints and a Mediterranean state of mind, presents Huipil, a collection built on the 2,000 year old Mexican garment. Creative director Pi Lara translates its visual language into fluid European womenswear, with poppy reds, grass greens and a duster that steals the show. Avessa came away fully converted.
Updated 03:07 pm EST, Nov 1, 2026
Published 03:03 pm EST, Nov 1, 2026
Photo Credits: Fuerteventura Fashion Week
Special Thanks: Sergio Fariña
Runway
Surkana, the Barcelona brand known for color, prints and a Mediterranean state of mind, presents Huipil, a collection built on the 2,000 year old Mexican garment. Creative director Pi Lara translates its visual language into fluid European womenswear, with poppy reds, grass greens and a duster that steals the show. Avessa came away fully converted.
Updated 03:07 pm EST, November 1, 2026
Published 03:03 pm EST, November 1, 2026
Photo Credits: Fuerteventura Fashion Week
Special Thanks: Sergio Fariña
Surkana is a beautiful Spanish fashion brand founded in 2001, specializing in colorful, free spirited clothing and accessories inspired by travel, multiculturalism, and a distinct Mediterranean vibe. Andreu Sala founded Surkana as a family run business more than twenty years ago. He transformed it from a locally inspired organization into an international fashion brand distributed in over 20 countries. The name’s history is lovely since it merges Sur and Turkana. Sur stands for the joy, color, and warmth of southern Spain, and Turkana (Africa) represents the cradle of mankind.
Surkana is a natural evolution of an idea inspired by travel, cultural exchange, and creativity as a form of expression. From the start, the brand has built a distinctive identity that is contemporary, approachable, and recognizable for its bold use of color and prints.
The brand is headquartered in Barcelona’s Poblenou neighborhood. Poblenou is one of Barcelona’s most vibrant and dynamic coastal neighborhoods, uniquely characterized by its striking blend of 19th century industrial grit, a cutting edge creative tech district, and laid back beach vibes. Amusingly, it is nicknamed the “Manchester of Catalonia” due to its dense concentration of textile mills and factories. Perhaps that is not a terribly complimentary reference, but I shall refrain from scoffing.
While Andreu Sala oversees the business as CEO, Piedad Lara (known as Pi) has led the brand’s creative vision and design direction since 2017. Under Pi, the brand rejects rigid, trend driven fashion, choosing instead to focus on functional, comfortable pieces that celebrate individuality, optimism, and freedom.
Her background in fashion, art, and forestry engineering shapes a sensibility where creativity, nature, travel, and craftsmanship come together. After years of developing womenswear collections, she combines in depth product knowledge with a commercial vision to create clothes that are true to Surkana’s identity.
The new collection is called “Huipil” and draws inspiration from Mexico, which I may add is a fabulous reference and not because I am biased. The huipil is a garment that dates back over two thousand years to Aztec and Mayan civilizations and predates the arrival of the Spanish by centuries. Today, it remains a powerful living symbol of cultural identity and female empowerment, and Surkana has converted this modest garment into an artistic resistance against fast fashion.
At its most basic, a huipil is a loose fitting, sleeveless tunic or blouse. Traditionally, it is formed by joining one to three rectangular panels of fabric woven on a backstrap loom. Surkana SS27 collection, extracted the huipil’s visual style and translated it into modern, fluid European womenswear. The collection also references Mexico through its palette. The colors in “Huipil” combine natural tones with vivid reds, blues, and greens, along with expressive prints, creating a rich mix of color and contrast.
The collection celebrates the craftsmanship found in this traditional Mesoamerican garment and transforms it into a piece of living memory. It is a dialogue between past and present, between Mexico and Barcelona, transformed through Surkana’s creativity.
All right, but what about the dresses and pieces from the collection? They’re simply gorgeous and undeniably fun. We at Avessa adore the glorious, vibrant color and the amusing references to travel. The overall style was sumptuously relaxed and aggressively chic.
The first outfit on the runway was an immediate eye opener. It was a matching two piece outfit that consisted of a fitted blazer, an ice white blouse, and a coordinating flowing maxi skirt. It was styled to create the illusion of a continuous, fluid gown. The outfit showcases an ornate, multicolored print that references folk and Indigenous patterns. The outfit gave a feeling of playful elegance. The print was glorious because it mimicked embroidery with its poppy red, grass green, and sky blue pattern. The cut of the blazer and skirt gave me a glimpse of an eternally elegant Lauren Bacall in her romantic movies of the ’50s. But the color palette and styling modernized the piece.
Another outstanding look was a bohemian, multilayered ensemble comprised of an open shirt dress duster and cuffed harem pants in blood red with a printed bandeau crop top, and a fringed hip wrap with gold ochre yellow fringe. The outfit juxtaposed fluid silk and structured cotton textures. This ensemble balanced elegance and cavalier elements beautifully. The model appeared effortlessly hip, eye catching, and casual. Which, believe me, is a very difficult design feat. This look was all about the drama of the dustcoat, and it wildly succeeded.
Surkana is steadily scaling past the €25 million mark in sales and, based on recent news, the brand’s next steps focus on aggressive European retail consolidation, multichannel digitalization, and product diversification. Avessa loved the collection and hopes that the rest of the world can see the glory that is Surkana.
Recovering from an obsession with Italian-designed menswear, Alfonso decided to take a deeper look into women’s fashion to see how our relationship among clothing, society, and business has changed. Educated as an economist with an MBA, he travels between Chicago, Miami, and Mexico on a search to see what happens next to fashion.
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