BASQUE LUXURY FIRM: ARZALLUZ
BASQUE LUXURY FIRM: ARZALLUZ
The Basque Country –especially the Basque coast– has been a center of elegance, fashion, and luxury for a long time, having a historical perspective from the end of the nineteenth century until the Civil War. In the Basque Country, and especially in Biarritz and San Sebastián (and of course in Bilbao, too, although in a different way) a cosmopolitan, international group would gather.
The summer season generated an urgent need to create a luxury trade that could be compared with what was happening in the great European capitals. British and French professionals who moved into San Sebastián, and of course Biarritz, fueled this demand for luxury.
Historically, the Basque coast has been an international center of fashion and has had great professionals working in the sector. And Balenciaga came into play in that historical context. Cristóbal Balenciaga worked for twenty years in San Sebastián as a great couturier before settling in Paris, where he arrived relatively late – in 1937, at the age of 42 and already a mature man. And that is the context of our story, a context in which someone like Balenciaga can be trained and start a career with great success, achieving fame far beyond San Sebastián.
Today, although we have a very strong tourism sector which is very focused on the consumption of culture, art, gastronomy, and nature –and everything else that our country can offer– with good shops and good creators, the truth is that there is not such a level of fashion development as there had been at that historical time.
However, in this global world in which we live, there are indeed creators who can work, present their collections, and sell their creations from anywhere in the world. In that sense, I believe that there is creation in the country. There are powerful and consolidated brands, there are young creators making their way, there are also Basque creators who train in other places and then return – or not, or return later.
I think there is a design scene in general –and a fashion design scene in particular– that is very interesting. Featuring a lot of young potential (it is not easy for them because things are not easy, although it is not easy in Paris either), this is an untamed industry in which individual creation has to fight and adapt, as is the case in almost any context. It is also true that they have new tools that are much more flexible, allowing them to adapt to new challenges and face new consumer habits (people are less and less accustomed to paying for the quality of what they wear). Despite the difficulties that creators encounter anywhere in the world (because that never varies), there is a fascinating scene.
We cannot go back to the period I talked about above: that was a time of elite tourism; a moment of luxury travel with players who had great fortunes. Not only were they potential clients, but they were also the ones who established fashion and set trends. They were the key to spreading fashion. All of this has changed in such a way that it can no longer be reproduced, although we likewise must not think that something like it cannot happen again. We were an important fashion center, a consequence of which was the training of professionals who could compete with the best in the world.
Training is essential. In the past, the training was different. Take Balenciaga, for example, who was a buyer of haute couture and learned from the best – that was what training was like back then, because there were no schools. There is much to do in this regard. Now we have more competition because people who want to train in fashion go to Paris, London, Antwerp, Madrid, and Barcelona. Training is something that could be strengthened. Support for the creative industries already exists, but there can always be more.
Miren Arzalluz
Director of the Paris Fashion Museum
Photograph: James Weston.
