Venice: Correr Museum –
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada exhibition. To celebrate
International Women’s Day with an exhibition, the city of Venice invited an
exceptional ambassador, the Madrid-born fashion designer, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada to the Correr Museum to display thirty-one garments reinterpreting a series of icons dear to
Agatha – from the “Cage” and “Umbrella” dresses to the “Heart” and “Star” –
which have accompanied her throughout her 31-year career. The exhibition, curated by Agatha Ruiz
de la Prada herself, exhibits her “Spring-Summer 2013” collection, presented at
the latest edition of the Mercedes Benz
Fashion week in Madrid.
Above. The extraordinary setting of
the Empire Style ballroom of the Correr Museum, is the venue for the exhibition,
Agatha
Ruiz de la Prada, (until May 5). Agatha Ruiz de la Prada first made
her entry into the fashion scene in 1981 in Madrid, where she presented her
first women’s collection. She was so well received that soon after, she opened
her first shop in the Spanish capital and began to appear in the fashion shows
of Barcelona. Her creations were soon transformed into what was a wholly
artistic expression, thanks in part to their being exhibited in leading art
galleries throughout Spain.
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada
stands beside her iconic Umbrella dress “The Umbrella dress dates from 1989,
Pep Guerrero used it as a canvas in 1999 and ten years later it appeared upside
down, it’s an umbrella suit where it rains inside; it cries and the drops hang
down while the bells hide to imitate the sound of water.
The latest one is very different, more poetic and less surrealistic.”
Agatha writes in the catalogue.
Correr Museum – Agatha Ruiz
de la Prada – Cage dress. “The Cage
dress is one of the icons that features in all the exhibitions and
retrospectives. It’s like the color fuchsia, which always appears, as if it
were Agatha’s DNA. The first birds were real, they flew over the year 1994. In
2013 they are synthetic and colorful, but that doesn’t prevent them flying.”
Beatrice d’Orleans
Recyclying dress and Flowers
dresses “ It flowers in any season. No need for a watering can. The flower dress is planted and watered with
the sweat at the brow. It opened its petals in 1987 and has never withered."
Agatha Ruiz
de la Prada holds a mini press conference as Gabriella Belli, director of the Fondazione Musei Civici di
Venezia and Tiziana Agostini, Venice’s
cultural attaché listen in.
Ring, Ensaimada and Swim Ring dresses. Ensaimada “One
of my biggest successes. Even commercially. I don’t know where the first
ensaimadas are but there are plenty of the second ones… As I used to spend my
summers in Mallorca, I got to eat lots of ensaimadas and it’s beautiful as
well.”
Note: Ensaimadas are spiral-shaped pastries typical of
Mallorca.
Agatha’s muse and first client Piluca Beltram
Tangle and Ribbons dresses. Ribbons “She recycles in
many ways and makes Campana dresses out of ribbons. A ding-dong song that
sounds like an ecologist symphony with childish lyrics and a chorus with a
surprise. She once arrived at a photo
session wearing a design made of ribbons of luxury firms. Unique.”
Juan Carlos Mesa, better known as just Mesa, has been
Agatha’s assistant for twelve years. He
is photographed besides the Mouth dress.
Messa wears skull earrings and a Mazinger robot silver
ring bought at the Mercado Fuencarral a flea market in Madrid.
Messa haircut was designed the best hair stylist in
Madrid, Carlos Castellano and represents a flame because “At the last runway
show I was busy and ‘heated’ up with work and the tattoo is a 1960’s Scottish
wool fabric logo which I liked.”
Cake, Mirror and Star Dresses. Cake “A girl stepping
out of a cake. She’s already wearing the
cake. It’s the cake and it moves. Volume is nothing to be afraid of. But women are terrified to experiment with
volumes on their own bodies. A real
pain.”
Beatrice, Salome and Mesa chat.
Self-Portrait and Heart dresses.
Self-Portrait “Everyone portrays themselves.
The self becomes art. I portray
myself in my outfits. Olivier Saillard
says that I am the only designer who wears her own clothes. More POP influence.”
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada’s
Milan based Linda Brun.
Star dress. Star “To be a
star. To be the star of the party. One
of the characteristics of the MADRID SCENE - the movida - was that we all
wanted to be famous, not rich, FAMOUS. STARS.”
