The Asociación de Creadores de moda de España and the Community of Madrid, through the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Directorate General for Women, organized the conference “Hurray my size. Fashion and Health “, which was held today at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Community of Madrid.
Laura Ruiz de Galarreta, Managing Director for Women, and Modesto Lomba, President of ACME, inaugurated the working day, which addressed the important role of fashion in relation to self-esteem, well-being and health of women.
Sizing, nutrition and female stereotypes have been some of the topics covered by the sports woman Lidia Valentin, doctor Concha Vidales and designers Dolores Cortés, Juanjo Oliva and Nuria Sardá, in a panel discussion moderated by Marta Blanco, President of the Association of Friends of Museo del Traje.
For Juanjo Oliva “beauty exists when there is health.” The designer highlights the relationship between having a healthy appearance with feeling beautiful “regardless of the size which you have”.
Dolores Cortés and Nuria Sardá, designers of swimwear and lingerie, are constantly engaged in the research of the female physiognomy so that their garments fit any woman. Both are defenders of curves when staging their creations and choose their models accordingly. For Dolores Cortés, designer and medical doctor, “the paradigm of beauty has changed a lot and fortunately the health concept is currently taken into account.” Every woman has a different body and genetics and lifestyle affect their appearance. For the sports woman Lidia Valentín, who has just achieved three golds at the European Weightlifting, having a very muscular body is not in conflict with feeling feminine.” I am an athlete, and above all a woman, and I like to feel good.”
Doctor Concha Vidales stresses the importance of education on healthy habits as the main measure to prevent eating disorders. For the specialist in nutrition and dietetics it is vital that women take care of their physical appearance to feel good about themselves, but concludes: “We have to really take care of ourselves losing your head.”
Fashion is addressed as something banal and sometimes becomes the target of much criticism in relation to extreme thinness. However fashion is much more, “it is culture and industry” as expressed by Marta Blanco, President of the Association of Friends of Museo del Traje and online strategy consultant for various brands, during her lecture, she highlighted the changes that are taking place in the concept of feminine ideal thanks to circumstances such as Internet. “Fashion is pondering whether there is only one beauty canon. The diversity in the image of women is increasing.”
Silvia Alexandrowitch has reviewed during her lecture the history of fashion and women in the XXth. and XXIst. Centuries, starting her analysis with the suffragette movement and women’s liberation. She also discussed the consequences of the emergence of new fabrics in women’s wear as well as the work of revolutionary designers such as Fortuny, Coco Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent, who made their mark in the history of dress wear.
