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By Cecilia Casero
ALEJANDRO PALOMO
Exaggerated artifice, exuberant ornament and a good dose of drama are essential to Palomo Spain, the firm of Alejandro Gómez Palomo (Posadas, Córdoba, 1992). His world is full of feathers, lace and charismatic volumes, so fantasy is, in his case, a daily diet to be followed with dedication and without any frustration. “It is the leitmotiv of my brand and, practically, of my life because it is something that I try to transmit all the time”, acknowledges the designer. "Getting ready daily says a lot about yourself, it's an opportunity to face life in a different way and fill yourself with the energy you feel when you dedicate yourself for a while." Because fashion can also be a transformative instrument, not only at an individual level, but also in the context that surrounds us. And the latter is even more powerful if possible. "Reality is too boring, the trick to enjoying life is to create your own universe," says the man from Cordoba.
“Now we really want to dust off everything we had in our closet. People want to dress up, put on the sequined dress, put on a pamelon and do everything that he has not done during this time ”, he affirms emphatically of this post-pandemic fever for returning to formalwear. Palomo, which held its last parade in style on October 7, has projects on the table until 2024: collaborations with international brands, a new edition of Masters of Sewing, plans to open its first physical store... It seems that fantasy not only inspires us, but can also be the engine of a profitable company, who said that dressing was pure frivolity?
ANTONIA DELL'ATTE
The escapist spirit is not only actively educated. There are those who also develop it because, without having it, they have not stopped pursuing it. Antonia Dell'Atte (Ostuni, Italy, 1960) belongs to this last group. “My mother was a country woman and she was divine, but she didn't know what fashion was. My father was very authoritarian and very jealous and he made her wear practically only black. When she broke up, she began to groom herself more. The first time I saw her in a bathing suit on the beach, it seemed incredible to me”, recalls the famous Italian, indirectly emphasizing that changes in life also translate into changes in clothing and vice versa. He defends fashion –or clothing, to be more exact– as a tool for self-affirmation, as the fastest vehicle for rediscovering oneself.
“Getting ready is something that has always come naturally to me. When I couldn't afford to buy suits from big designers, I would go to the second-hand markets and everyone would go crazy asking me which boutique I had gone to”, confesses the model. And, quickly, she clarifies: "For me dressing has always been, not a way to attract, but to feel good about myself." If you have to choose which era of the art of clothing you prefer, whether before or after Instagram, it is clear to you. “When I went to all the parties in Venice, the balls in Monte Carlo... I wore those suits –almost always by Giorgio Armani– and there was always an elegance... I keep my memory of before than with the excess of now. I don't like provocations for the sake of provocations, but I do like to escape from this apocalyptic world”, he concedes. Your own closet, as a gateway to escape.
LOLA RODRIGUEZ
Sometimes, clothes manage to portray us and even elevate us above our reality, especially when it does not correspond to our expectations at all. “It is something that I have thought about a lot throughout my process and my experience. From a very young age I felt that getting ready is something that helps you show how you really want to. There is a phrase that I heard when I was a child and that helped me a lot: 'Beauty is a reflection of the soul'. You don't have to dress up for others, I think it's important to do it your way and not by trying to fit in anywhere," reflects the actress. And she points out: "I started to dress for myself, to find myself and many times I did it at home without showing it to anyone." The young Canary Islander, who debuted with a starring role in Veneno, the Los Javis series, playing a young Valeria Vegas, has just finished filming the first season of Bienvenidos a Eden, a new Netflix series.
OMAR MONTES
An attitude that flees from the low profile and discretion that sometimes envelops well-dressed in its most traditional version. “You can go comfortable as I go, you don't need to wear a mega suit. You can also go elegant and classy in many other ways”, says the man from Madrid who, however, staunchly defends the validity of the dress code regardless of place and time. “The fashion people you are going to eat with deserve the same respect as the people in your neighborhood. You have to always look handsome ”, he sentences. A lifestyle –and an aesthetic– that draws a loyal legion of followers, as evidenced by the fact that he was the most listened to Spanish artist on Spotify in 2020, and which is now condensed in My martyr life, a biographical book; and The Little Prince is Omar Montes, a documentary series finalized by Amazon Prime Video. The frontier rules.
MACARENA GOMEZ
More and more actors know how to read the possibilities that their work offers them beyond the roles they choose to play. Walking down a red carpet is also an opportunity to continue showing your ability to generate reactions, and isn't that the ultimate goal of an interpreter? Macarena Gómez (Córdoba, 1978) has always been very aware of this. Whether alone or accompanied by her husband Aldo Comas, another expert in the battles of epatar, the actress is involved in the most playful aspect of her work in the broadest sense of the term. “When I pose in a photocall I do it with all the consequences, I participate one hundred percent”, explains the artist.
Her profession has a lot to do with this transformation process: Gómez approaches the clothes she decides to wear in a very similar way to how she prepares for a certain role. “When I dress up for events, I make up the character I want to play that day. I think that in daily life we all play a role depending on where or who we are with, there is always an intentionality ”, he ditch. That premeditation to which he alludes implies another of the most interesting parts of choosing clothes for each occasion: the previous ritual. "Many people believe that Aldo and I coordinate, but the truth is that most of the time we don't prepare it, we just agree," he confesses. Gómez, who has produced his first film, Polar, in which he also has a leading role; And they will all burn has just premiered in Sitges and the second season of 30 coins for HBO is about to start shooting. It seems that the Andalusian still has many characters to concoct for upcoming photocalls.
JULIA DE CASTRO
“I am one of the people who takes the least time to get ready around me. I think it's because I have a lot of basics in my closet but there's always a very eccentric piece because somehow I need that outlet. In my case, 'dressing up' is usually a single item of clothing or an accessory, like now in winter when I wear a giant hat. I feel more comfortable with a more extreme piece.” The roots of the artifice comes to the artist, who combines the tour of her album The Historian with her collaborations in the Radio 3 program Que seem an accident, from a very young age. “In my town, Cuevas del Valle, getting ready is said to get dressed up, and there was a woman who raised me when I was little, Ramona, who got dressed up a lot. I spent a lot of time with her and I was fascinated with all her accessories and her jewelry box”. Whether it's with a comb or a giant hat, Julia is not intimidated by 'dressing up'.
JUAN AVELLANEDA
The creator, who has just launched his third collaboration with Güell Lamadrid and is finalizing the details of his next collection, actively militates in the art of excess from his own firm, specializing in suits made of exuberant fabrics and prints. It is no coincidence that eccentricity and overwhelming character guide his world. After all, he is a fervent defender of the balsamic benefits of certain garments, almost always the most charismatic. “Dressing well empowers you and gives you strength. When you're having a bad day and you think: 'I'm going to put that on, it gives me a rush', it's usually not about leggings or a basic T-shirt, it's usually something a little more brutal. And it is committed to demystifying the label and freeing it from prejudices. “There are people who believe that the fact of getting ready is even something dandy. But not at all, it is a moment of fun with a very powerful playful part ”, he settles convinced.
LOLES LEÓN
“I am a drag queen because my job requires it. It is a liturgy similar to faith: my religion is transformation with makeup, clothes and wigs", says the actress Loles León (Barcelona, 1950) about the process that leads her, over and over again, to become someone different due to the demands of the script (or life, who knows). “For me, a television, film or theater character is not only the character they have written, but also when you are dressed, made up and combed. That's when it's completely built”, she affirms categorically.
The veteran actress, immersed in her stage show Una noche con ella and in the recording of the television program Tu cara me suena, uses her visual memory and observation skills to continue growing in her career. A skill that she has been training since she was very young, inspired by her closest female references. “We are three sisters and I am the little one. When I was a girl, they were already teenagers and they would put on some incredible dresses”, she recalls. "My mother was also a very elegant woman, she always wore black dresses with French sleeves, bateau necklines, high, very careful up-dos... She and my sisters were the people I admired the most," she confesses. A curiosity and a capacity for metamorphosis that, although she repeats with each new character, also becomes a powerful global analgesic in difficult times, as occurred during the health crisis. “There were people who were getting ready to go out on the balcony and applaud. That was the most beautiful thing about confinement ”, he says. Once again, dress up as a shield, as the best stratagem to heal your wounds.
Black dresses approved by a fashion editor who wears them all the time
By Mayte Salido
