Weirdly, Roberto Piqueras is sponsored by Burger King in Spain. The burger merchants are so into him, they are paying his rent and are sponsoring his next collection, to be shown at London Fashion Week. Obviously, we had to find out what sort of fashion designer gets sponsored by a fast-food chain.

VICE: Why fashion, Roberto?
Roberto Piqueras: When I started learning about fashion what I liked was the idea that it offers a way of really being yourself and, at the same time, you can use fashion to change personalities. It’s almost like fashion allows you to be an actor everyday. Moving to Madrid from Barcelona also helped as Madrid can seem quite bourgeoisie, but actually, the nightlife there can be quite shocking.

Shocking, how?
Well, maybe you’ve heard of La Movida Madrileña? Post-Franco, Madrid kind of exploded. The city was all color and good music and people wanted to show off everything that was new and modern. Similarly, when I moved to Madrid the right-wing PP had just lost the election and there was a similar feeling of renewal. There was more color, more sexual liberation, and more gay rights. I think it all sort of came together when Spain went nu-rave around 2007 and you started seeing guys with colored hair and leggings.

Why the fixation with oversized t-shirts?
The unisex thing is partly practical, as doing all unisex clothes in only one size just makes everything easier. The oversized thing also comes from me being an obese child. Back then, I was obsessed with finding XXXXL t-shirts, which were actually quite hard to find in Spain, so I’m pretty much obsessed with that kind of shirt and shape.

I hear Burger King is sponsoring you to live in London? What the fuck?? So Burger King tries to be hip in Spain, or something?
Yes, Burger King in Spain is working with young fashion designers during Madrid Fashion Week. It’s not exactly ‘cool’, but Burger King are trying. I’m being sponsored to write a blog about my daily life and being a designer in London. I don’t need to speak about Burger King, but my blog does carry a logo. I’ve always wanted to live in London, but it seemed too expensive, so thank you, Burger King. I fit better in London. The photographer on this shoot, Alis Pelleschi, has a similar aesthetic and stores like Primitive London get that fashion doesn’t have to be glitzy. London’s a much better place to show your work than Barcelona.

How’s London better than Spain?
I remember being 12 and showing up at school with blue hair and looking a bit crazy because I copied someone on MTV. The other kids didn’t get it as their world was really conservative and straight. I really felt like I was alone in reading i-D and being obsessed with pop videos. Looking different is not a good thing in Spain, because somehow that says you’re in competition with something or someone, but I think that life is a race against yourself anyway.

Click here to see a shoot featuring Roberto’s work, shot by Alis Pelleschi.

TEXT: VERONICA SO
PHOTOS: ALIS PELLESCHI
STYLING: ROBERTO PIQUERAS