the sweet return of Sybilla

The awaited return of a Spanish fashion star.

I cannot wait to get my hands on pieces from Sybilla’s comeback Fall 2015 collection. These are the pictures she just sent me from her showroom.

Presenting in Paris this week she tells Miles Socha/WWD : ” there’s a lot of research and creativity in the shapes but they are wearable clothes”  as she demonstrates with a  capelike blouse that can be worn four different ways.  ” The biggest compliment I can get is when people tell me that they wear my clothes forever”

And this is really true….I met Sybilla in 1985 and frustrated with the lack of structural support she was getting in Spain, I introduced her to Karla Otto, then representing the italian Gibó company who produced and distributed many big fashion brands such as Jean Paul Gaultier. Subsequently Sybilla was able to have a proper production and solid international distribution through them, sadly not in Spain but out of Italy, and the rest is history.

I still have gorgeous pieces that I cherish, in fact I wanted to get married just so I could wear one of her stunning wedding dresses. My Sybilla babouches have embroidered ladybugs on them. A gold linen sari from 1989  is still one of my favorite summer looks.

The new collection is composed of 75 pieces and includes a range of coats and hand-felted dresses made by an in-house workshop . As you can see below, her famous cocoon shapes are back:  ” They’re in my way of cutting, but all the models are new” .  Several styles are transformable,including a dress with a removable panel that transforms into a coat . The line will be produced in Spain and in Italy.

“Hopefully I’ll start shoes next season” she tells Socha” I always did a little bit of everything”.

I ask Sybilla : “Do you find that the industry has changed a lot ?    Are you free to do your thing as you were before ?”  

Sybilla: “It has probably changed a lot,  I retired 10 years ago when fashion was going in a direction that I didn’t feel able to follow, but maybe now there is room for something a bit different again.

We are managing to do things our way, we don’t have many means, but there is passion and emotion.

I have again a great team, formed by some older people from the past and lots of new young ones.  There is lots of enthusiasm, I hope it shows in the clothes!”

 “Do you have carte blanche with this collection ? “

“We are producing ourselves in some wonderful Spanish workshops, we do knit in Italy in the most incredible small factory, and wholesell the collection from our showroom in Paris to some beautiful stores around the world that seem to really appreciate what we do. We are going step by step, slowly…

We have also opened our atelier in Madrid where we do wedding and evening dresses by order, that is what I enjoy the most, and I started again playing around doing things like carpets, scarves, candles, jewelry, floor tiles. This is really fun and keeps things exciting.

I guess we have to invent a new way of doing things and commercialize them. Next April we are opening a “tienda efímera” in Madrid where we will sell a bit of everything, and have an excuse to make a great party again!”

All this sounds great . Sybilla you are a star , welcome back….we missed your poetry  !