There are times, more often than not, where fashion is not glamour and a stroll down the red carpet. There are times, more often than not, where it is a laborious and demanding task carried out without flashes, though no less rewarding and satisfying. One such case is the collaboration that ACME has made with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, in particular with the General Department of Orientation and Professional Training. So we all understand, the popularly known FP. Being responsible for organizing SpainSkills, a sort of Olympics between FP centres throughout Spain – the winners move to the European final and then to the world’s -, I was summoned to a meeting. They had very few resources and they requested our advice and counsel to design the test of Fashion Technology, in other words, the examination that would have to be overcome by the students of design, pattern making, cutting, assembly, heat-setting and ironing. Who better than Moises Nieto! thought I, so committed to training issues, to carry out the job. I proposed it to him, not without some hesitation, because in addition to designing the tests, he had to spend six days, from morning to night, cloistered in a trade show compound monitoring and evaluating the tests by various professional training centres from 17 Comunidades Autónomas. An enormous amount of work. He, as generous as always, accepted and delivered with passion.
Of course, it was not a job that would make him famous, but he was aware that this helped to modernize the tests that would define the skills of the future technicians of the Spanish fashion industry, on the other hand, so in need of these professional profiles. By the way, he told me enthusiastically how well some of the contestants designed patterns. I foresee work for them with certainty.
… And from FP to Vogue, without transition, because a few days after SpainSkills was held, the prestigious Spanish magazine delivered what is in this moment the best endowed fashion award of our country, Who’s On Next. Among the three finalists was also Moises Nieto. He did not win, but he came close, and in any case to be in the final shortlist was already quite a prize. That night was the antithesis of the FP prizes; he was surrounded by the team in full of Vogue Spain, Mario Testino or Carolina Herrera: glamour in pure state. But, additionally, there is other very important news for the development of his brand, this being that Opening Ceremony Tokio has bought his collection for next winter.
Truly, I do not believe that collaborating with SpainSkills is neither better nor worse than being finalist of Who’s on Next or to sell your clothes in an Asian luxury store. All this forms part of the DNA of what fashion is and its world, and everything is necessary. So I want from here to acknowledge and thank the work of Moises Nieto, who knows well how to be on both faces of the moon.