Spanish Journey Part One
3. Fashion and beauty

Narrator
Madrid is a city that goes by appearances. To see and be seen are vital in daily life. But Spanish fashion can be very surprising: these hotel rooms, designed by Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada, would cause more than one jaw to drop. And they are nothing compared to her latest fashion collection. 

Robert Elms
Ágatha, is that art or fashion?

Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada
Well, this is an experiment that I have been working on for a year now and it's the most interesting thing I have ever done. I want to make dresses that are alive, dresses that are happy when the sun shines, that you need to water, which die when the weather's bad. And maybe some day that will be fashion.

Robert Elms
I find them very Spanish because the colours are so vivid, very strong: would you say so?

Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada
I love colours because I think that colour and light are the elements in life that give most happiness.

Robert Elms
Ágatha, what's this? It's not natural!

Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada
This is the only one with a neon flower, which represents the danger we are running that in the end they are the only ones we will be familiar with. I think one of the amazing things about this collection is that: imagine if you have a party to go to, or a wedding, in a month's time - you have to water your dress so that it flowers on the appointed day.

Robert Elms
And where are the batteries?

Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada
They are in a belt.

Narrator
Alongside the avant-garde extremism of Ágatha Ruiz, Madrid also enjoys things that are in a more traditional vein. Paquita Ors Ors looks after the faces of the people of Madrid.

Robert Elms
Hello Paquita.

Paquita Ors 
Hello!

Robert Elms
Hello. Could you take a look at my skin to see what it needs?

Paquita Ors
With pleasure.

Robert Elms
Yes...

Paquita Ors
Please take off your glasses so that I don't dazzle you.

Robert Elms
Oh, incredible!

Paquita Ors
I can see you better like that. Now, please turn your head, now turn the other way. You have extremely delicate skin. I would say that you are not from Madrid.

Robert Elms
It is a little dry, isn't it?

Paquita Ors
Your skin is dry, very delicate and dry, and the sun’s very bad for you. You need to moisturise your skin because otherwise, although you're still young, you will have wrinkles before your time. Although today in cosmetics we can get rid of wrinkles, it is much better if they don't appear in the first place. I don't know if you know, but the most attractive feature of a person is their voice, and after their voice it is their skin. And do you know just how much skin we have? We have to look after all of it, not just this bit, because afterwards it...

Robert Elms
I have a little too much skin around here, but.....

Paquita Ors
No you don't! You are a show-off, but you don't look after yourself and that's no good. You need to be a show-off, I'm all for it, but you also need to ensure that your body not only doesn't deteriorate, but that it improves.

Robert Elms
And what's the secret of your youth? It is incredible!

Paquita Ors
You have no idea just how old I am! You could never imagine. I've clocked up a few. Well, you can see from my son here, who is no spring chicken himself. Well, I think that the most important thing is enthusiasm and the capacity to hope.

Robert Elms
Yes, is enthusiasm what counts?

Paquita Ors
Yes, I love my work. I started in cosmetics because I was starting to age physically and I'm extremely vain! So, as I had made some creams for different health problems, I thought I could also try to make some to avoid the ageing process, and they were so successful that here I am selling them!

[music]