The LCI Barcelona school has awarded its Felicidad Duce award to Miren Arzalluz, current director of the Paris Fashion Museum. With this award, the center recognizes its involvement in the world of fashion and its international impact.
Previously, big names in modeling such as Pablo Coppola (Balenciaga), Teresa Helbig and Jean-Paul Gaultier received this recognition.
“Being able to create frameworks for dissemination and reflection with a critical look at the history and sociology of fashion is of vital importance to value the discipline. The contribution of Miren Arzalluz to this, first as an expert at Balenciaga, and currently in charge of one of the museums specialized in fashion, is indisputable,” explained Estel Vilaseca, head of the fashion area at LCI Barcelona.
Miren Arzalluz, born in Bilbao in 1978 and daughter of the former president of the PNV Xabier Arzalluz, has managed the Palais Galiera, the Paris Fashion Museum, since 2017, as director. An appointment that reflects the qualities of the historian, since she is supposed to be responsible for one of the main fashion centers in the world.
The Bilbao native has more than 15 years of experience in the world of fashion, but her training curriculum is much broader. Arzalluz graduated in History from the University of Deusto. She later went to London to study a Master’s Degree in Comparative Politics. Arzalluz continued his British training with another master’s degree, this time specializing in the History of Costume.
Likewise, she has a DEA and Research Proficiency in History, in addition to being a doctoral student in the Leisure, Culture and Communication for Human Development Program. She is also the author of the book The Forge of the Master, which addresses the phenomenon of Cristóbal Balenciaga in the history of fashion.
Among the positions held in the world of fashion, the head of collection and exhibitions at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Foundation stands out. A position that he led for seven years before starting his new professional career in France.
In Paris, Arzalluz became an associate professor at Groupe EAC in 2013 while also serving as a curator and independent researcher. In 2016 she returned to the Basque Country to be the new director of the Etxepare Basque Institute until, a year later, she was commissioned to be the director of the Paris Fashion Museum.
Under his mandate, very successful exhibitions have been held, such as that of Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto, which opened in 2020, the year of the coronavirus, and which continued until 2021. Also that of Azzedine Alaïa, couterier and collector, with the heritage exhibition until now unpublished by Alaïa and in which we go back to 19th century fashion to learn about its beginnings.