A Conversation with Maria Bernad

Fashion trendsetter María Bernad talks about her involvement in The Concept Hotels' latest project: Los Felices. The group's ninth hotel will open its doors in June 2024 and holds many surprises inside. Among them is a boutique called Les Fleurs, named after the brand founded by María, where we can find upcycling clothing and an exclusive vintage selection of garments.

This Alicante-born, Paris-based designer, who moves like a fish in water around the most important fashion shows in the fashion weeks of Paris, London and Milan, participates very actively in Los Felices, where she works as a curator and helps to put together the extensive list of designers involved in the project.

She was unequivocal about the most attractive aspect of the project: "It immediately caught my attention as it is the first time that a hotel has paid tribute to the fashion industry in general. There are other hotels dedicated to fashion brands but not to the sector itself. The idea of each room bearing a designer's name and featuring a design or sketch of theirs inside the room seems incredible to me."

Bernad founded Les Fleurs in 2019 due to her passion for upcycling, a term that refers to the process of taking existing or discarded materials and giving them a second life in a creative way, turning them into something valuable again. Regarding her creative process she said: "When you work with upcycling and a 100% zero waste concept, you change how you design. Instead of creating a design on paper, you adapt to the fabric, and it tells you what you have to design." It is no secret that fashion is one of the most polluting industries, and the changes in the new ways of creating fashion are environmentally friendly. Creating designs using existing or discarded materials favours a circular economy. It is a daring move against the flow in a consumer-obsessed industry monopolised by fast fashion. Upcycling is the flip side of the coin, the future of sustainable and conscious fashion.

Maria continued: "In Les Fleurs boutique (inside Les Felices hotel), you will find upcycled vintage clothes, my brand's garments and collaborations from other designers. There will also be a selection of vintage maison pieces and accessories on sale to complete the shop's repertoire."

Maria Bernad's chief purpose as a project collaborator is to bring her passion for Les Fleurs to Los Felices and turn it into a symbiosis between the two. "I firmly believe that when you work on something you are passionate about, it stops being a job, and that is what Los Felices, and the whole team behind this project, exudes. When I started my brand, it was a way to create my dream project. Here, the two things come together: Les Fleurs boutique is a fusion of my passion for vintage and art, my aesthetic vision and my interest in the circularity of fashion materials."

The boutique's design (still under wraps) will be as unique as the clothes you find there.