The lights are turned off. Not even a pin fits into Hall 14 of IFEMA. A few hours before the Teresa Helbig show, on the second day of MBFWMadrid, it was rumored behind the scenes that the fair workers themselves would have to give up their seats so that all the guests could have their place. “I’ll try to sneak in,” someone said reluctantly. Because missing Teresa Helbig’s parade was not in anyone’s plans, not even in those of Miquel Iceta, Minister of Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain, sitting proudly in the frontrow.
The screen turns on. “A Helbig woman never goes unnoticed,” reads the black letters under a powder pink background. It is the same one that colors the walls of the firm’s showroom. The camera zooms out and an avatar appears parading in a ruffled chiffon dress until appearing in the desert, the setting in which the collection takes place.
From Paris to the state of Texas, like the name of the cult film that marked an entire generation in the eighties. From the city of light and the most beautiful and refined art to the lone star state. The backdrop of this collection is contradiction, in the most reflective sense of the word. Because there is no transformation, evolution, or change, without contradiction.
“It is the story of any woman who is educated in a certain way but who chooses to take the reins of her life and, while she is on that journey, that is when she realizes that she is unstoppable,” explains Helbig to La Vanguardia. And she adds: “a process of exploration and discovery that little by little defines the women of the present to build an invincible future.”
In the collection, this contradiction is reflected through that trip from Paris, which is presented through delicate chiffon dresses, with sequin details, precious techniques such as freehand illustration, and is combined with elements that evoke the state of Texas, such as gradient tones, raw and ochre, and rigid materials such as worn leather in the form of mini dresses or a jacket with shoulders marked with two embroidered stars.
If in the last edition the Catalan designer remembered the historical character of Anne Boleyn, for the S/S24 collection all the women, present and not in this show, who have ever felt obliged to be a certain way and Despite this, they have wanted to build their own destiny.
At the end of the parade, Teresa Helbig greeted the audience while the song “Happy birthday” played. Today was her 60th anniversary and the public and her entire team applauded her once again with all the admiration and gratitude that can be had for the woman winner of the 2023 National Fashion Design Award, the highest distinction awarded by the Ministry. from Culture to fashion. Long live the Helbigs of the world.
