Colombia: Eye on Fashion Week  · Global Voices
Lully

Fashion fair Colombiamoda was held in the city of Medellin between July 24 and 26, 2012. The event, held since 1990, is a space for the marketing of products related to fashion, and is complemented by over 25 runways and a pavilion with academic conferences that take place during the three-day fair.
Colombiamoda has had the participation of major companies and national and international guests, like designers Lina Cantillo, Ronaldo Fraga, Walter Rodrigues, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Loewe Fashion House, and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.
Photo: Lully, July 25, 2012
Some events during the fair had little media coverage, like a protest by a group of trade unionists [es] from the textile sector at the entrance to the fair to demand better working conditions.
Blogs mostly advertised [es] the fair, invited [es] people to attend, or republished [es] articles by traditional media. Some blogs like Why Medellin reports positive balances, and in his blog Fashiontaster, Juan Diego Perdomo posts runway pictures of the 2013 Spring-Summer Collection by Dario Cardenas.
In his blog El Momento Contruido, Jose Luis Ruiz discusses other aspects [es] of the event, like the visit of President Juan Manuel Santos:
Vino el presi, Llego tarde. Como se puede hablar de cumplir cuando se llega tarde a una cita. Nos mermo la productividad, que por cierto de eso estaba el hablando. Sera por eso que decimos que este país tiene tantos retrasos.
He also questions the Mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo:
Photo: Lully, July 25, 2012
Vuelvo y pregunto: ¿hay algún estimulo específico para la fotografía de moda por parte de la alcaldía?
Ruiz also comments on the university fashion shows, specifically the show by the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB):
Fue ayer el desfile de la UPB, se repitieron los, a mi criterio, mismos errores de puesta en escena de sus antecesores, les abono que somos la universidad con menos experiencia en estos menesteres, los otros llevan haciéndolo varios años ya.
Finally, Ruiz refers to badges to enter the fair:
No sé si notaron, las escarapelas no tenían número de cedula, la piden a la entrada pero para chequear el nombre y en muchos casos solo tiene primer nombre y apellido. Conclusión: es una escarapela para ti y tus homónimos.
Companies [es] and individuals [es] specializing in fashion used Twitter to share information about the event. However, several users also criticized [es] various aspects [es] of Colombiamoda. Others commented [es] on the beauty of the women present at the fair, and some said they didn't know about the event [es] or had no knowledge of the fabrics used [es] by the models.
While some celebrated [es] that Colombiamoda became a local Trending Topic on Twitter, others like Alejandro Cano (@ AlejandroCanoAr) [es] think that the coverage of the event through social networks was not enough:
@AlejandroCanoAr: Creo q #Colombiamoda se rajó en las redes sociales. Les faltó metérsela. Y es q una feria tan importante no logré ser TT grave.
However, several citizens and online media helped cover the fair. Photography website Demotix, for example, shared pictures of the event, and several virtual meetings (hangouts) with different personalities from the world of fashion were held on  Google + [es]. Furthermore, as highlighted [es] by Alejandro Brofft (@ AlejandroBrofft) [es], 75,000 people followed the Pavilion of Knowledge [es] (lectures on fashion) via livestream.