Entredós 2.0

02 December 2010 By Vera Ciria 0 In Exhibitions, Fashion

Ärt Comunicació

From the 9th of November until the 30th of December, a small window of memories has been opened at the Setba Zona D’Art, located in one of the buildings that circumscribe Plaza Real. Termed an intimate dialogue between fashion and art, this small installation and accompanying art tributes are a blend of past and present.

Ärt Comunicació

Ärt Comunicació

Upon entering Setba Zona D’Art, one is immediately transported to the past. The entrance hall has been transformed to resemble the tiny room of the seamstress, Pilar Ayarza. Fiona Capdevila and Rosa Solano, fashion designer and painter respectively, are the duo responsible for recreating the workspace of a woman who remained widely unknown, just like so many others, working in the shadows of the great mastermind of fashion, Balenciaga.

Ärt Comunicació

Unfinished dresses, garment patterns, huge scissors, sewing paraphernalia and old “Alta Costura” magazines are just a few of the items belonging to Pilar Ayarza that have been lovingly placed together to better envision how the seamstress lived and worked. Like always, the essence is in the details. It’s good and positive to stand back and drink in the whole picture, yet so much more fun and entertaining, inspiring and delightful to get close and relish the details, the tiny pieces that orchestrate that aforementioned big picture.

Ärt Comunicació

Ärt Comunicació

Many of the designers in Spain would outsource part of their sewing work to seamstresses especially during busy periods before collection presentations at the Hotel Ritz, (now the Hotel Palace, but soon to be restored to it’s rightful name). It seems that Pilar Ayarza worked for Balenciaga but also had a slew of important clients that she attended to in her personal “atelier”. Amongst Pilar’s belongings was a scrap book filled with photos, newspapers cuttings and other items that had caught her fashion-fancy. There is a specific article cutting titled “The Diary of a Seamstress” which caused a rash of goose bumps to shiver over my skin. The account is fabulous, a sneak peak into a young woman’s life working for one of the greatest fashion designers of all times: Balenciaga. The article does not reference Pilar, so there is no way of knowing if the article was about her or one of her contemporaries.

Ärt Comunicació

Ärt Comunicació

When a trunk filled with Pilar’s sewing belongings landed in Fiona Capdevila’s hands, it was the starting point to create this intimate and special installation. One of the items that really attracted my attention was how Pilar recycled the wrapping paper of some of the best fashion shops in Barcelona, such as Santa Eulalia, Gratacós and many others. She used these tissue-fine papers to trace her garment patterns, then cutting each carefully. Many are still rolled up, tied with fabric samples, filled with annotations and various pencil markings. It reminds me of how my grandmother used to recycle newspaper and cut her patterns from the sheets that my grandfather had finished reading.

Ärt Comunicació

The installation is completed with artwork by Fiona Capdevila and Rosa Solano in tribute to Pilar Ayarza, to Balenciaga, to the past, recycling and fashion. The installation in itself is exquisite, a lovely piece of careful work carried out by two women that evidently are passionate. Yet the artwork seems like an unnecessary final addition, an after-thought. That said, Capdevila’s garment creations depicting the prints of the shop wrapping paper that Pilar used for her patterns are beautiful. Titled “Wrapped up Memories”, the concept is arresting and slots in perfectly with the installation itself. There are only 28 days left, don’t miss this brilliant opportunity to step back in time. So many would like to have a machine to go into the future… I’d prefer to go to the past.

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Balenciaga, Barcelona, fiona capdevila, pilar ayarza, setba zona de art, taller de sastreria

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