Bárbara Goenaga and Fernando Guallar hosted the public closing gala of the 2026 San Sebastián Festival on 26 September. The event brought together figures from Spanish and international cinema and the country's fashion scene for the festival's official closing ceremony and awards night.
The red carpet also became a fashion vote: readers, not COOL alone, will decide which look gets the strongest reaction.
The final selection was smaller than the line-ups seen during the rest of the festival, giving each appearance more weight. The 2026 festival ran from 18 to 26 September, with the last evening covering the red carpet and awards presentation as the film programme came to an end.
Paz Vega led a group that also included Los Javis and actress Gabriela Andrada. Their appearances supplied the clearest fashion moments of the final red carpet, and those looks are now open to the audience's vote.
Agency photography distributed through Lusa and credited to AFP/EPA also places Vega at the awards ceremony in San Sebastián on 26 September.
San Sebastián's link with Spanish fashion has become one of the festival's most visible features. The city gives designers and fashion firms a setting to show their work through actors and other prominent figures from cinema and culture. Spanish publications treated the final looks as a separate fashion story, singling out Vega among the guests.
RTVE reported that Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care received the festival's top prize, the Concha de Oro, alongside recognition for acting and directing achievements. The official programme and festival coverage placed that award within a larger evening focused on recognising the year's films and filmmakers.
The red carpet marked the film programme's close and put each guest's styling choices on display.
COOL has changed its usual role. It gathered the looks that stood out during the finale, leaving the final choice to readers instead of naming the best-dressed guests itself. Readers will decide through a vote which outfit defined the closing party of the San Sebastián Festival, rather than rely on an editorial ranking.
The smaller guest selection created a focused set of looks tied to Spanish cinema and style.
