Teresa Palazuelo dies: goodbye to a totally passionate way of understanding sewing
The world of design and sewing today loses one of those who was a key piece in Spanish fashion. Teresa Palazuelo, died yesterday at the HM Sanchinarro University Hospital, she died peacefully surrounded by her loved ones.
Self-taught and passionate, she soon became a school and example for the creators who came after her.
He was always faithful and consistent with his style. A personality in line with a slow, tender, elegant, low-pitched voice that, like his work, achieved success without making much noise, without promotions, without advertising, only thanks to ‘word of mouth’ and a gene, “the one with good taste”, which he inherited from his mother, Teresa.
Happy childhood
Not long ago he confessed to us in his last interview that he had had an absolutely happy childhood, like many of his generation – he said -. The year was 1948 and his mother Teresa founded what later became known as the Basaldúa Workshop. Little Teresa saw the seamstresses at work and people trying on, and she even witnessed the private fashion shows that the well-to-do ladies received in the salon and “I was captivated by that,” she confessed to us.
Writer before anything
Something that not many know is that Teresa Palazuelo was a budding writer and that is why she enrolled in Journalism at the Complutense University. In those days, it was incomprehensible not to have a university degree, so the closest thing to writing was, without a doubt, journalism.
Once he finished his studies, he decided to travel, leave the country, live new adventures… to observe and absorb everything he could about art and culture. And he returned to Spain.
And when she returned, she left everything behind and dedicated herself entirely to what she had always liked, since she was little, which was nothing other than the world of design and fashion.
Color yes, trend no
However, success was long in coming, but it came. And it happened in 1992, when Teresa decided to launch her own company and her own creations. The impact of her designs and her chromatic choice was such that critics and the public agreed to praise her.
Color mattered a lot, it meant breaking with the tradition of the ivory or white wedding dress. Her girlfriends and her godmothers and guests were always the most spectacular, and appeared in the best magazines.
The phone didn’t stop ringing. Every season the brides went to his atelier to get the dream dress that, on many occasions, was later passed on from mothers to daughters. A timeless style made it possible.
“I have always stayed away from trends,” Teresa told MagasIn and added: “when a fashionable color comes out, it doesn’t suit everyone.” Staunch defender of sustainability, and wardrobe funds for life.
Teresa did not need to go to classes to learn the trade. She claimed that she had it in her DNA… And in the beginning, if she saw something that didn’t look right, that it wasn’t well made, she would undo it and start over like all the greats since Balenciaga have done.
Tireless worker and not a fan of social networks, nor of advertising, nor of promotion, not even in the media, in which she did little. In recent times, only an Instagram profile was her window to the world, where she posted few photos.
One of his last ‘media designs’ was the one he made for his niece Sofía, at her wedding with Fernando Fitz-James Stuart, son of the current Duke of Alba. She herself gave an impressive lesson in style with her own dress that made her, in the opinion of critics, one of her most elegant guests.
Enjoy every second
Lover of good fabrics and details. “Details are very important in life. We are all marked by the experiences we have lived and each one transmits it in their work, with their personal touch. What I do is very personal,” Teresa assured.
When the illness arrived, he decided to slow down his work pace and valued each moment as if it were unique. “I have already done everything I had to do, I have already shown what I could do and now I just want to work to enjoy,” he told us.
Teresa has left an enormous legacy, not only in terms of fashion, but also and above all, in the human aspect. “My way of life has always been to try to be an honest, good person, helping those around me, being attentive to them, enjoying my family, enjoying my work…” she stated.
There are many loyal clients who will miss her, and who she treated as if they were family. “If a lady comes because she wants a wedding dress or a suit, we do it because she and I feel like it.” These last few months have been times to make dresses without rushing, being aware of the value of each stitch, of each second, doing what she liked most…
“Suits, suits and suits… I will die making suits,” Teresa assured.
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