TWO of Spain's best-known clothing designers showcased their spring-summer 2020 collections yesterday (Monday) at Paris Fashion Week – Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada presented her trademark loud colours on surprisingly-wearable pieces, and Leandro Cano displayed his collage-effect arts-and-crafts-turned-womenswear creations which featured the works of traditional traders from all over the country.
Spanish fashion is notoriously overlooked on the global stage, but is a force to be reckoned with – its key designers are mostly mid-upper range, meaning they are affordable on an average wage with a bit of saving up, and a range of colours and quality materials would make them highly sought-after if more shoppers knew they existed.
Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada started out with bath towels, pencil cases, pens and dressing gowns in a bid to launch herself in an increasingly-competitive field, and her psychedelic tones and floral and heart patterns have now become instantly recognisable.
Her handbags can be spotted across a crowded street and, ranging from €30 to €70 on average, carry price tags that are far from élite.
Jewellery, pyjamas, scarves and other accessories are her main sellers, although she regularly produces small collections of women's and children's clothing, which are very wearable but never dull – as seen in the first photograph of her striped, figure-hugging strappy dress, which is suitable for a wide age range.
Tiaras and fascinators, lined platform shoes, two-piece pyjama-like casual outfits (second picture), and tube dresses with metallic fabrics and huge, flowing sleeves in shades of blue, green and turquoise were among her collection shown in Les Salles d'Hoche in the French capital yesterday – all of which are made in Spain.
The Madrid-based designer, who won the National Culture Award in March, points out – quite correctly – that Spain is 'number one on the planet for shoes'; its string of mid-range and upper-stratum brand names manufactured in the Elche and Alicante area and in the Balearic Islands are only part of the story; many other designer shoes sold worldwide as home-grown names are in fact made in Mediterranean Spain.
Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada works almost exclusively with women's and girls' clothing, since she says these offer 'the most opportunities' for creativity and sales.
Having maintained over the years that breaking out of the national market is incredibly hard for any designer, Ágatha is gradually becoming known beyond Spain's borders – she is due to present her SS20 range in Serbia in nine days' time and, last year, took part in 74 catwalk shows.
This year, she has entered top fashion shows in New York, Milan and Paris in September alone, but 'in an extravagant manner'.
“Although without doubt, this [Paris Fashion Week] is the most extravagant. Practically everyone in the dressing rooms only speaks Serbian,” she revealed.
Paris Fashion Week is managed by a company from Serbia, which will also run the show she has entered on October 10.
The designer herself, as well as her collection, was a huge hit with the audience: she gained a standing ovation for her velvet mid-length silk-collared dress in the colours of the French flag.
Leandro Cano called upon eight master craftsmen from Andalucía, Galicia, Madrid and the Basque Country for his flamboyant pieces (see third picture) made with esparto grass, ceramic pottery, and quilt with embroidery, macramé and wool, among other techniques and materials.
The Jaén-based creator says he uses his showy catwalk pieces as a springboard, or canvas, for the items he eventually sells to the public.
“Every year we make an artistic collection inspired on the birth of flamenco in Sacromonte in 1962, and we've based this latest range on a video made by a group of Germans back then,” Cano explains.
“We were intrigued by how foreigners viewed this folkloric spectacle that we tend not to notice because it's always been around us.”
Traditional crafts are 'the new luxury', Cano believes, and wants to continue in that line over the next few seasons.
He says French luxury fashion groups such as Louis Vuitton and Kering are keen to encourage unique arts and crafts and to incorporate influences from them in their own creations – and Cano himself has ambitions of joining a firm like this at the same time as growing his own label, a challenge he believes he would 'definitely be up to'.
