At 10 o'clock last Friday the Commercial Counsellor arrived at the Ambassador's residence, took off his jacket and began to disassemble and set-up mannequins. So, without raising an eyebrow, and this was not the first time he did it... Santiago Mendióroz, the head of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in France, and his team (Philippe Daifeli and Vicente Mañes), including interns (Anais, Jon, the two Adrianas, Ainhoa, Beatriz and Elvira), had already been trained in this difficult task during the previous edition of Made in Spain: La Mode au delà des Frontières. Without their help, and not just with regard to the physically strenuous work, we could not have carried out this action which, although presented as an exhibit (brief - just two days) is actually a networking operation between the brands of the ACME associates and the French fashion world, including specialized media as well as agents and buyers’ organizations located in the French capital. Without their help and without the Embassy’s in full, headed by Ramón de Miguel, the Ambassador, and followed by the Diplomatic Counsellor, Elena Pérez Villanueva, and many others (Jose Luis, Margarita, Aquilino, Lorenzo, Ricardo...). The list is very much longer and we will never be grateful enough.
The fact is that more than 400 people came by the embassy during two days of the exhibit, including the international fashion guru, Diane Pernet, who spent quite some time analysing all the pieces exhibited one by one and asked me for a dossier with eager interest. The Director of the Galliera Museum, Olivier Saillard, one of the world’s leading specialists in contemporary fashion, also analysed the garments one by one, and when I shamelessly declared my enthusiasm for his work -the Jeanne Lanvin exhibit which currently can be seen in the Galliera is spectacular-, he confirmed that he was very interested in organizing an exhibition on Spanish fashion. Hopefully I will find the funding he needs.
Magazines such as Elle, Grazia, Biba, Madame Figaro, Nouvel Observateur and Paris Match, also made an appearance, as did, most importantly, buyers from luxury department stores like Bon Marché, Franck & Fils or Takashimaya. And we should mention our "great Spanish artists from around the world", who also joined us, including the model Violeta Sanchez, who told me she was about to travel to Madrid to do a photo shoot with a renowned fashion magazine; Miren Arzalluz, fashion historian, curator and former Director of the Balenciaga Museum who is currently busy with more that one important project, or the internationally known Vincent Moustache, whose illustrations decorate this blog entry, and who has worked for DelPozo or LVMH, Zara, Mango, Editorial Planeta ... He observed and drew us while we drank cava, Marqués de Cáceres wine and enjoyed ham from Dehesa de Extremadura and cheese from Torta del Casar.
The next day, the new hotel of the Spanish group Meliá was being inaugurated with a major party in the area of La Défense, and huge queues had formed in the Grand Palais to see the Velázquez exhibition. Undoubtedly, Paris has an increasingly emphasized Spanish presence. Our exhibit was just a grain of sand, but we threaten to do it again next year. During his farewell to the ACME team, the Ambassador urged us to do so. After all, as he told the guests in his welcoming speech, Spanish fashion exported 2,400 million euros to France in 2014, compared to 1,300 million that the French designers exported to Spain.
Illustrations by Vincent Moustache