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Madrid International Fashion Week

From
fashion tourist
aesthete to

Millionaire ventures into this year’s most talked about

fashion week in Madrid and discovers an artistic city that
walks – and not just on the runway

text Shalini Seth

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Botero sculpture at Plaza de Colón

W hatever else fashion might profess, it

never claimed that it would make you
healthier in its pursuit … till September
last year. “There is no such thing as a
fashion victim,” says Leonor Perez Pita, the director of Pasarela
Cibeles, the Madrid International Fashion Week, five minutes
before she joins those at the front row. She is used to questions
It is only when you
walk a full circle,
coming to the other side
of the massive legs, that
on the topic from most of international press this year after you see the daintiness of
doctors at the fashion event turned down five models for
being too thin. the lady holding a mirror
“We don’t want a teenager to think that arms hanging from
their shoulders and ribs that you can see at the back is a standard no larger than the
of beauty,” says Leonor, adding that other catwalks will follow if
they have not done so already.
side view mirrors on the
It is easy to associate health with fashion as you walk down scooters that still zip
to the venue of the 57th Pasarela Cibeles at Parque del Buen
Retiro, one of the parks in Madrid’s centre. Models teetering on around the city
high heels are not as visible as matrons pedalling away furiously,
dogs being walked, and joggers jogging. All around you, there is
someone jogging or power-walking in Madrid – on the sidewalks, move. “At the beginning, in September [2006], other catwalks
on the periphery of the park – at all hours of the day. The models, said that this was not a great step to take. Now Milano has
when you do see them, are impossibly tall, on impossibly high started taking steps. London has started on age of the models.
heels, but within the probable limit of thinness, only 0.5 less They want them to look beautiful. Probably they have not
than the WHO recommended 18.5 BMI, or body mass index. taken the step of measuring the body mass index yet, but they
Leonor Perez Pita is sure that the world will follow Madrid’s will eventually.”

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RUBENESQUE
Located in Madrid’s most expensive area by cost per square metre
is the vast Parque del Buen Retiro, where the fashion week is
viewed by more than six million people on television worldwide.
You are reminded of just how big the park is when you spend
a good half hour walking from one end to the other along the
city’s most expensive shopping street right next to it. “This in
the centre of Madrid. It is more emblematic. People can walk in
the Retiro on a nice sunny day and at the same time watch the
show,” says Leonor.
For a fashion tourist witnessing the world’s first “healthy”
fashion week, there are plenty of emblems. A particularly chubby
merchild sits pretty at the entrance. Rubenesque is not a mere
word in the city – Madrid’s Prado museum boasts of some of the
finest portraits of Pietro Pauolo Rubens, including “The Three
Graces” that also features the artist’s wife, Helena Fourment.
At the traffic light near the Plaza de Colón, you suddenly come
across a reclining woman. When you are walking down from the
Plaza, the first eye-level view is that of huge thighs and buttocks
seen from behind. “She is so sensuous and beautiful – this fat
lady,” Blanca Hernandez, who is taking us on a walking tour of
the city, tells us. It is only when you walk a full circle, coming
to the other side of the massive legs, that you see the daintiness
of the lady holding a mirror no larger than the side view mirrors
on the scooters that still zip around the city. Everyone is familiar
with the artist Fernando Botero, who is known for paintings
and sculptures noted for their exaggerated proportions and the
corpulence of the human and animal figures. If you are unkind,
you might say that no one in the fashion world had heard of
Madrid till they banned thin models. Be that as it may, it would
be a comment on the fashion world’s shortsightedness that it
has not noticed designers such as Miriam Ocariz, Alma Aguilar,
Andres Sarda, Carmen March, Juanjo Olivia, Kina Fernandez,
Antonio Alvardo, Carlos Diez and Jose Miro. The clothes on
the ramp make the cut – even in the state-sponsored fashion
week, which Leonor Perez Pita tells us costs the government >
Jesûs Del Pozo
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€3million. “The designers pay absolutely nothing. Models, hair-

do, make up and even their invites are paid for,” she says.

MORE THAN FLAMENCO

The designers have crossed Spanish shores to make it in markets
as diverse as Kuwait and the United States. Anke Schlöder sells
not only in Germany, Belgium, France and England but also
in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Alma Aguilar’s three permanent
showrooms include one in New York’s Showroomseven.com,
the only Spaniard in that prestigious space. Antonio Alvarado,
who settled in Madrid in 1980 and has been a part of Pasarela
Cibeles since its first edition back in 1984, is a much-talked-
about designer. Art overlapped a bit when he presented an
installation titled “Egomaniac” for the Campari Alter Ego
campaign last year in June. Mirian Ocariz retails from the US
to Kuwait, Japan and Greece. Elio Berhanyer designs for Her
Majesty Queen Sofia and the royal, Infanta Doña Pilar, amongst
many others. Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, who has a showroom in
Salamanca, rushed off to Milan immediately from Cibeles.
More importantly, Cibeles fulfils the prerequisite of a good

Miguel Marinero

The entrance to the show area

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Moving far, far ahead of In another take, Amaya Arzuaga brought horsehair on the
ramp mixed with laminated wool, cashmere and plastic. Her
the mandatory flamenco models sashayed around with their own hair wrapped around
the neck like collars, clad in jackets with backs or tassels of
frills, the designs take on horsehair – blonde or black.
Her show was marvellously well-attended with loud cheers
the asymmetric, high-waist and encouraging claps. In another deliciously Spanish take, far
removed from the rising snoot-quotient in other similar events,
versions of the bolero and are some mom-and-pop shows. As they clap vigorously when
are routinely inspired by an outfit makes it to the ramp, in the brand emblems or colours,
you can see the missed dinners that must have gone into the
Spanish art and artists making of the outfit. But regardless of how new or established
the designer, finding a seat on the front row never seemed to
be an issue here. You could spot someone squatting or sitting
fashion event – promoting a regional aesthetic. Moving far, far cross-legged at someone else’s feet, and no devils in Prada. Of
ahead of the mandatory flamenco frills, the designs take on the course, each time a white-haired lady came to watch the shows,
asymmetric, high-waist versions of the bolero and are routinely rumours went out that she had the most extensive collection of
inspired by Spanish art and artists. In this year’s designs, Carmen haute couture in all Europe.
March looks for inspiration in the women represented in Spanish It is not only the fact that the enthusiasts on the front row
paintings by Velazquez, Goya, Zuloaga, El Greco, Soroya, don’t think enthusiasm is blasé. The city is happily fashionable.
Picasso and Fortuny. All over, pink and orange banners with the show’s logo of >

Salamanca, the luxury-shopping

destination of Madrid

Walking stick figures demonstrate

which way to go

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 Elio Berhanyer

exclamatory heels announce the fashion week. There are as many varieties
of jacket on the streets near the centre as there are on the catwalk. And
hardly any are black. Red, hues of brown, patchwork, buff, purple – we
encountered them all. And even if someone is in regulation black, colour
creeps in in the form of fluorescent green ballerina shoes, a bright red bag
or blue hair.

FASHION SHOPPING
Salamanca, the luxury-shopping destination of Madrid, is just round the
corner; a mere five-minute walk from the park that is hosting the fashion
week, everyone says. If you need directions you only have to look at the
signboards that underline the city’s determination of “we will, we will walk
you”. Instead of the usual arrows pointing in the right directions, walking
stick figures demonstrate which way to go.
Two hours and some time later, we turn back having witnessed the district’s
commercial identity, especially in Calle de Serrano in the Salamanca,
known as Madrid’s Golden Mile of shops. Fashion, jewellery, footwear – it is
all there, with jewellery shops locked with shopkeepers inside, only opening
when customers peer in. The district, formed by 50 streets and avenues, is
arranged in the form of a grid in the style of Haussman’s Paris.
You will find jewellers like Carrera y Carrera at Serrano that has been there
since 1895, alongside Diesel, and Carolina Herrera who has a lovely, dark
corner boutique. Farrutx (Serrano, 7) is famous in Madrid for its hand-made
shoes. Hoss has some beautiful feminine styles and is a must-see. Amaya
Arzuaga, one of Spain’s top designers, with sexy, bold options for women,
also retails there.
Francis Montesinos Alternative, younger and funky hippy styles are found in the barrio of Chueca.
The main streets to visit are Fuencarral and Calle Hortaleza. They both start at
Gran Via, and head up towards the Tribunal area. The further away from Gran
Via you get, the more alternative the styles. We landed there one evening
and found everything from the Indian Ganesha to dosa being sold in the
name of fusion.

At Plaza Major artists pitch a

canvas on the street and you
can go inspiration-spotting
whilst admiring their work.
Diego Velázquez’s “Las Meninas”,
which depicts the Infanta
Margarita shows up on earrings,
Elio Berhanyer stamps, bags and more

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The centre between Gran Via and Puerta del Sol is bursting
with more commercial shops like Mango, Zara, Pimkie, Bershka,
H&M (on Gran Via) and the department store El Corte Ingles.
You’ll also find Top Shop in the Puerta del Sol.
Head down the Calle Mayor and Calle Arenal directly off
Puerta del Sol and you’ll find several women’s shops. On the
Arenal, look for Blanco and at Calle Mayor, 37 Custo Barcelona
– the über trendy store that clothes stars such as Christina
Aguilera and Julia Roberts.
ART ON STREET
A week in Spain can transform you from a mere fashion tourist
into an aesthete. Every square or junction has a sculpture hoisted
on it with periods overlapping each other. The Spaniards are
proud of the city, with official and unofficial walking tours that
familiarise you with everything from 20th century architecture
to art and palaces in the city. “I have been doing this for 20 years.
I love Madrid; it’s the best city in the world,” Blanca tells us.
The Centro de Arte Reina Sofia is one of the best venues
in Europe for major exhibitions. Its centrepiece is Picasso’s
“Guernica” – undoubtedly the most famous painting of the
20th century.
The rest of the permanent collection contains works by
virtually every noted Spanish artist of this century, including
An artist’s work at Plaza Major
Artist at work at Plaza Major
Dali and Miro, along with many others by non-Spanish
artists. Spanish masterpieces including Goya’s “La Maja
Desnuda” and “The Third of May 1808” and Velazquez’s “Las
Meninas”, as well as many works from the Italian, Flemish
and Dutch schools make their way on to souvenirs such
as T-shirts, watches and even aprons in areas such as Plaza
Major where artists pitch a canvas on the street and you can
go inspiration-spotting whilst admiring their work. Diego
Velázquez’s “Las Meninas”, which depicts the Infanta Margarita,
is a particular favourite and shows up on earrings, stamps,
bags and more.
“I don’t like souvenirs,” Blanca says when we ask her about
where to go hunting for them. What she recommends is better
than any souvenir we could have found. It is the 74-proof local
alcohol called Anis de Chinchón, a kind of anisette liquer
produced in the village of Chinchón, Madrid. Blanca says that
the secret of Chinchón is that it is sweet so you don’t realise quite
how much you have consumed till its effects become visible.
Chinchón is available at every supermarket. “It is very good
for health. You should have a little after dinner,” the shopkeeper
tells us, adding that the real Chinchón drinkers in Spain are
older women, ladies who drink it just for its curative properties
or as a digestive, and to stay young.
We just knew there had to be a health connection somewhere,
after all.
Park Retiro – the venue for the fashion week
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