Palomo, the 10-year-old Spanish luxury brand which has been primarily menswear, is shaking things up, most notably with the launch of womenswear for resort 2026.

In January, the avant-garde fashion house brought on Rosella Lopez, a former president of Figue and Cushnie, as chief executive officer. The company took on an investor, Jan Andreu — who is chief executive officer and owner of Andge Investments, a family-owned business group with various interests — to support the brand’s long-term growth and expansion. There are two other investors, as well as founder and designer Alejandro Gómez Palomo who retains majority ownership.

Further, Palomo moved its longtime headquarters from Palomo’s coastal hometown of Posadas to Madrid, positioning the brand closer to Spain’s fashion capital.

In addition, the brand made a decision to move away from runway presentations — which it participated in mostly in New York and Paris — to look book presentations, aligning with a more direct-to-consumer mindset and accessible brand ethos.

In an interview Wednesday, Palomo and Lopez outlined their plans for the brand, which is known for redefining the boundaries of gender in fashion although it’s mostly considered a men’s brand. The company will introduce next week women’s ready-to-wear for resort 2026. This shift signals a broader transformation aimed at offering more approachable, wearable pieces while staying true to the brand’s romantic DNA and meticulous craftsmanship. Palomo will continue to offer menswear as well.

Lopez, who’s a native of Valencia, Spain, said her mandate is to do “everything for the brand.” She began her career on Diane von Furstenberg’s international sales team and later moved to Ralph Lauren in the U.K. and Ireland. After settling back in New York City, she spent 11 years in different posts at Cushnie Et Ochs, and spent two years as president of Cushnie before becoming president of Figue.

She said she and Palomo met in December and had a quick coffee. “Obviously I knew about the brand, and I had a few friends who put us in contact. All my career I’ve been working with European brands in the U.S., or American brands in Europe. I have never worked with any Spanish brands,” she said. “It was kind of going back to my roots.”

“We met for coffee, fell in love, and I said, ‘I’m going to take you to the stores,’” said Lopez. She said when she saw his collection, she realized Palomo needed to do a womenswear brand. She said that within his collection, he had silhouettes for women, but not in the shape of a woman’s body. “How can I get dressed with your brand? We needed to conceptualize and bring women to the brand,” said Lopez.

Palomo said he was getting a lot of women as part of his clientele. They came to stores in Spain and tried on the collection and wore it, but the communication had been mostly masculine. “There have been women models present in my collections for years, and I’ve done collaborations with womenswear brands but I’ve never focused on women as a whole. Of course I’m not forgetting about my men….but that was something that was on my mind for so long and I knew I would get there. I just needed the support and the confidence,” said Palomo.

Palomo said his clothes “have always been so feminine, and probably easier for women to wear than men, but I’ve always trusted my process and my instincts. Since I learned from the beginning to work with a man’s body, I was scared.”

“Now I’m finding myself enjoying the process so much,” he said.

In describing the aesthetic of the womenswear, Paloma said, “It’s not different to what the men’s was. In reality, it’s the same idea. We always speak about this ‘Spanish-ism’ which has always been so present.” He said he’s from the south of Spain, and they’ve had the studio there and he’s been surrounded by flamenco dancers, music and colors all his life, “and I can not escape from that.”

“It’s a joyous woman. She likes to dress up. Having all my memories of my mom dressing up…..it’s all the colors, and the red lipstick…,” he said.

Asked if the women’s line is as flamboyant as the men’s, Palomo said he’s designing for a woman who likes fashion and likes to dress up. “I’m not a quiet, minimalist brand, because that has nothing to do with me. She’s a glamorous woman for sure,” he said.

In the U.S., the company sells mostly through the website. He originally started selling in the U.S. market through Opening Ceremony, which has since closed. He said his male clientele works in music, art, and other glamorous fields. “They’re flamboyant and glamorous boys who I can see wearing Palomo in New York and L.A.,” he said.

“Now we feel that these clothes need to be touched and need to be felt,” he said. If you know the brand you can buy online, but if you don’t, he wants them to see it in a store.

Palomo sells to stores in Madrid and online at Zalando, and it sells in the South in France.

Lopez oversees the men’s and women’s business. The sales director is based in New York. For the women’s apparel, they are targeting stores such as Fwrd, Elyse Walker and The Webster.

With financing from a new investor, they plan to do womenswear and take most of the team from Posados to Madrid, where they’ll be based starting in July. “It’s part of professionalizing the systems that they have. The talent is in Madrid. I need Alejandro to be near everything that inspires him,” said Lopez. They’re using many of the same people, and they will be hiring new people in Madrid.

“My team and myself really felt the need to get outside of the village,” said Palomo. “We had the luxury of working in the most stunning studio and being surrounded by nature,” he said. But it’s been isolating. Now, they’re near the culture and can meet and go out. “For the people who are from there, sometimes they might get too comfortable. Now they can have relationships with people in the industry,” he said. There are 10 people on his team, along with outside people such as a press agency and stylist.

Under the name Cocoon, the resort 2026 collection will encompass 28 looks between men and women, and is an evolution of the brand’s extensive journey — a reinterpretation of iconic silhouettes through an intensified perspective of southern Spain. There are distorted flowers, polka dots, and a restrained color palette along with structured poplins, printed silks, and rich velvets. They plan to show the collection in New York at the Park Terrace in Bryant Park on Tuesday and Wednesday. The collection will be available online on PalomoSpain.com, starting in October and available in select stores. Prices range from $695 for a top to $2,295 for a gown, $2,395 for outerwear.

As for their reason for exiting runway shows, Palomo said they had to “fix the business and change the mindset, that it’s not all about shows.” They spent all the money they had on doing shows. “I’ve enjoyed the process of doing a look book,” he said. Next February, they will consider doing a runway show again.

Palomo showed in New York six times and did another five or six shows in Paris. They’ve also done shows in Madrid. “We’ve been nomads,” he said. When he was 24, the CFDA invited him to show in New York. He’s been involved in NYFW for the last three seasons.

“New York is where our community is. New York gives me the energy. I like Paris of course. When I was showing in Paris, it was a dream come true. After living that experience, I realized New York was more of my energy,” he said.

When Palomo finished university, he went straight to do his own thing. “It wasn’t something that I planned,” he said. With his graduate collection, he had some orders from one store in London, and he started selling the coats. He moved to a little village for the summer to do those coats, and then he did his first collection and started selling to Opening Ceremony. “All of a sudden I had started a brand and a journey that wasn’t really planned. Now I’m 33, and I’m into the next chapter. It’s like 10 years after,” he said.

John Galliano had an influence on him from a very young age. Palomo went to London College of Fashion and studied menswear. “I was John Galliano-obsessed since I was 3 years old,” he said. He learned that Galliano had studied menswear. “That’s what I ended up doing,” he said.

For the year ahead, Lopez said the key priority is to have consistency. “To make sure we deliver a coherent, beautiful, wearable and salable menswear and womenswear collection three times this year,” said Lopez. And she wants to give the team the time to process, digest and learn. She said it’s important to take little steps to make sure they have a whole brand, not just menswear. They plan to launch footwear in stores in resort 2027, and handbags for spring 2027.

Lopez is based in New York. She said she’ll be going back and forth to Madrid. “The idea is also for Alejandro to spend a little bit more time here as well,” said Lopez.

Discussing tariffs, she said, “We create product that’s made in Spain. We’ll see. It’s so volatile at the moment. It can be 50 percent, it can be 30 percent, it could be 15 percent. We’re down for it. It is a big elephant in the room. There will be ways for European brands and Spanish brands to be present in the U.S., without having skyrocketing prices,” she said.

She said she brought in Andreu, who brings over a decade of experience in Spain working with different brands, as a partner. “He brought a lot of beautiful energy to the team, and the willingness and vision of what a beautiful, amazing talent that the world needs to see. He’s very much on board to make it happen for us,” said Lopez. Palomo still owns the majority of the company and manages it.

“It’s still my company we’ve been building with so much work. I still keep my piece of the cake intact,” he said.