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HISTORY OF THE FLAMENCO DRESS
   By: Dory Shakiba
   

Flamenco is the traditional song and dance of the Gypsies (flamencos) of Andalusia in southern Spain. Its history can be traced over several centuries from Gypsy, Moorish, Andalusian, and other roots, flamenco music and dance entered polite society in the early 19th century as café entertainment. In the same century, guitar accompaniment became common for many genres, and guitar solos also developed. In the 20th century, commercial pressure distorted much traditional flamenco dance. Its evolution is a source of great debate with no accepted explanation of how flamenco resulted from the cultural influences of such diverse regions as North Africa, Southern Europe and the Near and Far East. Flamenco has never been more popular in Spain and abroad than it is today with a new generation of new flamenco performers in the post-Franco era who have broadened flamenco's appeal to an international audience.

The origins of the flamenco dress lie in the work dresses worn by nineteenth century Andalusian women, the dresses worn by the those who accompanied the livestock traders who gathered at the Prado de San Sebastián for Seville's Feria de Abril from 1847 onwards. As business gave way to pleasure the fair changed from a Feria de Ganado - a livestock fair - to simply become a Feria that was a celebration of those original outfits, obtaining the blessing of even the most distinguished ladies at the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition. Around the same time, the increasing acceptance of flamenco as a professional art form acted as a parallel force in consecrating the traditional Andalusian dress as de rigueur on stage. The material used became richer, as did adornments and complements: lacing, embroidered ribbons, flowers, costume jewellery, Manila silk shawls, and ladies' fans... A newfound creative freedom, which accentuated natural feminine beauty, and spurred on the evolution of a dress, which even, transformed itself into a miniskirt in the sixties.

In the first years of the April Fair in Seville, the spouses of the cattle traders used to go with their husbands, usually Gypsies, or simple peasants, dressed in their humble calico robes, work dresses with two or three frills. They were nice-looking dresses with sparkling colors that enhanced the women's bodies. The 1929 Iberoamerican Exposition was the christening and definitive acceptance of the Flamenco dress by the upper classes as a necessary article for attending the April Fair.

The original shape of the dress, the "guitar body", enhanced the woman's qualities and masked its defects: A low neck area round or square, according to the fashion, hair pulled back in a bun to make the neck appear thinner, the dress tightened around the waist and widening at the hips and the frills are placed to have the woman walk in a more boasting fashion. The dress has been earning a reputation as very easy-to-wear and flirty with the years thanks to the different accessories: Manila scarves, flowers placed in the hair, etc.

The Flamenco dress has varied according to fashion and the economic situation but without losing its uniqueness. In the forties with the passing of the Civil War it reached its zenith. The women stood out at the Fair with their frilled dresses and were just as long as they are now, straight and spotted, with austere fabrics, complemented with flowers, fine combs, bracelets and hidden money-pockets that have always generally been a custom according to style.

In the fifties calico continued to be the main cloth, but the dress was enriched with stitched lace or belts for comfort. The dress was shortened and the footwear was visible.

The economic boom of the sixties and seventies had repercussions for the flamenco dress; it was shortened to the knee or halfway up the calf. The frills were cloaked and they began to use the "tergal", a base of cotton and an embroidered cloth as the main decorative feature. The sleeves reached the elbows or the wrist and were stitched with little frills. In the seventies they were lengthened to the ankles and were fashioned with bright colors.

In the eighties they were more emphasized and the fashion was to have printed tapestries. In the nineties the dress lost its volume, it purified its outline and looked more for comfort but without losing its sensuality and essence. The waist has been dropped, the silhouette has been marked and the spotted and straight style is back. Simpleness has returned to the flamenco dress and continues going back to its origins.

The flamenco dress brings together tradition and innovation. While it does conserve a basic structure of a figure-hugging body and a skirt layered with flounces, creativity flows within this framework. In the eighties the flamenco dress lived a baroque decade of lacing and satin ribbons. In the nineties, in a show of simplicity, it shed its embellishments, its starched rigidity and concealed hips, and underwent a metamorphosis to become light, airy and sensual. Now women were beginning to wrap themselves in silky smooth material, plain colors and those ubiquitous spots. The dress showed off women's contours, drawing in the waist and flounces, regardless of whether the arms were stripped bare or covered in modesty. As we move into the 3rd Millennium, the style draws inspiration from the past, poplin is brought back (though the close fit is maintained), the dress is divided into a two-piece outfit, the spots start to grow... A continuous state of flux and invention, which is mirrored in all types of complements or avíos. If this year a large flower is the thing to have in your hair, worn low next to the bun, then the next it'll be a small flower placed up high. If this year the earrings to have are ringlets, the next they'll be pendant earrings. If your shawl this year is decorated with painted flowers, the next it'll be made out of patterned cloth…

And this incessant reinvention keeps everybody's vision focused, looking for the next direction. And the next direction might be born at the sewing machine in the workshop of a flamenco seamstress, or more likely in the chains of better-known firms dedicated to tailoring this unique attire. In fact, the annual turnover in the sector is already more than 120 million euros according to the Asociación de Empresarios de la Moda Flamenca, a body that oversees the flamenco fashion industry. This figure is shared among thirty or so clothing manufacturers concentrated largely around the province of Seville. A clear sign of the sector's strength can be found at the Salón Internacional de Moda Flamenca (Simof), an international flamenco fashion event organized by the Doble Erre fashion house and Hotel Alcora. The eighth edition of the event, held in February 2002, brought together more than twenty designers, putting their creations on show on eighteen catwalks for ten thousand visitors.

And the flamenco dress has even found a place in the world of haute couture, inspiring designers like Yves Saint Laurent, or Vittorio & Lucchino from Seville, who have created an exclusive line of flamenco dresses. And these dazzling designs have moved onto the stage too - Francis Montesinos designs Eva Yerbabuena's wardrobe, while Joaquín Cortés is dressed by Armani. But the entente isn't by any means universally accepted, especially not by female artists. The stiff traditional bata de cola dress worn by Matilde Coral has nothing to do with the light, fluttering dresses worn by Sara Baras. Purity against renovation. The same old debate comes up everywhere evolution creeps in.

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