Lady, Lady, Blue Eyed Lady

Eurovision. That perennial scoffed-at schlock-fest that I remember so well, which used to include Israel (Europe? even as an ignorant, self- conscious teen I knew the difference). 1984. Representing Spain, the group Bravo singing “Lady, lady”.

“Lady, lady, lady se pinta los ojos de azul…” A description of a sad old lady who resists, or rather denies, the ravages of time by brushing blue eye shadow on her wrinkled lids. A typically catchy-á la Eurovision- song which did score an honorable forth place, if you were wondering, and made that line a famous one here in Spain.

Last week, somewhere in the not sunny bit of Spain, 2013. An old lady in the line of the supermarket cashier. Dated blue eye shadow. Three wide monochrome brushstrokes: brow bone, mobile eyelid, and just for good measure, the under-the-eye bag. Yeah, bring it on. Very touching, really. Just like the lady depicted in the Bravo song. I could not keep my own eyes off her. And she smiled that crafty smile. I think I must be sounding very nostalgic lately but I can’t help it, it was such a great color. It also came in turquoise green. Maybe 40 years ago, they were the only colors available or perhaps just the most popular among the women of Spain.

In defense of azul I would say that it has been a very sought after color since ancient times.  The color blue is scarce in nature and it was historically a very expensive pigment when used in textiles. It differentiated social classes by the choice of their garments. Most of it came from the semiprecious minerals lapis lazuli or malachite, which comes in green tones too. Hence the blue-green pairing of the Spanish eye shadows, I would say!

Not until indigo was brought from the Indies did blue become a more affordable pigment choice. The leaves of the indigo are liquid-processed and a deep blue (añil in Spanish) is extracted. Vegetable versus mineral-based hues.

The question is, why was the blue eye shadow so popular in Spain? Maybe because most Mediterranean women have dark brown eyes and seek the unattainable blue? Because it makes for a nice contrast? Or was it just a matter of availability at the time? Some things defy Googling….

Nowadays one rarely sees that kind of blue out there which is a shame. It is a fantastic color. I tried it a few times and it looks great. Only if you are like the lady in the song you should avoid it, or, hold on, no way… just wear it if you like it!

Danse la Ballerina

Next to my house there is an old timey movie theatre, heroically resisting these times of crisis, where I go often to get lost in the darkness. What makes this theatre very special is that it still shows art movies, original language films, and documentaries on such artists as Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramovic, to name two. I recently saw a film called “Danse la Danse” a farewell to the 20-year director of the Spanish National Ballet Company, Nacho Duato.

For many years he was critized for breaking with traditional classical ballet, coreographing daring contemporary performances and turning the Spanish company into a melting pot of dancers from different nationalities.  I truly believe he has been one of the best talents that Spain managed to retrieve after his formative years abroad…at least while he was at it!

All this made me think of the shoes we call "bailarinas", so prevalent in the female wardrobe in Spain since I was a child. Little girls, their mothers and their grandmothers wear them all the time. They are flat, comfortable, cute, and very feminine.

But you know who made them so cool and internationally known nowadays? The British partner of a Spanish shoe-maker, thats who. David Bell met Ursula Mascaró, from the Mascaró family in Menorca, specialty ballerina dancing shoe makers (est 1918) who eventually branched out into daily-wear "bailarinas" production as well as other shoes.  One day David suggested to his girl, why don’t we sell bailarinas exclusively, on-line? We could name each pair after a celebrity and give them some sort of personality (a bit similar to what Camper had done for their shoes, but anyway…). So, dicho y hecho, “Pretty Ballerinas” was born as its own branch in February 2005. Its success was so overwhelming that they opened their first store in London in 2007. The rest is history. A very good example of foreign marketing applied to a Spanish product. The fact that the “Pretty Ballerinas” cost double the normal ballerinas seems a minor detail…

The original ballerinas from my childhood resemble the real ballerina dancing shoe with its little twisted lace on the front. They come in tons of colors and when they have a bow, they are called “manoletinas” (again the reference to Manolo, or better said Manolete, the famous Spanish bullfighter because they looked like the ones used by the toreros).  In leather, patent, suede, with sequins, faux fur, transparent, folding, the variety is endless. As far as I am concerned, every little girl, woman and  señora must have a pair. The Spanish Style dixit.

The Master

Super gazar, guipure, shantung, ottoman, cloqué, taffeta, georgette crepe, chenille- velvet, cigalina, lurex, lacquered craknyl, “sculpted lamé”, “lizard satin”…playful names to describe equally playful fabrics and textures. All the same I don’t think that Cristóbal Balenciaga would describe his métier as playful. His extreme devotion to his art was very serious.

CRISTOBAL BALENCIAGA, the couturier who did it all. According to his friend Coco Chanel he was the only one of his cadre that was able to devise, cut, assemble and sew a garment. Born in Guetaria, in the Basque Country, in 1895, he first learned from his mother, and then from the selective clientele that gave him a chance to further develop his skills. After years of working hard for others, he opened his first atelier in San Sebastián. After a few other successful entrepreneurial initiatives he relocated to Paris, a move coinciding with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The 50s and 60s were the years of exuberant experimentation that brought him international acclaim. He invented the tunique suit, the sack shape and the baby doll line. His evolving esthetic pushed the boundaries of minimalism until, according to Metropolitan Museum curator Harold Koda, “there was no more to cut”. He experimented with fabrics and style as would a sculptor, to the point that he lost sight of his garments’ intentions  -his museum in Guetaria displays a fantastic cloak with no slits for the arms- but he was an artist after all, wasn’t he?

One can find endless praises of The Master from colleagues, friends and employees. His name is mentioned in countless fashion sources and student dissertations.  Strangely enough, his personal life, and personality for that matter, are a near-complete mystery.  Balenciaga’s only press interview was given to The Times, in August of 1971, to the fashion editor Prudence Glynn, and only after he had closed his atelier (he died one year later). For me that mystery is the most intriguing part of his story. Was he too engrossed in his job to bother with a little PR? Maybe too much of a perfectionist, easily irritated by the fallacies of his fellow human beings?  Was his distance a product of snobbery, of feeling part of an unreachable elite? How did he live, did his aristocratic clientele make him rich? Who was the “close person”, who’s death made him almost close down his business in 1948? He has been described as very religious. Was he homosexual? Did he find in Paris the freedom that eluded him in provincial Spain? Why did he break his business partnership with the Lizaso sisters with whom he had opened up his first atelier in San Sebastián? Did his zeal to keep away the press at the presentation of his collections seem eccentric at the time? What role did Wladio d’Attainville, his long time collaborator, play in his life? What did he like to do when he wasn’t working? Was he soaking in the Mediterranean sun as any old tourist might when death surprised him in Jávea, Alicante?

I probably need to start thinking of a part II for this post, there are just too many questions for such a formidable personality.

Why is his museum so hard to find, and why did they choose the smallest sign available to christen it. Why Guetaria, has not become a don’t-miss destination for pilgrims seeking to commune with The Master and another historic figure, the great explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano, is material for another post entitled “Spaniards and their hopeless marketing mentality”. Just imagine the boom in hotel occupancy if both of those personalities had been French or British…no wonder we’re economically doomed!

Manic for Medals

Spring, not necessarily springy, but that time of the year again. First communion time. Catholic–or not so catholic- families immerse themselves in the ceremony of giving their 8-10 year olds the sacrament of the first communion. Or rather, they’ve sent them to church classes for a few years so that they can qualify to receive it for the first time. The wafer, you know. With all the accompanying bells and whistles. Como Dios manda. The dress, the garland, the veil and the little gold medal that most every little girl –and boy, sans dress of course- removes when they reach adolescence.

Primera comunión, ain't that sweet?

Another family affair, another big meal. And a generous present for the overexcited child. I think that nowadays we have all gone way too modern, as the classic gold medallion, with the face of Jesus on the one side and the appropriate Our Lady (depending on the local representation of the Virgin Mary) 

on the other, is on the decline. You know what?  I believe we should claim it back!

It is a sentimental gift rooted in the most traditional beliefs, and what could be more apropos for la primera comunión?  A personalized jewel, the coin could bear the child’s initials, or the chosen Lady could be the namesake of the little girl. Mine had a long chain of fine gold links and it made a very specific sound when I moved. I could hang other charms, a cross surely, from it so it always made an even sweeter clinking.

Since the era of Sofia Loren in Marriage Italian-Style to Madonna, we have seen a revival of religious accessories in the fashion world. Our Lady of Bay City, Michigan-always first in setting the trend-wore a cross for her album covers Like a Virgin and Like a Prayer back in the 80s. Do you suppose that she rescued it from her sweet  “Little Nanni” Ciccone years? Likely, with that Italian blood running through her veins. Carrie Bradshaw wore a few similar creations, counting the ghetto-inspired version among her best fashion successes. Dolce & Gabbana’s curvy Mediterranean women wear them in most of their collections. The sorely missed Christian Lacroix knew how to decorate his mind-blowing haute couture with gold medals too. Sea, sun and Savior: the Mediterranean cocktail.

Raimunda. "Volver"

Carrie Bradshaw. "Sex and the City"

Monica Belluci. "Malena"

La Loren, pedazo mujer. "Marriage Italian-Style"

So if you come across a swarthy-skinned adult donning a gold chain with medallion, you now know from where it likely comes. Having reached and passed those embarrassing adolescent years, they chose to remain tagged (good for them, they are probably very self confident people) or they read this blog and agree with moi!