Raquel Sánchez Silva and his shocking top with Bilbao label in 'Sewing Masters'
MARY CALVO
Raquel Sánchez Silva has successfully hosted 'Maestros de la Costura' for four seasons, the TVE 'talent' that seeks the best amateur dressmaker in our country. Together with a demanding jury made up of Lorenzo Caprile, María Escoté and Palomo Spain, the presenter faces a new challenge every week on the small screen, where apprentices demonstrate their skills between patterns and sewing machines. In each of the programs important figures from the textile industry attend as guests, who, in addition to offering their particular vision of the sector, dress the journalist with their best designs. It doesn't matter if it's a larterana suit or a two-piece by Lydia Delgado, an architectural dress by Andrés Sardá or a vintage model by Pedro del Hierro, the woman from Placenta defends each of these looks in such a masterful way that she is already considered one of the great ambassadors of Spanish fashion.
Apart from the tests themselves, and as happens with other television presenters and collaborators such as Nuria Roca or Tamara Falcó, Sánchez Silva's outfits become the most commented thing on social networks every Monday. And in this last program it was not going to be less, since he has worn one of the most impressive designs that we have seen in the entire journey of Masters of Sewing. Coincidentally, it is a creation by his partner, Palomo Spain for his eleventh collection, 'The Rehearsal', in which he had the invaluable help of the Bilbao milliner Mariana Barturen to carry it out. It is a green feather top with apparently wild flowers that carries an implicit message behind its surprising structure: that of evoking that wild nature that made its way in the empty streets during confinement.
More than just pieces of clothing, the Cordovan designer wanted to reflect on this collection, which he presented as a 'fashion film' with documentary overtones in the first digital edition in the history of Paris Fashion Week. The Andalusian emphasized how the Covid-19 robbed us last spring, in which we saw how life made its way through our windows again. An absent and wild spring that revived between cobblestones, cracks and tar and that Alejandro Gómez Palomo wanted to capture in his work, counting on the skill of Barturen, the person who perhaps best knows the art of making flowers on the circuit of Fashion.
The result of their synergy has been a collection of poppies, daisies, wild flowers, stems and green sedges that come out of the seams, that grow in impossible openings and indiscreet zippers, that climb over suit jackets, sequined dresses and volumes of taffeta and poplin, like those unusual forms of life that have made their way in the ditches. Far from what it may seem, these flowers are not natural, they are small Haute Couture pieces made in Mariana's magical workshop. It is located at number 56 Príncipe de Vergara street and it is a space that is worth visiting, made up of unique machinery from the 40s from which authentic jewels emerge.
Specifically, these flowers worn by the top that Raquel Sánchez Silva defends are made of silk and cotton, dyed by hand one by one and also wired by hand with different qualities of wire so that they maintain their shape. “We didn't want them to stick to the fabric. We wanted to achieve a very specific effect, as if pushed outwards. As if the fabric were the cement and the flower emerged from it at 90 degrees. It has been a very laborious assembly job, ”explains the Biscayan.
The milliner from Bilbao has also attended the set as an exceptional guest, giving a master class in her 'savoir faire' to all the contestants and putting the audience in the pocket thanks to that passion that she exudes for her work. She, without leaving the world of flowers aside, wore a velvet kimono printed with the unmistakable seal of Ailanto, the signature of the Bilbao brothers Iñaki and Aitor Muñoz with whom she has collaborated so many times. It is a piece from the autumn-winter 2020-2021 collection named 'Good luck' and inspired by the illustrated book 'Some Japanese Flowers', by the Japanese photographer, editor and printer Kazuma Ogawa. In addition, he combined it with some vinyl 'peep-toe' sandals tied to the ankle of his own creation. And it is that, apart from hats and headdresses, Mariana makes shoes, gloves, feathers, dresses and bridal veils. In addition, it offers special services to designers who, like Palomo Spain, want to incorporate floral appliqués or feathers in their creations.
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