Spanish Style On View
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The sophisticated sensuous, heavily black-and-white designs of Spain’s Roberto Verino can be found at upscale shops in Europe, the Middle East, and Mexico — though not yet in America. But selections from his women’s wear and menswear oeuvre have been compiled for a week-long retrospective exhibit at the Gabarron Foundation Carriage House Center for the Arts in Midtown. “Roberto Verino: 25 Years of Fashion” had its debut at Madrid’s costume museum, Museo del Traje, last fall and traveled throughout Spain before opening here yesterday.
Visitors have an opportunity to see more than 50 of his most characteristic designs, as well as a selection of photographs taken during Mr. Verino’s fashion shows in Madrid. The exhibit features a reversible silk jacquard and waterproof black polyester trench coat; a transparent tulle evening dress embroidered with sequins, worn over shorts, and a black silk knit skirt hand-painted with orange butterflies, among other designs. The 63-year-old Mr. Verino said he hopes the show serves to introduce his apparel, which generally falls into the $250–$700 range, to an American audience. “The American market is the most competitive and important in the world,” he told The New York Sun during a recent phone interview. “I feel I am up to the competition and prepared to fight. I always have in mind intelligent and successful men and women who need clothes for business as well as for their social hours and like to feel seductive.”
Growing up in the lush region of Galicia, where he still maintains his headquarters, Mr. Verino learned the essentials of creating clothes from his father, who made leather garments. In 1982, he launched his first eponymous collection of women’s ready-to-wear apparel. Today, he makes clothes for men and women, as well as a line of signature fragrances.
“I love selecting raw materials and transforming them into finished garments,” he told The Sun. “Textiles have always been my passion. I want to make clothes that are worn by real men and women, that are relaxed and beautifully tailored — not just produced for a show.”
Through March 10 at the Gabarron Foundation Carriage House Center, 149 E. 38th St. at Lexington Avenue, 212-573-6968, Monday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Sundays.
