20 SALÓN INTERNACIONAL DE LA MODA FLAMENCA

My favorite picture of the day!

aka FLAMENCO FASHION SHOW!

While I realized that I JUST put up a blog post and I certainly do not intend to be doing so every few days, this event undoubtedly deserves a post of its own! This morning, our group had the incredible opportunity and experience of attending the 20th annual SIMOF (Salón Internacional de la Moda Flamenca, http://www.simof.es/) which exhibits this year's trends in flamenco (or gitano AKA gypsy) fashion. This fashion is taken quite seriously in Andalucía and in Sevilla especially as it represents an important part of the regional and city heritage. While the art of flamenco dancing itself is a tradition dating back centuries, the popular style of dresses, jewelry, headpieces, etc. changes each year. Something really cool that I hadn't realized is that la moda flamenca is not applicable only to flamenco dancers. Each year during Feria,

SIMOF 2014

Sevilla's biggest festival and one of the most well-known in Andalucía, nearly everyone on the streets will be seen donning flamenco attire! The festival is a week long celebration of Sevillan history, tradition and culture and everyone takes part. What's 'in' changes each year and while dresses can be quite expensive, some women buy a new one each year. There are stores all over the city and Arantza told us how she will walk out of her way to pass by them and window shop :) They even have dresses for little girls which are made to be able to add length for a few years and save money. In short, flamenco fashion is a big deal in Sevilla!

Sneak peek at the design for Feria 2014

What we attended this morning is part of a four day event (known as SIMOF) centered all around 2014 flamenco fashion and Feria. Upon entering the building, we saw a big circular exhibition which has model building from each Feria since 1990. From what I understand, a different elaborate archway is constructed each year at the entrance to the festival. It was awesome to see all the different styles over the years! The most recent model is for this year's Feria, which has yet to be completed. 

We came into a large exhibition hall with booths set up for the different designers with dresses on display. The variety among these dresses is HUGE. More traditional styles usually feature red and black, are a bit more simplistic, and have solid colors or polka dots. As we found during the fashion show, this year's trends are pretty modern. Our group's seats were in the first, second and third row and the very beginning of the runway (Arantza, you are the BEST!) so we got an awesome  view of the show.

 The proceeds from the event go to an awesome cause, fighting cancer, which made going doubly worth our while! A famous former and beloved news caster and cancer survivor was recognized before the event. She spoke about how fortunate she was, yet how so many others aren’t. Fighting cancer is near and dear to my heart and hearing about the philanthropy of this event was amazing. After a small introduction, the main event began, and it was incredible! This year’s style moves away from the bold reds and blacks towards pinks and flowery designs (listen to me talking about fashion like I have any idea…). It seemed to me that these dresses were less fierce and more…sweet? Although some were a bit ridiculous, they were all gorgeous. We were lucky to have such awesome seats for the show! I took shots of nearly every model but I’ll post the ones of better quality. We were all really excited to have seen this event, but little did we know that we were only getting started!

 

LOVED the back of this

After the show, Arantza disappeared for a bit. It turns out she had been talking to the director of this event, businesswoman and former Miss Espana Raquel Revuelta! Raquel was excited to hear that American students had taken in interest to come out to the show and agreed to come talk to us afterwards. We were all pretty excited to be in the presence of a celebrity who has worked hard and had such success. She welcome us to the city, spoke to us some about the importance of these traditions to Sevilla culture and her experiences in the business world, and shared with us her happiness the we had chosen to live in and learn another culture. Then...she invited us to come and have a glass of wine with her!

Sampling the fine wine of Marqués de Cáceres

We were welcomed into the roped-off booth exhibition for Marqués de Cáceres, a brand of fine Spanish wine which sponsored the event (http://www.marquesdecaceres.com/). We took pictures and were invited to try our choice of the wine they had brought, which was wonderful! We felt like VIPs as press and other event attendees snapped photos of us when they walked by. We were welcomed and spoken to once more by one of the brand's business spokesmen, and later got to meet Cristina Forner, current president of the company and daughter of its founder. It was such a whirlwind of meeting new people, taking pictures, making small talk, and soaking everything in! Talk about a sensory overload. Marqués de Cáceres had designed a bottle specifically for this event featuring a flamenco dancer which normally would cost €30 and was offered for only €15 at the event, so several of us took advantage. 

Cristina Forner, President of Marqués de Cáceres
 (photo from http://www.marquesdecaceres.com/)

Before leaving this morning: me, Mercedes and Liz!

When Liz and I told our host mom Mercedes that our group was going to the event, she matter of factly said, "Well I want to go!" Arantza made the arrangements and Mercedes, a flamenco fashion aficionada, accompanied the group for the day. I am so thrilled that she came along! She had never been to a fashion show before, much less the wine tasting and celebrity encounters that followed! It made my heart happy that she came to experience it with us. After leaving the Marqués de Cáceres area, Liz and I walked around to look at all the different designers' booths with Mercedes. She told us that prefers the more traditional styles, so the ones in the fashion show were not her favorite. We looked at all the dresses, the fabrics sold to make your own, sampled perfumes, and had a great time! At the end we were kind of worn out and absolutely starving, so we caught the bus back home and finished off the incredible experience with Mercedes' wonderful homemade paella and a long siesta. 

mmm paella :)

 So much of today was unplanned and I am blessed to have had the experience! What an fantastic insight into the traditional culture of this wonderful city, mixed with the modernity of today's business. I'm so thankful to have chosen MundoLengua as my program to study abroad because they work hard to let us know about cool events such as this one and help us in organizing to attend. ¡Qué buena experiencia! Thanks for reading, and enjoy the pictures!

Arantza and Mercedes, que lindas son!