Personal News
Roberto Verino (Verín, Orense, 1945) finalizes with his team the details for the inauguration of the exposure 40+1. We meet the Galician designer at the Fernán Gómez space, Cultural Center of the Villa, in Madrid, under the Plaza de Colón. He has come to the capital, after its premiere a year ago in his native Verín, the photographic and audiovisual exhibition that covers four brilliant decades in the world of fashion.
The images and videos reflect with astonishing and powerful clarity the call #overinostyle: simple, elegant and with a futuristic touch. An elongated and easy-to-walk corridor exhibits up to the April 10th supermodels from the 90s, such as Helena Christensen or Christy Turlington, but also audiovisual materials and four works selected by Verino himself, made by students from the IED Madrid, with the collaboration of Canon Spain, who have intervened in the photographic archive of the exhibition.
– What is the intention of this exhibition?
We wanted to value the fact that after 40 years we are still a brand made up of people committed to making others happy.
– Is the #estiloverino now more necessary than ever?
It is a very convenient way to make the much-vaunted sustainability a reality, a good way to invest and not spend on clothes, so that you can get the most out of your clothes on a day-to-day basis. We dress and eat daily and if we do it in a rewarding way we will get a plus.
Dressing in a balanced way is the philosophy that Roberto Verino has practiced for more than four decades. The firm was born in 1982, a time of stylistic excesses, exaggerated shoulder pads, glitter and frills. It is also the decade of the movie ‘Arms of a Woman’.
– It seems that the eighties style was initially opposed to the philosophy of the firm
It was a time when we were beginning a generational change, at that moment women took center stage and joined working life en masse, dressed in men’s clothing in an exaggerated way to defend principles, values and demands, and to me This came to my face, because it allowed me to create collections impregnated with simplicity and functionality. Going to work or going to a cocktail party is not the same and everything can happen on the same day and without having time to change at home.
The model Lucía López in one of the images that can be seen in the exhibition.
Roberto Verino He is a teacher for many design students, he is also proud to be an ambassador for his land and he did not even mind changing his real name, Manuel Roberto Mariño Fernández, to the one on the label of his clothes, in honor of his native Verín.
– Who does Roberto Verino admire?
To Coco Chanel, for her attitude and determination to rid women of unnecessary ornaments; to Balenciaga, for his mastery and the architectural balance of his suits, he made magic with the patterns, and to Yves Saint Laurent, who was the one who best knew how to interpret the transition from Haute Couture to prêt-à-porter and managed to make very feminine the woman with masculine garments. Also to Giorgio Armani, for whom I have tremendous respect and admiration, because he has known how to read a situation of social change very intelligently, he knew that the industry was in Italy and he took advantage of it, we were not able to do it and we had to start almost from scratch.
-But there was a time when Galicia seemed to be the epicenter of Spanish sewing
Because several of us rigorously set out to fulfill a dream: to develop our fashion activity with the Spanish industry, as Giorgio Armani did in Italy. When I opened my first corner in El Corte Inglés, many colleagues accused me of being commercial and banal, the following year they asked me for a recommendation to try to enter department stores.
-Typical Spanish
Yes, it is very sad, we are a country that has a tendency to destroy or criticize everything that is worthwhile.
The model Helena Christensen.
Is elegance synonymous with beauty?
Beauty helps, but the elegance that is worth it, the one that is really good, is the elegance of the soul. When a person has an ethical soul, it is felt, it is noticed, it is seen.
-What does fashion need today?
An acknowledgment that not everything is worth it, that it is better to invest than not to use, throw away and waste, that it is good to have less, but of higher quality to make your investment profitable and to know that each person is unique. The important thing is to value people and that the suit is in the background, we have to know how to wear the dress, not that the dress takes us. If we are able to put it into practice, everything will be easier and we will make our lives more attractive, we will be a little happier, which is what we should try to achieve. Life is short and you have to take advantage of it.
-You who are the king of the wardrobe, can you give us some clues as to what are the perfect clothes for spring?
Of course, the trench coat is ideal for dressing like an onion, when I left the house today it was nine degrees and I couldn’t go to the body, but now that we’ve reached 22, I don’t need it, that’s why the concept of layering is perfect for raincoat. You can also wear it buttoned up and without anything else, as if it were a dress. The jacket suit, pants and dresses are also essential, while shirts and knitwear are wild cards that, depending on how they are combined, can change a look. This exercise makes the wardrobe, in addition to being essential, become emotional, because we will remember what happened to you the last time you wore that garment. Clothes have that ability to remember.
The model Olatz López Garmendia.
-Why does Roberto Verino rent clothes?
Because people are more likely to enjoy something than to own it. Also, taking into account that there are designs that are very expensive due to the artisanal process and the quality of the fabrics, and that not everyone can afford it, I thought it was a good idea to launch this project, which has been very well received. We are changing the way of buying and it affects many other areas. This initiative is only for special pieces.
-Are actresses also rented?
For many years we have designed especially for them, but now with the entry of influencers, I see that it is a world in which I cannot afford to be so present, nor do I think it is the way to value our work, we want to reach the consumer In the end, he is the important one, because only with him do you achieve a fidelity that is otherwise impossible.
-Why a photography exhibition to celebrate 40 years of career?
This format allows us to be more daring in looking for spaces and does not require the assembly of garments on a mannequin.
– You can do it as long as you are Roberto Verino and you have in your archive those wonderful images of relevant fashion photographers and supermodels like Nieves Álvarez or Christy Turlington.
We always gave it a lot of value, we always invested in the best models in the world so that they would pose with our designs and thus have simple images of the product, but that would mark the interior of the person. People told us ‘you’re crazy, how can you afford that great luxury’. Well, I think we took advantage of it then and we continue to take advantage of it today. It is our story and it is authentic, made with effort, work and ethics. I am clear that before being aesthetic, I must be ethical.
1990s supermodel Christy Turlington in an image that is part of the 40+1 exhibition.
-Do you think that in fashion there is a lack of ethics and plenty of aesthetics?
Of course I do and I have always spoken out against aesthetic excess. The concept of sustainability is key at this point. We have to be rational consumers who value the garments and you.
– In Spain there aren’t many designers who have been talking like this for 40 years, Sybilla and little else, right?
Many achievements have been made in Spain, we went from a prehistoric fashion to what it is today, but we have more recognition abroad. Things are going slowly, but on the right track.
– As a master of ready-to-wear in Spain, what would you say to young designers?
That if it is their dream, that they pursue it, that they work and that they not get carried away by the problems they may have. That they insist, that they do not give up, that success is only ahead of the work in the dictionary. After 40 years it has not been easy to get here, but it is also true that now we only see the positive parts, the good ones. We must not give up, because there is a lot of talent in Spain.
