Designer Roberto Verino pays tribute to César Manrique in his Spring/Summer 2018 collection, which will be presented on January 25th at Madrid Fashion Week.
The César Manrique Foundation (FCM) has authorized the use of the fish from the Atlantic Fauna series, inspired by the artist's childhood memories in Famara, to be featured on various garments from the Spanish clothing brand.
The director of the FCM, Fernando Gómez Aguilera, has indicated that this is "a delicate and high-quality project that links the plastic imagination of César Manrique to the fashion creativity driven by Roberto Verino and his team".
With the island of Lanzarote as inspiration and the pictorial work of César Manrique as a reference, this collection called "Dream Island" was born.
According to the firm, it is "a tribute to the beauty of an enigmatic enclave and a clear tribute to the brilliant and visionary architect who fought to preserve its genuine charm".
Verino has chosen four fish from Manrique: Shark, Flying Fish, Sole, and Shark Fish, which will be printed on his designs, as well as in the form of delicate "haute couture" embroidery on t-shirts and dresses.
César Manrique's designs will only be available for sale in Roberto Verino's "premium" stores, as "Dream Island" is an exclusive collection with limited pieces.
A team of 12 people coordinated by Blanca Jiménez de la Hoz traveled to Lanzarote between January 8th and 13th to take the photos that will later be used in the catalog, social networks, and posters.
The César Manrique Foundation in Taro de Tahíche, the César Manrique House-Museum in Haría, Famara beach, and Montaña Bermeja will be the backdrop where the young Madrid model Lucía López will pose with Roberto Verino's Spring/Summer 2018 collection.
At her young age, Lucía López has already walked for Roberto Cavalli in Milan and has participated in Paris Fashion Week for Yves Saint Laurent, Elie Saab, and Balmain. López is considered one of the young Spanish models with the greatest future projection as a mannequin.
Lanzarote has been chosen as the setting for Manrique's work and for "the colors of its sunsets, its volcanic lands, the purity of its sea, and its wild vegetation", which makes the island "become the ideal chromatic palette to draw a suggestive silhouette", explained the fashion firm.
In the designs of the "Dream Island" collection, you can feel brocades with metallic threads, sequins that simulate the scales of a fish, simple poplin cottons, blue and raw denim, and soft nappa leather in a pantone of delicious tones that are embodied in light tailors with capri pants, fluid skirts, masculine shirts, or "after sun" dresses.
The fish from the Atlantic Fauna series are very popular in the Canary Islands, as seven of them have been reproduced in a collection of screen prints. From 1984, César Manrique created a series of works dedicated to recreating about twenty colorful and fanciful fish related to the Atlantic sea of his childhood.
"The textile application of César's well-known fish that Verino has designed gives them new life and takes them for a walk down the street. The result is fresh and elegant, as jovial, hedonistic, and happy as life was for César Manrique. A heartfelt tribute, which we appreciate from the Foundation", said Gómez Aguilera.
In the eighties, seven of them were edited as screen prints in unnumbered editions. The original pieces were exhibited in 1986 in the Capella de la Misericòrdia, Palma de Mallorca in an exhibition entitled "Atlantic Fauna and Flags of the Cosmos", organized by the Consell Insular de Mallorca.
