Spain’s Falleras Bring Historic Opulence to Life
By: Jomar Jaramillo
As music play, “jotas” dance in traditional dresses, as their hands play the castanets to the beat of the song.
These are Falleras, women who partake in one of the biggest festivals in the city, Las Fallas festival. In Valencia, Spain monuments tower over the streets during March with millions of people around the world coming to visit, boosting the economy.
Designers of fallera dresses like Alvaro Moliner have been able to stay in business for over 80 years. Moliner is one of Valencia's most known textile providers, with hundreds of people coming in looking at fabrics to create the fallera dresses. From the many different colored fabrics, to delicate laces and silk embroideries to choose from, these exquisite dresses sometimes are made in several months.
“Depending on the urgency and also the amount of work we have, but normally it takes about 15 days to one month,” said Alex Moliner, the owner of Alvaro Moliner.
Measurements have to be taken. A single dress is then tried on many times. Final alterations make the dress fit perfectly. The price of a dress made from scratch costs about €2000. The dresses are mainly made from silks and lace with gold or silver sewn into them. The dresses come in two parts: the “falda,” or skirt, and the “corpiño,” the bodice. Through industrialization and modernization, most of the garment are run through factory sewing machines. Embellishments and sequins are also hand sewn onto the garments.
Next door at Espai Ripalda, a sister store to Alvaro Moliner, Owner Raul Garrido specializes in selling all the accessories to compliment the dresses — from shoes, fans, and all the beautiful jewels. They also sell hair accessories elaborated from real silver and hand carved into combs.
All the jewelry, hair pieces, and shoes in the store are handcrafted in Valencia. Made from wood and fabric, the shoes are custom made allowing each fallera to choose how tall they want the heal to be. They need to be comfortable throughout the entire festivity meaning their shoes need to be a perfect fit.
Aside from selling to falleras, Garrido also sells souvenirs made from the fabrics seen on traditional clothes.
“But I don’t think that it’s so much about spending that much money and saying like, I have the prettiest dress, said Beth Plymouth, an intern studying the fashion history of the fallas.
“I think that it’s more about them coming together and having this mutual celebration together.”
