Welcome to The Director’s Cut, an interactive column featuring fashion, beauty and career advice from RGNN Director and Founder, @isabelevabohrer.
It was back in 1721 when the Royal Tapestry Factory first started manufacturing the most exclusive of fabrics in Spain. Carpets, rugs… even Francisco de Goya contributed, handing over a series of cartoons then converted tapestries back in 1775. The factory is still functioning; in fact, only four years ago, it celebrated its 300th anniversary and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain came to see it in motion.
It’s the perfect location for another anniversary, albeit only ten years in this case, of Atelier Couture, which over thirteen editions has established itself as the prime platform for artisanal high fashion from all parts of Spain.
Over two days, the Royal Tapestry Factory is thus being converted into a sensorial melting pot for evening and wedding attire, with seventeen runway shows and a series of presentations and workshops, all to showcase handmade Spanish couture at its finest.
I said it in my review of last year’s edition and I will say it again – it’s the local origins that really come through in the designs on display. Andalusian designers? You have the ruffles, flamenco roots and even the peineta, reinvented as a visor cap, to match. The tapas at the cocktail events post-show? Saborea Segovia, a gastronomical initiative supported by the Tourism Board of Segovia to promote the local culinary heritage.
We started off backstage, where we got to speak to the designers first-hand; it’s such a pleasure for them to come from province to capital, and you could see the excitement in their eyes. You can always tell when the good mood extends to the make-up artists and models, the former showed me the brief of the make-up instructions, and the latter were almost dancing flamenco in the run-up to the Teressa Ninú Atelier show.
When I asked one model if her shoes were Jimmy Choo (from afar they resembled the embellished Romy pumps), she laughed and said, no, holding the shoe to her ear as if it were a phone. “They are Franjul,” she affirmed – an artisanal brand based in Madrid’s Barrio de la Letras. Like what you see? They also make made-to-measure heels – and bags.
The hand-embellished details, the artisanal embroidery… at the Lucía Cano show, a corset made of real flowers opened the show. Minutes before, I had spoken to Lucía herself, who had been extremely preoccupied all day because it was comparatively hot that day in Madrid, and the flower corset, stitched together in collaboration with flower studio Kiki Silvarum, was lying flat on the floor and had to be moved throughout the building several times because it was withering in the rooms where the sun was shining.
In the show, it all looked perfect, and yet I wondered, how many people will actually know these are real flowers? And the work that goes into conserving the corset before it hits the catwalk? Perhaps the format of models walking a runway to music doesn’t suffice to explain the artisans’ work that goes into such couture designs. Perhaps we need to rethink fashion show formats and incorporate presenters who narrate exactly what we are seeing.
But until that happens, the designs will have to speak for themselves in a location steeped in such rich history that left us all without words. I will certainly be coming back to the Royal Factory to see the tapestry making in progress. And you, too, can book a visit, I will leave the details down below.
Plan your visit
Royal Tapestry Factory
- Calle de Fuenterabbia 2. 28014 Madrid.
- Visits to the workshops are always guided and by appointment only.
- To make an appointment, send an email to visitasmuseo@realfabricadetapices.com, in which you must provide the names and ID numbers (e.g. passport number) of the attendees.
- Upon receiving said email, the Royal Tapestry Factory will confirm the guided tour according to availability. Possible time slots for tours are as follows:
- Monday to Friday: 10.00 a.m., 11.00 a.m., 12.00 noon and 1.00 p.m.
- Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: 4.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m.
- No afternoon tours from July 1 to September 15.
- Tour duration: 40 minutes.
- Min. 5 people, max. 10 people per group.
- General entry for tours: 6 Euros. Discounted entry: 5 Euros (ID required for the following: unemployed, over 65 years, students and under 18 years old).
- Tour languages: English or Spanish.
- More information on the official website.
Thank you, Atelier Couture, for inviting us.
Questions or comments? Follow me on IG @isabelevabohrer or TikTok and say hi! See you soon!
