Rosa Clará and Teresa Helbig, two empowered and daring women who are turning 25 in the field of fashion at the same time, are the two protagonists of the new edition of Diálogos de Vanguardia. In a conversation with the journalist Joana Bonet at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona, ​​they talk to us about the contemporary challenges of fashion, one of the most polluting industries on the planet, and also one of the most active in the social avant-garde and with an important role of women in the sector. Between creativity and business, between sleep and wakefulness, her designs continue to flourish to give women a voice and attitude. To empower her, more so in these rare times of change.

Machismo exists in fashion since it emerged in the mid-fourteenth century"

JB- And let's not go back...

TH- I hope so. There are many proposals, many women, Maria Grazia Chiuri (Dior), Miuccia Prada with her philosophy of offering another story to women and we have the freedom to choose what we like best or what we most identify with.

RC- I very much agree that fashion has helped many women to free themselves from many things. You were talking about Cocó Chanel, yes, it was great. She changed us from the corset to the pants just like Mary Quant who put the miniskirt on us... Yes, she has served in some way to liberate us.

Fashion has helped many women to free themselves from many things"

JB- What is the contemporary challenge? Is it necessary to reformulate a new system that pollutes less, that is more inclusive and, above all, more sustainable?

RC- It is that sustainability has only come to stay. Every time we perceive in our clients a greater sensitivity in this matter. But the reality is difficult, it is very complicated. At the company level, we recycle, solar energy, we control plastic, we control paper, but when you go out looking for fabrics it is very difficult to find truly ecological ones. In wedding dresses, combining that they are beautiful, that they are ecological, that all the layers are, is very difficult, to say that everything is ecological would be a lie. We are with companies that are dedicated to manufacturing fabrics insisting that sensitivity is there. I wish we had those tissues, but we still don't.

It is still very difficult to find truly ecological fabrics"

TH- We are a small company, we do not produce stocks and it is another way of working. We don't make large shipments... yes it is true that this speech is getting through but that is precisely our way of working forever. I admire a great businesswoman like Rosa, but our system is very different. We make unique dresses, we make the fabrics ourselves in our atelier... it's a very different model.

JB- What is your connection with Hollywood, Teresa?

TH- Teresa Helbig is slow and she does everything little by little, but we arrived in Los Angeles... It was a wonderful experience, we had a great reception with clients and stylists... and when everything was at its best, suddenly the pandemic arrived . Now we are taking it up again without changing our usual system, of selling everything in the atelier where our clients come when we are not the ones who go to see them. But yes, Los Angeles is a place that drives me crazy. It is a place where I want to be.

JB- You both work with the family, are there conflicts?

RC-. Not at all. We are a multinational company with 100% family capital. My son and I are in charge. He is an architect, he decided to come here and first he prepared himself. He went to China for two years, he speaks Chinese...

TH- My husband is the one who keeps the numbers. Working as a family are all advantages, what's more, I live just above the workshop...

JB- What would you say to those people who still deny that fashion is culture, who still associate it with frivolity?

TH- I wouldn't say that fashion is art, perhaps it would be excessive, but fashion continues to be a reflection of what is the moment and has a lot to say. And as for frivolity, if you look at the hours... it's hard work, with a lot of perseverance.

Fashion is not frivolous, they should see the hard work behind it"

This year the vertigo of the blank page has been brutal, nobody got married"

RC- Yes, there is a part of art in a creation. I always say that the hardest thing is when you stand with your team before a blank page to promote a new collection. What you put on the blank papers has to come out, because then there are many people behind it. It gives vertigo. And there are vertigo every day. There are thousands of vertigo but the one with the blank page has been complicated by the pandemic. It has been something very hard. Very hard. It has been a spectacular vertigo. Nobody got married.

JB- How have you overcome it?

RC- With a war economy, but we are in a sector that has waited, the bride who wants to get married will get married. In the United States and England they go on vaccination about two or three months ahead and it is already noticeable that life is more normal. I think we may have two months to go but we are already there.

TH- The pandemic touched us, the Los Angeles thing stopped but I'm a pushover so to maintain the illusion and the team we set up Petite Helbig. Everything to sustain the desire and illusion. We also open our showroom in Madrid... in the face of bad weather, well, come on, we're going.

I think that here we need a couple of months to recover, we are already there"

JB- What have been your references in fashion? And why this asymmetry between male and female designers?

RC- In the life of a woman there is a lot of sacrifice being in charge of a company. There are many things that you leave behind and many are not willing to do so. It is neither better nor worse, it is simply a reality. We can choose our path and the one I have chosen has been to create my company, in Barcelona I have to pay a salary of 500 people, this is a panorama. Another equally valid option is that of those who consider that they want to take care of their children and that when they get home they find it. They are both very respectable and I would say that we are at a time when all of us (or almost, it would be unfair to say that all of us can do it) can decide which path we want to take. In a professional life there is a lot of renunciation.

TH- The resignation is true. But I think it really comes from way back. That have made it difficult for us historically. If it is seen in art, it is seen in everything. It is difficult to see painters. But there we are all with sisterhood and empathy.

JB- Carmen Mir, a dressmaker from Barcelona, ​​paraded at the New York World's Fair, and there are also Madame Grès, Jeanne-Marie Lanvin, Madame Vionnet…but beyond Coco Chanel, there are many names of great designers that have been diluted. ..

R. C.- But did they resign? did they choose? I do not know. In my case I chose, I don't know if it was good or not, but I did

TH- In my case, my mother's drill, always independent, and I already have that in my veins. I choose.

JB.- And the referents?

idk but i really dont even care about partner or else just thinkin about my future, how to save money, how to buy asset thats all.

— yes,💫 Mon Jul 19 14:28:45 +0000 2021

RC- They are emerging. They change like life. I have not had a reference, I have had many. I would say that the clothes that I have wanted to wear at all times.

TH- My reference Saint Laurent! I call him Tito Saint Laurent. I love it. Of course Chanel, Alaïa, McQueen... I have cried with emotion watching their fashion shows. There are designers that make me vibrate. It costs me more and more, I think that in the end so many parades, so many clothes... it costs more and more, why so much? We don't need so many clothes. Things have to remain with essence, well done...

JB-What was your relationship with Karl Lagerfeld, Rosa?

RC- I was very daring at that time. I thought of all these designers who are so famous and only make one wedding dress... I said to myself, go see them, explain to them that you have quality, the best fabrics, the best manufacturers, and ask them for a collection of wedding dresses. You tell them, I'll make it for you and distribute it to you. And so it was with Karl Lagerfeld and Jesús Del Pozo…Lacroix.

JB - What does the clothes say about who is wearing them?

TH- It's not what you broadcast. It's what makes you feel. It's like your armor. It is not the latest, what lasts over time.

JB- Armor is security?

TH- Yes, security, we sell security.

RC- There is a Coco Chanel phrase that I really like, it says a woman should feel elegant and fabulous. And elegant and fabulous is different for each person. That's why I think fashion is attitude.

It's not what your clothes say about you, it's what they make you feel. It's like armor"

TH- I like one that she said "she is never too rich or too thin, make everything easier for us".

RC- "Make everything easier for us" is a very important phrase for women.

JB- After the pandemic will we be more essentialists? Shall we exclude the embellishment?

TH- No, not the ornament. There is no greater triumph than that of excess. But we will exclude the 7,500 shirts that we don't need… and at those prices, it means that someone is very screwed on the other side. I believe and hope that we give value to other things.

RC- The pandemic is going to make us reflect but it is a parenthesis. I think that the no leisure, the no celebrations, the no no no, has made the I don't need, why am I going to buy it but when normality returns I think that consumption habits are not going to change.

TH- But you know who you are going to give the money to. Have some ethics.

JB- Has the sense of fashion been questioned during the pandemic? Who do we dress for?

TH- For ourselves, to have an attitude towards others. If you have an Yves Saint Laurent from the 70s and you wear it today you will be magnificent. It is buying things that are exciting and worthwhile. It's just that I'm a romantic, I'd love for a Helbig to pass from generation to generation, which is already happening.

We dress for ourselves, to have an attitude towards others"

RC- I'm more practical than romantic, really. In fact, we make collections for everything, for specific countries, for specific prices, for weddings on the beach, for weddings in the sun... absolutely for everything. There are also mini capsules in all the collections that contemplate everything. When traveling so much, there are many factors to take into account and we also try to adapt. This is the case of the suits that we make for Eastern countries that complement our collections with large diameters of skirts to adapt to tastes, for example. In general, all brides want to feel fabulous on their wedding day, but the culture, the weather, etc. influence many things.

JB- Does bridal fashion represent a strong sector in Catalonia?

RC- It has been. Leaving Spain with the Barcelona brand has really opened many doors.

JB-Have you received support?

TH- Never.

RC- Sometimes they came, I help you… but in the end nothing at all.

JB- Beyond producing clothes, what path should fashion take? There are large companies that are becoming generators of cultural content.

RC- I think that our main problem now is not that. The first thing is to get out of this pandemic. That everything begins to be as before and everything begins to work. It would be wonderful in the future but not now with the one we have on us.

TH- Accompanying fashion with other arts is wonderful. We made the first fashion films, A Heist with Helbig… doing things related to fashion is funny. Little by little we will have to change the way we present our fashion.

JB- Has the parade format expired?

RC- For me yes. We must evolve this topic, go to another story. The parade is not ideal today to transmit to my clients. You have to invent.

The parade format has expired. We have to evolve and go to another story"

TH- We will have to reinvent ourselves and explore other ways. Collaborators, fashion Films, short films… other things. We have to change because everything out there is changing.

JB- And marketing...

RC- It is very important. Essential. Will you let me tell an anecdote? I made Paulina Rubio's wedding dress and I've never told you about it, it was your fault. You sat me down next to her at a dinner party and you said, marry her, you have a good time to convince her to make the dress with you. Many years ago this, can it be more than fifteen? yes more than fifteen! We talked over dinner and then contacted. I made her four dresses! This collaboration for Latin America was great.

TH- We don't have a budget for advertising actions, but the celebrities who wear our clothes are our loudspeakers to make us known.

JB- Is there a lot of nonsense in fashion?

RC- Not in my house. There is no frivolity or nonsense. There is effort and work in all areas. It's a nice job because we do what we do, but nothing frivolous.

TH- Zero frivolity. This is very hard.

JB- When will you recover?

TH- The thing is reactivating very quickly. We are working like crazy in Madrid and Barcelona.

RC- I hope so, everyone talks about the roaring '20s... of course 29 came later. But I think that in September this will have started. I come from the United States and this has already happened. Biden said masks out and it is absolute madness. I have been to Miami and I have never seen so many people arriving from all over the United States. The flats, the houses, there is a great movement there and here I think the same thing will happen soon. In a couple of months this will be up and running. Of course, a year ago I said the same thing and it wasn't like that, but I calculate that in September it will be like before. Recovery will begin. I hope.

JB-Let's finish with a definition of fashion that identifies you.

RC- It is an attitude without a doubt. And being elegant and fabulous, as Cocó Chanel used to say, seems like a great definition to me.

Fashion is an attitude. And be elegant and fabulous as Cocó Chanel used to say"

TH- Make unique dresses that value craftsmanship, that last over time and do not go unnoticed.