We visited Alejandro Gómez Palomo at his home-workshop in Posadas, in Córdoba, to talk about his second collaboration with Mó de Multiópticas. Instead of finding ourselves with that baroque, excessive, fanciful and genderless world that he has made famous with his firm Palomo Spain, what we find behind the curtain is a team of fifteen people (seamstresses, pattern makers, marketing, management) who work in family in an old farmhouse with terracotta floors. We are greeted by Lucio, a beautiful Weimaraner who just needs to talk. He, better than anyone, knows how his friend has come so far without hardly moving from here.
What a pleasure to return to where one was born after so much travel, isn't it? Yes, I went very young to study in London and I've come back. Madrid would have been another good option, but here I work more calmly, I think I am more creative and I have crafts professionals on hand.
And a house with character. Yes, it is an old country house that I am rehabilitating little by little. Now I have a bathroom in the living area. Just arrived, I had to go down to the workshop floor to shower. I didn't say good morning until it was fixed [laughs].
I imagine that the town will be delighted with your return because you give visibility and work. Well, I try to hire professionals from the area and be kind to the buses that came before the pandemic as if this were a museum [laughs]... It's what it has to also work on TV [Sewing masters].
You just presented the new SS21 season and right away you launched a capsule collection of glasses with Mó from Multiópticas. It is a non-stop. It is that they complement each other, they share the same story inspired by those sixties feelings of peace & love, because we are already fed up with the pandemic and masks. I think a very enjoyable summer thing has come out of us, of having a good time outdoors...
This second collection that you design together with Mó from Multiópticas has a very Hollywood touch, doesn't it? Yes, with that Chateau Marmont air, both the sun glasses, with half-opaque lenses, and the see-through ones, with a blue light filter to protect us from the computer.
These glasses are being used a lot in parades. They elevate any look. That is why they have become just another accessory. I have loved them since I was a child.
Do you remember what the first ones you used were like? I think they were from the Vogue brand, little squares, light blue paste, quite fashionable [laughs]. We bought them on the beach, in Rota. I was 7 or 8 years old.
The design already deprived you. Yes, I have always been very flirtatious. As a child I loved going shopping with my mother: she would choose her clothes and I would dress as she pleased. In my house they have given me all the freedom in the world.
And now Beyoncé and Rita Ora wear your designs. Who would you like to wear your glasses? Harry Styles all the time [laughs]. I already sent you some. As a brand we are lucky to have you close as a customer.
A curiosity: why did you add Spain to your firm? Because we don't just sell clothes. There is also a brand idea that represents contemporary values, claims and a connection with the artisan roots. We have done everything with very little shame, when for some we should have covered that flag. That Spain is the addition to represent all of us and those values that are also Spain.
*This article appears in the May 2021 issue of Esquire magazine
