• Fashion Thom Browne, 20 years revolutionizing the gray suit: "Everything I create is a version of something that I would like to wear myself"

  • Own style Who is Robert Wun, the new 'enfant terrible' of Haute Couture who sets wedding dresses on fire

  • Debate Heels vs. flat shoes: what's cooler, stilettos or ballet flats?

When you enter the Victorio & Lucchino atelier you can breathe

Seville.

Order, well-studied decoration and covers of the great international magazines of which they and their well-known models have been the protagonists.

Victorio and Lucchino had not made a flamenco collection since that bata de cola that

Eva González

wore to inaugurate Simof 2022, paying tribute to the flamenco fashion sector that suffered so much from the pandemic.

Now, the creators have launched a

capsule collection

of nine flamenco dresses with the Sibilina brand. "They proposed it to us and it seemed like a nice idea. They move very well in social networks and online sales, and it is very comfortable for us to associate with someone young without getting into industrialization, manufacturing and so on," they explain to Yo Dona.

Sibilina Flamenca is the brand created by Ana Fernández-Trejo and José Manuel Misa, who have opted for sustainability, creations made in Andalusia and affordable prices. "They are a young couple, charming and crackers. We design and they make and distribute. We have to keep up with

modern times

. Now there is brutal competition from a huge number of designers making flamenco dresses."

These designs maintain "the fluidity, style and essence of Victorio and Lucchino, with a very fresh air and without losing the essence of the flamenco dress." "We set ourselves a difficult challenge, but we are happy with the result," they say.

A flamenco dress for every day of the Fair

Victorio & Lucchino for Sibilina Flamenca

Gauze, elastic fabrics, cotton, linen..., comfortable, lightweight and can be put in the washing machine. Black and white, beige, pistachio, purple, lilac... "We have been inspired by Victorio & Lucchino, what has come from our soul. We wanted it not to be the invasion that there is of more of the same and of a lot of volume and a lot "Everything. Something different and at a good price, so that the lady can wear a suit every day."

They explain that "the tailoring is different; this is more industrial and Victorio & Lucchino is more couture." Even so, they are still dresses designed by V&L. And their shawls are not embroidered, but plain, and have fringes or ruffles; or tie-dye, with white, gray and black. "We wanted to completely separate ourselves from what others do."

They claim that making and designing a custom-made suit with their usual fabrics "costs money." "There are few people willing to pay what that is worth. You make a good idea, which is what it's worth, a different, exclusive suit, and they copy it. Or the shawls. Now in any 'souvenir' store you can find one imitating to the old embroidery. When the Fair arrives, they will all wear the same Chinese shawls."

"We do not have any financial group behind us"

Meanwhile, they are focused on finishing their next collection. "We demand the most from V&L and leave everyone with their mouths open. When they see our collections, they are comparing us with

Balenciaga, Dior, Prada

... Nobody knows the efforts that have to be made. Unfortunately, those collections are not sold in our country because they cost a lot of money. But the licenses - perfumes, glasses, bags, socks, bedding, leather goods, shoes... - give us the margin to spend on the fabrics we use, all natural and handmade.

They sustain their signature with their own efforts. "At this point, the best thing that can happen for the continuity of your brand is for a financial group to come. We are the owners of Victorio & Lucchino, we have no one behind us. We have licenses, which are different manufacturers, but the financial group does not ".

Therefore, work takes up almost all of their time. "Balenciaga said that this was a murderous profession. This is giving your life. It is having

a pad on your nightstand

and writing down what comes to you, because if not, you won't sleep. Or going to the theater with a notebook. Ideas come but they leave."

They assure that it is something that they carry inside: "We cannot stop doing it; it is a need to externalize, to do, and there you enter a world of adrenaline. It gives us satisfaction in life and makes us excited. As long as God leaves our minds with lucidity to create, we will be in the gap and fighting.

Latin America, in its sights

Victorio & Lucchino for Sibilina Flamenca

Now, the Sevillians are opening the market in Latin America. "We don't go to Paris. It costs a lot of money and in France there is brutal competition, they protect their brands a lot. We have always seen other easier paths, London, Germany, Italy... And now, Latin America. The economic impact is good because licenses, apart from the fact that we are very recognized there. In Colombia they gave us the Golden Keys to the city of Cali, they made us illustrious visitors; also in Puerto Rico, where the Governor received us... They really

like

everything Spanish ".

They remember when they invented their famous conch shells. "We registered them, we paid, they admitted them to us in Patents and Trademarks, which was difficult because since the bias nothing was registered. This was something very original and novel. But it was of no use to us, because they have

copied them ad nauseum.

"Chanel said that it is a source of pride, because it is like saying that you have created a style and that is why they copy you. You should not take it the wrong way."

Some conch shells that emerged inspired by a flower. "We were in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and we saw a pink bignonia. We started touching it, breaking it, seeing the shapes. It is a relaxation, an inspiration and an injection of color and shapes that you learn in nature."

For this reason, they combine their work in Seville with their leisure time at their country house. "We also need to rest and disconnect, with our dogs - Bartolo and Casilda, Shih Tzu breed - and with our books."

Wishes for the future

At this point in his life and his career, these are his wishes: "To love our friends, to love design, I love to eat, and to be coherent and lead a calm and normal life, because designing drives me crazy. I like it a lot. paint, but I don't have time," says José Víctor.

Both,

José Luis Medina del Corral and José Víctor Rodríguez Caro

, are art lovers. "For example, we have works by Pedro Simón. Also by Jaime Abaurre, from the 'Más Cara que Espalda' gallery. He is a young boy who is a genius."

When José Víctor was only two years old, according to what his mother told him, he tried to make a suit with the

bedroom curtain

. "It's in the blood and you have to be born with it. Saying 'I'm going to be a designer'..."

José Luis remembers when he had to design "in secret." "My father wanted to guide me towards a serious career and not let me get into the world of art or fashion. Because I am like from the Renaissance, I love everything that is art. I have done modeling, sculpture, oil painting ...But I always painted models. I imposed an exercise on myself: I designed a street suit and, without erasing, with those same strokes, I had to turn it into an evening suit. It served as a mental exercise."

"But my father," he continues, "saw me painting nothing more than those dolls and those dresses, and he said to me: 'Child, don't you know how to paint a horse or something else?' Julio Romero de Torres, where he arrived painting women, so let him do what he wants.'"

Your love story, a crush

AGR

Later, their lives crossed. "One summer I - José Luis - was very happy because I had passed the COU and Selectivity with very good grades. I went to a friend's bar to see how he was decorating it. And José Víctor, who was also a friend of his, arrived. At 10 After a few minutes we started talking about fashion, and

we discovered

that we were weirdos, because the normal thing was to talk about football, movies, music... I saw that he was a person just like me, that he thought like me and that he liked the same things as me. That's where it all started. Then the sentimental part arose, and since then we have been together, happy, creating and loving each other." José Víctor corroborates it. "I'm the happiest guy in the world with my life."

From their first collection, they began to save creations, already gathered in the Victorio & Lucchino Museum, located in Palma del Río (Córdoba), José Víctor's hometown. "It was like a premonition. No living designer has a museum. It belongs to the Victorio & Lucchino Foundation, to which we have donated everything. We have made a little history, in addition to helping new people and others, which is the most beautiful thing ".

The collection is so extensive - more than

two thousand costumes

- that they would like to open another museum in Seville. "We still have so much... We already have a museum in Palma del Río, well I want one in Seville, where I am from," claims José Luis.

They highlight how much they like Cádiz. "Its sunset is magical, the place is magical, ancient... Just breathing the air, the oldest city in Europe, the light... Now you can capture many more things than you did 30 years ago. Walk through Cádiz, see the essence ...And the grace. There are no people with more art. This year, at the Carnival, we were named the Selu chirigota. But in Cádiz there are 20,000 Selu, although God touched him with the wand."

A lifetime of work and creation that could reach the screen. "They are after us to make a 'docuseries'. We have received about three or four proposals, but it consumes a lot and we would have to stop our work. We are thinking about it there."