What would be of us without the magic that is hidden behind those first times. Without those butterflies that flutter in the stomach and those pulsations that frenetically accelerate the heart. It is never too late to dream, live and, why not, vibrate. This is how Teresa Helbig has felt in the last year; with my head in a cloud but with my feet on the ground.
Winner of the 2023 National Fashion Award, the designer has just fulfilled her dream of parading for the first time in Paris, where she presented her 1832 Sur Mer collection this Thursday. Before the show, an Iberia A350 Next plane named after her landed in the city of light with the most special friends of the Catalan firm.
The creative is the first woman to dress the company – previously Pedro Rodríguez, Manuel Pertegaz, Elio Beryanher, Alfredo Caral and Adolfo Domínguez – and the second living person for whom the airline names one of its planes after her. “The first time I saw him it was tremendously exciting. If Teresa Madre and I were told when we started in the workshop that Iberia would name a plane after us, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Helbig tells this media days before the big parade.
Flying can be dizzying, but so can success. And in those moments when one is tempted to get drunk on glory, the designer keeps a phrase in her bedroom that helps her not lose her way. “The prize goes to those who resist and the best way to predict the future is to create it,” she repeats to herself.
Because Teresa Helbig’s story does not involve lucky breaks, godparents or million-dollar accounts. Her great secret is hidden in her tireless work, loyalty to herself and family unity. This last term understood in the broadest sense of the word, that is, all those people that one chooses to accompany them on their path. “It’s so important to surround yourself with good, honest people who keep you grounded,” she emphasizes.
Fidelity and perseverance were the bases of the education he received from his mother and that, without knowing it at the time, would forge the unbreakable DNA of the fashion house. “My mother has always stressed to me the importance of being an independent woman, dedicating myself to what I am most passionate about and being faithful to my instincts. Without being aware of it, I received a feminist education that laid my foundations to be able to face any reality.”
Her first memories take her to Calle de Salvà in Barcelona, ??where she spent part of her childhood and where she wanted to return with her mother a week before the parade. “We entered my portal and saw that a mailbox kept putting the name of a close friend of my mother’s with whom she lost her relationship 50 years ago. We rang her doorbell and there she was, the same face as hers and the same humble house. And suddenly I realized how much we have changed and the lessons life has taught us. The road has been intense, fun and many times difficult. But our history is a living reflection that the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.
