The arabesque exoticism of the Alhambra has always been of interest to Vogue
magazine
.
In 1958, its French edition published an eight-page report taken inside the Granada monument with French fashions by Givenchy, Balmain and Maggy Rouff and photographs by American Henry Clarke.
Just a decade later, the same photographer received a similar assignment, a new photo session featuring the same setting for the US edition of the publication.
On that occasion, the objective was to show Spanish fashion through some of the
reigning haute couture designers.
of the moment: dresses by Manuel Pertegaz, Elio Berhanyer, Pedro Rovira and Carmen Mir were chosen by Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones and editor of the magazine in Madrid.
She did not select Cristóbal Balenciaga, by the way, despite the fact that the designer was at a sweet moment in his career and that she herself had worn one of her dresses at her wedding.
“This year's Spanish collections are exciting, with splendid cuts, purely tailored coats, lively shapes and good stitching.
Evening
looks in black and with glitter.
All photographed in the Alhambra, in Granada”.
Thus began that report for the October 1968 issue of
Vogue
, entitled
The Special Style of Spain for Tailored Days, Gleaming Nights
(The special style of Spain for formal days and resplendent nights, in Spanish).
That photographic session was carried out in January with the winter clothes of the following season.
Given the costs of the trip, the production team included a single model.
More than half a century later, those lines fit perfectly with
Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra
, an exhibition that can be visited until June 4 at the Palace of Carlos V. In addition to portraying the monument from Granada, the exhibition takes a tour of current Spanish fashion ―without forgetting Balenciaga― through 60 suits by those great designers.
Of course, it is also a walk through the influence of the Alhambreño space on artistic creation.
The first stitch in this exhibition is given by a worker from the Alhambra, Cristina Garcés, who comes across that report.
From there, Eloy Martínez de la Pera, curator of the exhibition, is the one who weaves the plot of this exhibition, which goes beyond that publication.
As Rocío Díaz, director of the monument, explains, “the Alhambra opens up to new exhibition themes.
It is a determined commitment to produce exhibitions with universal languages that attract new audiences to the Granada monument”.
It is about, continues the director, showing the ability of the monument to inspire disparate creative fields, sometimes writers, painters, photographers or, as now, people from the fashion industry.
The exhibition 'Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra' revives a photographic session for the prestigious fashion magazine 'Vogue' that was held at the Granada monument in 1968. In the image, a visitor observes some of the photos of the exhibition, until June 4 in the palace of Carlos V. Fermin Rodriguez
“This year's Spanish collections are exciting, with splendid cuts, purely tailored coats, lively shapes and good stitching.
'Looks' at night in black and with glitter.
All photographed in the Alhambra, in Granada”.
Thus began the report for the October 1968 issue of the American edition of 'Vogue'.
In the image, one of Elio Berhanyer's designs that appeared in the publication.
henry clarke
The exhibition features up to 60 dresses by Balenciaga, Pedregaz, Pedro Rodríguez, Elio Berhanyer or Pedro Rovira on a catwalk from Alhambra that would be incomplete without the contribution of three designers as fundamental as they are forgotten: Carmen Mir, Flora Villarreal and Asunción Bastida.
fermin rodriguez
That 'Vogue' photo shoot in 1968 was done in January with the following season's winter clothes.
Given the costs of the trip, the production team included a single model.
In this image, the mannequin poses in the Patio de los Leones in the Alhambra with a haute couture design by Pedro Rovira.
henry clarke
The exhibition is a clear tribute to a peak moment in Spanish fashion from the 1960s and 1970s.
The designer Lorenzo Caprile calls his contribution to the exhibition catalog an “explosion of talent” that allowed him to “break into the international market”.
In the photo, one of Pedro Rovira's dresses.
fermin rodriguez
In the image, a model poses with a design by Elio Bernhanyer in the courtyard of the Palace of Carlos V, the same building that 55 years later houses the exhibition 'Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra'.
henry clarke
In the image, two of the designs by designer Elio Berhanyer exhibited in the show.
fermin rodriguez
The objective of the 'Vogue' session in 1968 was to show Spanish fashion through some of the reigning haute couture designers of the moment: Manuel Pertegaz, Elio Berhanyer, Pedro Rovira and Carmen Mir were chosen by Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones and editor of the magazine in Madrid.
© Henry Clarke - Reproduction : Galliera / Roger-Viollet
In the sample there are three creations by Manuel Pertegaz, one of them is a wedding dress.
fermin rodriguez
An image taken from the report for 'Vogue' showing a design by Manuel Pertegaz in embroidered organdy with cotton ties throughout the piece.
henry clarke
The visit to 'Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra' is punctuated by plasterwork, tiling or photos with geometric figures in perfect harmony with the dresses on display.Fermin Rodriguez
Ten years before the 'Vogue' USA shoot in 1968, its French edition published an eight-page report on the monument featuring French fashions by Givenchy, Balmain and Maggy Rouff and photographs by American Henry Clarke.
© Henry Clarke - Reproduction : Galliera / Roger-Viollet
The visit to the chapel and crypt of the Palace of Carlos V, the space that hosts this free exhibition, becomes a half-light route that is somewhat labyrinthine, full of games of reflections and mirrors.
On its journey, the pieces of the great haute couture of Spain in the fifties and seventies show a fashion that surely does not exist anymore and will not return.
It is a walk between evening and wedding dresses or coats made with the best fabrics, sometimes pure fantasy, sometimes pure sobriety that, in many cases, would be much less lucid without the resource of geometry or artisanal ornamentation based on rhinestones or lacework that they wear.
There are up to 60 dresses by Balenciaga, Pedregaz, Pedro Rodríguez, Elio Berhanyer or Pedro Rovira on an Alhambrian catwalk that would be incomplete without the contribution of three designers as fundamental as they are forgotten: Carmen Mir, Flora Villarreal and Asunción Bastida.
The exhibition, explains Martínez de la Pera, "vindicates the work of these dressmakers who had their pieces in the great shop windows of New York and who appeared in the best international fashion magazines".
They were not, however, able to build a brand and, with his death, his name and designs fell into oblivion.
In fact, from those times, "only the firms Pertegaz and Balenciaga have survived their inventors", clarifies the curator.
The Alhambra recovers them even fleetingly.
A tribute to a peak moment of Spanish fashion
Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra
, explains the curator, has been assembled without the original costumes used in that session.
They have been impossible to find because they were sold and there is no way to trace their current fate, if they exist at all.
This enriches the show because, finally, it has made it possible to exhibit dresses from the same collections as those published or with very similar cuts in the Alhambra.
The tour goes, on the other hand, beyond the mere exhibition of these great textile works.
It is a walk in which the dresses are in constant dialogue with the crafts and geometry of Alhambra, a pleasure for the eyes.
The visit is punctuated by plasterwork, tiling or photos ―even a painting-sculpture by Manuel Rivera from Granada, creator of the artistic collective El Paso― with geometric figures in perfect harmony with the dresses on display.
One of Pertegaz's dresses in the exhibition 'Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra' in the Carlos V palace (Granada).
fermin rodriguez
The exhibition starts with Henry Clarke, but is finally a tribute to a peak moment in Spanish fashion.
It is a fashion that, in the 1960s, experienced what the designer Lorenzo Caprile calls an "explosion of talent" in his contribution to the exhibition catalogue, which allowed him to "break into the international market."
“It was shown and distributed in the United States and Europe, and was in serious competition with France, the biggest seller of high fashion at the time.
For international buyers, Spain was a very attractive country, because they could acquire, for a very low price compared to France, Italy or the United States, garments of an even higher quality than those sold in the Paris workshops," she explains. .
The talent is seen on the
Alhambra catwalk
, with some especially
delicatessen scenes.
For example, the last two.
Down there, in the crypt of the chapel that Carlos V had built on his honeymoon trip to Granada, the photographs from the
Vogue report are displayed in large format
.
And next to them, some heritage pieces from the Alhambra and five dresses: two creations by Elio Berhanyer ―one for a party in gros de Nápoles in navy blue cotton decorated with suns arranged in a checkerboard pattern and another for evening in silk crepe covered with sequins. plastic—and three from Pertegaz—a wedding dress and two party dresses in embroidered organdy with cotton bows throughout the piece.
They make up the latest and best possible stitching for this exhibition that recalls forgotten moments in Spanish fashion and how Nasrid beauty can be combined with any artistic manifestation.
Exhibition:
Henry Clarke and Spanish fashion under the influence of the Alhambra.
Place:
Palace of Carlos V. Alhambra in Granada.
Hours:
From March 2 to 31: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
From April 1 to June 4: 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Price:
Free.