Word: sybilla
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...longer did Spaniards have to emigrate north for jobs: their income rose to 79% of the E.C. median. Culturally, Spain became fashionable: the campy fantasies of filmmaker Pedro Almodovar; the sunswept abstractions of painter Miguel Barcelo; the postmodern extravaganzas of architect Ricardo Bofill; the prankish sexiness of fashion designer Sybilla. Madrid promoted itself as the eye of a creative tornado known as la movida, whirling all night long. Novelist Camilo Jose Cela won the 1989 Nobel Prize for Literature. "In the 1960s, we felt like second-class Europeans," says Juan Sanchez-Cuenca, director of the U.S.-affiliated advertising firm Bozell...
...Sybilla's fancies include ball gowns with little metal fish falling from the folds; ear-shaped buttons securing, with just a hint of discretion, a sexy blouse; a shawl with fabric flowers sprouting from the shoulders. Sure, some of this is stuff you wear on a dare. But be warned: high spirits can be contagious, even at these prices (around $850 for a slinky silk Sybilla with a woven metallic shawl; $1,000 for a suede, fringed Bikkembergs jacket). Moreover, it may still be something of a challenge for fashion fans in the U.S. to find things by Sybilla...
...however, convention is also playing a fast game of footsie with pragmatism. There are indications that the Dirker may be working toward an accommodation with the mainstream. He has recently struck a deal with the established Italian manufacturer GIBO, which handles such successful lines as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Sybilla. Where the Dirker comes down heavy on prankishness, Sybilla tends to the winsome and the ingenious. Her clothes are mostly hand finished and full of little surprises, like tucks that form boxes or a hem that looks to have been pushed up for a hasty jump across a puddle...
...Born Sybilla Sorondo in New York City, she worked for a year in Paris at Yves Saint Laurent as a seamstress, getting down her technique but drawing inspiration from the streets of Spain, where she grew up. She showed her first collection in Madrid in 1983, a "100% idealistic period, when I only did dresses for people who came to me." By 1984, however, she was selling her designs to other shops, and in three years she was producing more than her Spanish manufacturer could handle. She switched to GIBO, and although she admits, "I'm always terrified of losing...
...insecurities, disappointments, complexes disappear. I think about women's complexes -- having breasts, not having breasts -- and I try to make something for the body. I try to make a waist for women who don't have one." She will, however, be wasting no time, so best snap up that Sybilla now. She promises to retire in five years...