Custom-made accessories
Custom-made accessories
In May of 2017, the BASQUE LUXURY MAGAZINE team had the opportunity to meet Hubert de Givenchy in person at the Balenciaga Museum of Getaria. In that talk, he emphasized the manual work of the craftsmen who make accessories. One year later, after the death of Monsieur de Givenchy, BASQUE LUXURY felt the need to pay tribute to the great couturier’s words by organizing a forum on High Quality Craftsmanship in San Sebastian. One of the companies invited to said event was the Atlantis boutique, a leader in the creation of hats and bags in the Basque Country.
The two speakers who were there representing Atlantis during the roundtable discussion were Elisabeth Múgica, founder of Atlantis, and Gill Connon, the skilled craftswoman in charge of making their accessory line. The public was able to get to know, in detail, the tools and materials required for producing each piece: for the hats they use mesh, nets, and dried flowers brought from Italy, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, as well as the feathers of pheasants, ducks, and peacocks imported from the USA. Their bags are made with base materials that include raffia palm, silk, several types of straw fibers, velvet, and sinamay. Ornamental elements and semi-precious stones are embedded into those base materials. Both in the case of their hats and in that of their bags, they use special dyes to obtain the color pallet desired (in addition to iridescent dyes). In this way, they can add color to both the structure and the decorative details.
As these are 100% custom accessories, three appointments are usually scheduled with the client for production, so that the result is exactly as desired. Originality and quality are guaranteed by the extensive experience that Gill has in the world of fashion, as she has worked with Vera Wang, bridal fashion icon, and has years of experience creating movie costumes and Broadway theater costumes.
In addition to the original creations that they make at the Atlantis atelier, the boutique also sells jewelry made by international artisans, such as silver necklaces that combine semi-precious stones with volcanic rocks painted by hand by miniaturists in Naples, or Galuchat handbags and bracelets, made of tanned stingray leather. In order to select these original, quality pieces, Elisabeth travels several times a year to the best European fairs to acquire the latest trends. Many prestigious brands such as Moschino, Leonard, Missoni, and Christian Lacroix also trust the personal service offered by Atlantis, allowing the boutique to exclusively sell some of their accessories and garments.
The Balenciaga Museum has also acknowledged the value of this new generation of creative individuals, and has invited Gill Connon to give hat making classes. In those courses, Gill makes the quote “luxury is in each detail” by Hubert de Givenchy her own, revealing to her students the secrets to good hat making and, of course, instilling in them the importance of high quality craftsmanship.
Atlantis
Calle Bengoetxea 1, San Sebastián.
Tel.: +34 943 421 207
