He was born Manuel Roberto Mariño in 1945 but his most used surname is a tribute to Verín (Ourense), his hometown and to which he always returns. A year and a half ago he wanted to celebrate with his countrymen his entry into the Royal Galician Academy of Fine Arts. “I made the presentation there but I went with a certain fear, I thought I was daring too much, that I would come out frustrated, that… And it was tremendous. The auditorium was packed and many people were left out. That showed me that he can be a prophet in his own land,” he says, unable to prevent his eyes from misting up. Those same countrymen filled the Santa María la Mayor church in Verín to accompany and comfort him in the farewell to Cris, his daughter and successor, who died due to leukemia. It was last July.
People love Roberto Verino. In Verín he has the same friends from when he went to school and employees who have retired alongside him and others who have been with him since he started. He likes her without trying. Full of enthusiasm at 78 years old, he dresses as if he were 40 years younger and greets with equal force. It is precisely 40 years that he celebrates in the fashion industry with the traveling exhibition 40 years of
Verino has achieved all his goals since he created his brand in 1982: he was the first Spanish designer since Balenciaga to open a boutique in Paris, he co-founded the Association of Fashion Creators of Spain in 1999 with Jesús del Pozo, Antonio Pernas, Angel Schlesser and Modesto Lomba, awarded by Telva, GQ, Marie Claire and the Cibeles catwalk, Golden Needle, Castelao Medal and Silver Vieira as a universal Galician, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts… Even the Louvre chose one of his fragrances feminine for the Collections du Musée.
“In this exhibition we have selected samples of fashion campaigns with very prestigious models as unequivocal proof that we have continued doing the same thing for four decades: a value of design is timelessness, functionality, simplicity and, above all, quality so that the garments “They are good investments and not waste or expenses.” Which brings us to the term ’emotional closets’, coined by him: “When you open your closet and look at those clothes, they remind you of something, they are telling you a story. Our life moves very quickly, but what you have worn has had a certain impact on it. And the important thing is to wear the dress, not that the dress wears you; what you wear, characterizes you. “I like to dress people’s souls and not disguise them, not put things on them that make them appear to be what they are not.”
Based on this philosophy, he highlights King Felipe VI as an icon of elegance: “Some will say that he is classic but his figure requires it. He knows what to wear so that he feels good and dignifies him. Therefore, he is a person who is in his role and that seems important to me. In the female world, man… there is more competition (laughs). Nieves Álvarez is the model that I have used the most times, she has been around for a long time and is still super attractive, super elegant, super exciting. And there is also a model figure who is Andrés Velencoso, I like how he behaves, his attitude.”
Verino is not only famous for having opted for durability but also for the sustainability of the industry. Another of his milestones: AENOR recognized him in 1997 as the first Spanish fashion company worthy of its quality certificate. “We must differentiate quality fashion from fast fashion, which destroys products and does not value work. How can people accept pieces that cost almost nothing without considering whether those who made them received correct and fair compensation? Not to mention the tons of clothes that are destroyed every year. We must defend the trades,” claims the Galician dressmaker.
In 1996 he started the Gargalo winery, in the Monterrei valley of Orense and at the foot of the castle of the same name, a project that unites him with his grandparents through his memory and sepia photographs: “My family’s origins are in Ferreira de Pantón for my maternal grandparents and in Diomondi for my paternal grandparents, in the heart of the Ribeira Sacra. I spent my summers there, we were seven brothers and we really enjoyed nature. My grandparents had vineyards and their modus vivendi, among other things, was to sell wine. It is a family project, with the memory of the best moments we spent at our grandparents’ houses,” recalls Roberto Verino with many things still to do.
