Post on 25 de May de 2021.
The company Reliquiae and the couture embroiderer Gloria Galguera are taking part in the showroom organised as part of a new edition of the international fashion show Madrid es Moda with an innovative reinterpretation of the traditional Asturian costume.
This initiative is part of the Plan for promoting the fashion industry launched in 2020 by Asturex in which more than 60 fashion and accessories designers are participating.
The Sociedad de Promoción Exterior Principado de Asturias (Asturex) is promoting the participation of Asturian fashion brands at the international Madrid es Moda trade fair through its collaboration with the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers – Asociación de Creadores de Moda de España (ACME) – and the “Embroidery” tradition, design and craftsmanship project initiated by the company Reliquiae and the embroiderer Gloria Galguera to reinterpret the traditional Asturian costume.
The aim of this initiative, which is part of the company’s international promotion plan for the fashion industry, es to enhance the value of Asturian designer brands by positioning them in international markets and offering them new business opportunities.
As Teresa Vigón Arvizu, general manager of Asturex, explained when presenting the project this morning at MediaLab Prado, headquarters of the Madrid es Moda international fashion event, “We’re taking part in this initiative together with ACME, because we’re convinced of the potential for the Asturian fashion sector and are promoting it internationally, which is, after all, our strategy at Asturex”, and is why, she emphasised, “the presence of our best designers is very important for displaying and reinterpreting the Principality of Asturias’ traditional costume, along with the excellence, tradition and innovation provided by the embroiderer Gloria Galguera and Héctor Jareño’s team at Reliquiae”.
In addition to highlighting the project as a “programme of research, creation, production, exhibition and publication of elements of exceptional value represented by the tradition, creativity and skill of our fashion designers, to bring national and international recognition and importance to the Asturian designer fashion industry”, the regional director of Asturex took the opportunity to display Asturex’s work promoting the internationalisation of companies in the industry through its various programmes, in which over 60 fashion and accessories companies have taken part. The company is also preparing a catalogue of the industry to showcase the work and products of over 70 of the region’s fashion and accessories brands.
THE project
Establishing the cultural identity of couture craftsmanship in Asturias focuses on the collaboration between Asturex and ACME in order to develop a pilot programme that will allow these elements of cultural identity to be recovered and enhanced through the work of Asturian designers and craftsmen.
The challenge is to demonstrate that designers, Reliquiae in this case, a well-known brand of handbags, and the embroiderer Gloria Galguera, who specialises in designs based on traditional Asturian costumes, can interpret tradition to produce an entirely contemporary look through this dialogue between couture craftsmanship and traditional skills. The result is the “Embroidery” collection on display in the “The Store of the Future” showroom at Madrid es Moda.
The collection features an example of Reliquiae’s iconic “Archy Embroidery” pouch with openwork embroidery on leather, inspired by the traditional faltriquera, or waistcoat, and the aesthetic interpretation of the mandil, or apron, an intricately embroidered item in which richly worked embroidery was a way of displaying the owner’s wealth.
Embroidered on leather, the bandolera, or shoulder bag, displays the work inspired by the functionality and decorative and expressive aesthetics of the traditional dengue – the traditional Asturian cape or shawl – and the mandil. This contemporary piece is embroidered in symmetrically graded coloured inlaid appliqués in leather.
The collection also features a dengue with openwork embroidery and a leather headscarf based on the traditional pattern of the Asturian dengue with traditional embroidery or openwork appliqués.
THE DESIGNERS
Gloria Galguera Amieva is a couture embroiderer who specialises in making traditional Asturian costumes, protected as an asset of cultural and material interest. Her work harmonises more than 150 years of traditional costumes used in the fiestas of Eastern Asturias with contemporary trends. Behind her work there is a meticulous study of traditional techniques, both in embroidery and in the making, weaving and dyeing of fabrics. Her skill in openwork embroidery and soutache, and her work restoring traditional Asturian costumes, are particularly notable.
With Hector Jareño, creative director of the brand at the helm, Reliquiae firmly represents the values of couture craftsmanship, safeguarding the skills of the best leather craftsmen in Spain with its contemporary designs. With the “Embroidery” capsule, Reliquiae is consolidating its history of researching and recovering traditional skills that are in danger of disappearing and is bringing them up to date, defending the fundamental role of couture fashion in protecting cultural identity.
