3 Trends I'm Shopping After Watching It Girls Set Their Own Rules at Madrid Fashion Week

I'm loving the rise of smaller fashion weeks. Outside the radar of major hubs like Paris, Milan, or New York—where things can start to feel performative, celebrity-driven, and focused on loud street style—there are so many other fashion weeks around the world worth paying more attention to. The newest addition to my list is Madrid.

I went into my first Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid with an idea of what I thought Spanish style would be, shaped by a lot of the cool Spanish creators I follow—colorful crochet, oversized jewelry, and maximalist prints.

I was very wrong.

What I found instead was that the women were polished, understated, and effortlessly cool. There was nothing performative about the street style. It was like they woke up in a silk skirt, hair in a loose wavy ponytail, wearing a jacket that reads vintage-store find even when it's Zara. The designer runways also reflected that same essence—less about spectacle, more about the actual art of clothes. It re-inspired me completely, and as an unapologetic maximalist, it's got me rethinking a few things this fall.

Here's what I've found Spanish cool girls are wearing.

Sheer Volume

If there was one thing I couldn't stop noticing, it was transparency in big ways. Palomo sent out sheer cotton organza utility sets and a diaphanous duster piled with fringe and feathers. Buzzy designer Ernesto Naranjo used stretch tulle, satin, and translucent layers to create what read as a liquid effect on the body.

What made it feel distinct from the usual underwear-as-outerwear sheer trend was the volume. There were billowing, voluminous pieces rendered in sheer. It's a far more forgiving way into the trend—and, lucky for me, I found the perfect sheer piece at a vintage shop that same weekend. Here's what else I'm eyeing:

Edgy Accents

As a former emo teen, I'll always have a soft spot for leather and studs—and I'm glad they never fully went away, they just keep getting upgraded.

This season's version: hard details worked into soft, romantic pieces. Calafat built an entire collection on that contrast—custom studs and hardware set against corsetry, embroidery, and burnt, raw textures, like something delicate had been through something. Palomo did his own version with studded rose motifs on denim and metallic studs shaped into florals—hard and soft sewn into the same garment. Meanwhile, Acromatyx pushed it somewhere sharper with body-hugging white tailoring that read more avant-garde than edgy.

The mix is what makes it fun—hard materials paired with something soft and romantic.

Feathers and Fringe

Fringe had a moment over the last year, and it's not going anywhere—it's just getting fluffier. As an early fan of the feathered brooch, watching Spanish designers incorporate feathers throughout felt validating. Palomo went full glam: fringed beaded layers and feathers covering sheer dusters, jeans, oversized boas, and even headpieces.

What I loved was that none of it read costume-y. It was tailoring first, texture second—feathers and fringe treated less like a statement and more like a great print.

I love being proven wrong by fashion. That's what makes it fun. Madrid didn't just surprise me—it reinvigorated me, and filled my shopping cart in the process. I'm already planning my way back.

Spanish girls aren't building their style around what's trending. They're just dressing exactly how they want, and the rest of us are taking notes.