All about Urban Root Eco
(If you are a fan of the Spanish soap Velvet eagerly awaiting season four please do not read. This post contains spoilers)
I have been watching the Spanish soap Velvet, one of the great TV successes of the last couple of years. I chanced upon it in a moment of boredom, it's available on Netflix with English subtitles and other sites too, without subtitles, and I was immediately hooked.
Velvet is a telenovela, set in 1950s Madrid, the main storyline being that of the love of Alberto, son of the owner of Galerias Velvet, an exclusive store selling fashion and luxury accessories to the wealthy ladies of Madrid, and Ana, a seamstress working at the store who later blossoms into a star designer. They are childhood sweethearts but their love, predictably, does not run a smooth course. Around Alberto and Ana there is a whole range of secondary characters and storylines that give life to the soap.
The soap has already reached season three, with Alberto allegedly dead following a plane crash and Ana giving birth to Alberto's baby, whom she nearly lost when Alberto's enraged former wife Cristina - former wife not through divorce, which did not exist in 1950s Spain, but through annulment - had tried to kill her.
ATTENTION: SPOILER!
SKIP THIS NEXT PARA IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW
Season four, the final temporada, is now being shown on Spanish TV and it is believed that Netflix will bring it out on 22nd September. Unable to contain my curiosity to know how this long drawn love story will be resolved I did my research, went through all the interviews with the actors and the press releases for season four as also the photographs of the new series published by Antena 3, the Spanish TV channel that broadcasts Velvet and I can confidently say that there will be a very happy ending. This research had the bonus of improving my fluency in Spanish, it was a bit like doing an immersion course in Spanish listening and reading comprehension. Anyway, if you want to see the happy ending have a look at these images and draw your own conclusions.
END OF SPOILER
Velvet is unusual among soap operas in that the background and the clothes are truly showcased, they are what makes Velvet . Sure, the series The Collection , set in post-war Paris and focusing on the shady goings on behind the glamorous façade of a rising fashion house, also exhibits fashion but not with the same care and attention to details devoted by the stylists of the Spanish soap, nor is the process of making the clothes truly at the centre. I would say that fashion is the real protagonist of the Spanish soap. Velvet also focuses on that moment of transition from the made to measure to ready to wear, which Ana introduces - this will be seen in temporada four. Season four is set in the 1960s so we also see the beginnings of menswear in Spain. The soap does not discuss the political situation of the time but it highlights the socio-cultural background and the ferocious gender inequality of Francoist Spain, where abortion and divorce were not legal, and homosexuality could lead to imprisonment.
A lot of research has gone into making the soap. Here is an interview (in Spanish) with Helena Sanchìs, one of the stylists. I am giving below a gist of the description published on youtube:
Galerias Velvet are a benchmark of fashion, and of course, costumes are paramount in the series. In this video Helena Sanchìs tells us about the designs worn by the actors. They are based on the documentation and research compiled about the time in which the series is set , but trying to give the costumes some uniqueness, without sticking rigidly to the historical fashion. Many of the dresses were designed and made anew, others are vintage wear bought and adapted to suit the characters. Helena here also talks about the famous red dress Alberto gives to Ana, and discusses the period lingerie worn by the girls in the series. You can also see more images and read more about Sanchìs here
Velvet also clearly outlines the politics of the workshop, the tension between innovative designers and the conservativeness of the technicians of fashion, such as seamstresses and cutters, used to working in specific ways: the dynamics of the team working under a designer are exemplified by Raul's relationship to his equipe.
Fashion has changed tremendously, haute couture and ready to wear are no longer so clearly demarcated, most fashion weeks lean heavily on the ready to wear. Haute couture is now for the Oscars and such events, completely out of reach. Yet I still remember when as a young child I accompanied my mother to the Luisa Spagnoli boutique in my hometown where she would be measured and the clothes altered to fit her. It was already a time of transition but something of the older made to measure style was retained, as sizes were not standardised.
Sanchìs talks about vintage clothes and this is very relevant, in that fashion now is attempting to free itself of mass production and a new awareness is spreading among fashion consumers and fashion designers. Many emerging designers are reinterpreting fashion as being about valorising the old and renewing it and using ecological fibres, as Auguste Soesastro, whom I met in Jakarta, does.
I had the good fortune to model for one such designers for this current fashion week, Ruth Woldeselasie of Urban Roots Eco. I wore a 1920s bridal outfit, which for me was quite amazing, as I do not normally model bridal wear, due to the age imperative (as if older women did not marry!). Below is a snap taken prior to the catwalk, better pictures will follow.
In sum: if you are interested in fashion, Velvet will not disappoint. And don't forget, if you are trying to learn Spanish, this is exactly what you need to practise your language skills!
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