Elisa Lacambra was born in pre-civil war Barcelona, in February 1933, into a humble family. After working from the age of 14 in the Ninot market, at 17 she began her professional collaboration with Carmen Mir, shortly after she moved from Manresa to Barcelona. She first started as a seamstress and journeyman in her workshop, and then Carmen, my grandmother, taught her to parade as a model. Shortly after, at age 19, she married my father, Gabriel, and immediately afterward she began working multiple jobs. At the age of 25 she became the right hand of her mother-in-law, a position that was not easy since they were two different generations and, both, two very powerful women. The two, hand in hand like a strange tandem, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but effective, managed to confirm the great haute couture and ready-to-wear brand Carmen Mir.
Elisa was my grandmother Carmen’s tireless collaborator, and was responsible for its international expansion. In the 60s they were already exporting to different countries, but it should be noted that firms from New York and its Fifth Avenue, such as Saks and Begdorf Goodman, bought their designs. They also exported their designs to other countries and walked on prestigious catwalks, something almost unattainable for Spanish fashion in years when our country was outside the Western elite.
One of the firm’s greatest milestones was when NASA organized a parade in Houston to celebrate the arrival of the first man to the moon and they were invited to parade. For the occasion, Elisa, together with her husband, Gabriel, designed an ad hoc model that imitated Neil Armstrong’s suit, and it caused a huge impact. Our mother was the invisible great lady of Spanish sewing, a brave, advanced, fighter and discreet woman always in the shadow of Carmen Mir, her partner, mother-in-law and teacher, who knew how to achieve her two dreams: to form, together with my father, a great family and achieve a prestigious brand.
She was, along with our grandmother, a demonstration of the entrepreneurial capacity of two women who fought against all odds against the canons of the society of those years and in a country that was not yet internationally recognized.
Today’s young women who defend women’s equality should study this story, since they also reconciled and obtained the full support of their husbands, something that is not trivial and had a lot of merit. We can also affirm that behind a great woman there is always a great man.