SPECIAL FEATURE. FLAMENCO FASHION. SIMOF 2010
The flamenco art
of dressing flamenco-style
Silvia Calado. Seville, January 31st, 2010
Translation: Joseph Kopec
Photo gallery. Flamenco Fashion
SIMOF 2010, by Daniel Muñoz
Everyone needed it. The designers
of the flamenco fashion show SIMOF 2010 needed flamenco
as music to inspire their parades. India Martínez
sang ‘Cielito lindo’ por bulerías for
the collection by Aurora Gaviño, Alicia Gil performed
Margarita Freire’s ‘Pasión’ por
alegrías, the shawls
by Ángeles Espinar flew to the sound of the packaged
“maraví” of Fernando de la Morena, Sandra
Carrasco rang out El Pele’s ‘Sevillanas del
pañuelo’ while Cristo Báñez’s
ground-breaking collection was unveiled… And the thing
is that, model after model, design after design, it became
more and more evident that the flare of a ruffled dress
moves to the flamenco beat.
Dancer
Asunción Demartos in the parade of Aurora
Gaviño
(Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
The
top model Eva González with a design
by Cristo Báñez
(Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
|
Most of these thousand-plus new flamenco
costumes will be seen, preferably original or inevitably
imitated, at the fairs and romerías (religious processions)
next spring. They will also be worn by many cantaoras who
understand that their stylism has to combine tradition and
fashion. And of course, after first being adapted to requirements
for dancing, the new trends will be reflected in the wardrobe
of bailaoras… and bailaores. Because this year, for
the first time there was someone who dared to tackle male
fashion. It was a black loose lightweight shirt by Huelva-born
Cristo Báñez, by the way, which was donned
the previous night by bailaor Rafael Estévez in his
performance at Flamenco Thursdays. But in this parade of
his at SIMOF 2010, entitled ‘Ahora’, he dressed
men to walk about the sands of the road, the white land
of the fairgrounds and the chipboard of the fair tents.
He made women look good with white perforated dresses, giving
them sandals and huge straw picture hats, but he also put
them in winding satins with golden gleams to make them sophisticated
by day (with sunglasses) and by night. And the thing is
that they are two roads which cross paths in most fashion
shows: the popular and high fashion.
|
|
India
Martínez sang for the collection by Aurora
Gaviño (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
|
But there are those who lean more towards
one of the two. For example, high fashion wholly inspired
the collection by Pol Núñez, entitled ‘Maestros’
in reference to several great designers. If the regard towards
Coco Chanel took the subtle laces of the ’30s to the
flamenco dress; the look at Courrèges trimmed the
hems and made the flares geometric; the look at Kenzo loosened
the waistbands and filled the fabrics with flowers and colors…
And he finished off with a touch reminiscent of Balenciaga
materialized in a spectacular black dress, flaunted by none
other than top model Nieves Álvarez. All of it, while
flamenco-style versions could be heard in the background
of songs like ‘La vida es rosa’ by Ana Salazar
and ‘Volare’ by the Gipsy Kings. And nevertheless,
that same afternoon Margarita Freire opted to delight in
the attributes of the age-old flamenco dress in ‘Pasión’,
multiplying the ruffles, loading up the volumes and emphasizing
the ornamentation. A perfect style to be moved and curved
by bailaora Lalo Tejada along the jet-black catwalk. And
all of it, while Sevillian cantaora Alicia Gil performed
a potpourri of festive cantes which turned solemn with the
performance by the dance pair consisting of bailaores Juan
Amaya ‘El Pelón’ and Marina Valiente,
both with a simple black wardrobe in contrast to the rest
of the collection.
Just like cante, baile would sprinkle many
more of the parades at the show which, according to the
official results, received a total of fifty thousand visits
this year. That so occurred at one of the most spectacular
ones in the show; that of Aurora Gaviño. The veteran
Sevillian designer presented a lively collection entitled
‘Galeón de Manila’, inspired by the stopover
in the Mexican port of Veracruz made by the boats loaded
with exotic merchandise, including silk shawls, coming from
the East whose destination was Seville. White as the base
color and colored ribbons over dizzying V-necks, embroidered
or hand-painted cut-out fabric flowers, lively colors, tone
scales, plentiful ruffles to finish off elegant long sleeves,
oversized accessories and the always-enhanced female silhouette
were the prevailing trends. But dresses weren’t the
only stars; there were also elaborate floral adornments
of ribbons, braids and butterflies in the hairstyles donned
not just by the models, but also the special collaborators:
bailaora Asunción Demartos, Azúcar Moreno’s
singer Toñi Salazar, guest model Eva González
and cantaora India Martínez, evoking the greats of
flamenco cuplé with rancheras por bulerías.
Crepes, satins, tulles, piques, perforated,
berry-shaped tassels, embroidered straps, bodkins, strass,
laces, fringes. Plain, patterns, stripes, checkers, polka
dots… from tiny to huge. Skirts, short jackets, blouses,
tops… batas de cola, trousers or mini-skirts. Long
sleeves, straps, V-necks, open backs, shoulders out, bare
backs. Low waists or high waists, broad flares or tight-fitting,
micro-ruffles, petal ruffles or false ruffles. Luchi Cabrera,
Juana Martín, Ángeles Verano, Pilar Vera,
Pitusa Gasul, Loli Vera, Carmen Jarén, Sara de Benítez…
or newcomer Antonio Egea, winner of the new creators contest.
And the thing is that if one thing is clear year after year
at SIMOF, it’s that flamenco fashion is varied, unlimited
and very imaginative. Sometimes, it is impossibly original:
who can put on that mini-dress of bottle caps made by Melisa
Lozano! And it also becomes fun, like the same Málaga-born
designer did in her series for punk flamencas, with their
crests, their blacks, their glitter and their thuggish strolls
along the catwalk. Cantaor Vicente Bernal, with rock accompaniment,
provided the “flamenco background” for Mari
Carmen Cruz. But before getting started, he told her something
flamenco-style which was extendable to the 27 designers
of the show’s sixteenth edition: “Olé
to your collection!”.
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