{"id":791,"date":"2013-07-19T08:59:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T07:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/?p=791"},"modified":"2013-07-19T09:17:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T08:17:15","slug":"authentic-chic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/2013\/07\/19\/authentic-chic\/","title":{"rendered":"Authentic Chic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Don Flamenco (Le\u00f3n, 17).<\/p><\/div>\n

Typical Spanish<\/em>\u00a0is a concept that can also be applied to things that are particularly exclusive or stylish. Artisans at the cutting edge of their craft, gastro bars with a neoca<\/em>\u00f1\u00ed<\/em> or neo-gypsy atmosphere, and young cupl<\/em>\u00e9<\/em> talents have created an aesthetic that combines authenticity with the last word in chic.<\/p>\n

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Our stroll begins just around the corner from the Puerta del Sol, at one of the city’s most exclusive shops,\u00a0Capas Sese<\/strong>\u00f1<\/strong>a<\/strong><\/a>. And when I say “exclusive” I really mean it, because “Sese\u00f1a Cloaks” is the only shop in the world that specialises in this type of traditional garment. Founded in 1901, the shop has serviced celebrities such as the writer Camilo Jos\u00e9 Cela, who collected his Nobel Prize with a cloak draped over his shoulders, and actors Marcelo Mastroiani\u2014who visited the establishment in 1974 accompanied by his then girlfriend Catherine Deneuve\u2014and Pierce Brosnan. Pablo Picasso, Federico Fellini, Michael Jackson and Hillary Clinton have all worn cloaks made at this workshop which in recent years has added a new silk line for women.<\/p>\n

“Exclusive” is also an apt description for the handmade dance shoes sold by\u00a0Don Flamenco<\/strong><\/a>, whose owner Manuel Ballester tells me that over half of their commissions come from outside Spain and that their models are so popular that they have also started making dress shoes. Right now his window display on Calle Le\u00f3n boasts an eye-catching delicate paper skirt made by the firm Objetos perdidos, which has demonstrated on more than one occasion that things discarded without a second thought can be beautiful when you know how to look at them. They created this project for DecorAccion 2012, an interior design festival held in the\u00a0Literary Quarter\u00a0every September.<\/p>\n

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Capas Sese\u00f1a (Cruz, 23).<\/p><\/div>\n

This area near the Amor de Dios Spanish dance school is home to many of the shops that specialise in flamenco clothing, but\u00a0Keflamenca<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>wouldn’t be out of place in Malasa\u00f1a. The duende<\/em> or special magical quality is provided by Silvia Arcav\u00edn, an Argentinian who came to Spain to complete her dance studies and ended up abandoning the flamenco clubs to design dresses coveted by modern flamenco enthusiasts. Her shop on Calle Tres Peces sells all kinds of accessories, ranging from quirky macram\u00e9 combs to geometric earrings. But what her label is really famous for in flamenco circles is the daring prints she uses, which have much more in common with Pop Art than with traditional polka-dot patterns\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Prints are something they know about at\u00a0La Revoltosa<\/strong><\/a>, a retro haberdashery that seems to tilt its trade at those zarzuela<\/em> seamstresses who in recent years have gone over to punk. The DIY philosophy behind this treasure trove of fabrics and buttons is that every customer can be his or her own stylist. The shop also offers an alterations service, thanks to which clothes that went out of fashion years ago suddenly seem ultra-cool. With two establishments\u2014one at the\u00a0El Rastro flea market<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and the other in\u00a0Triball<\/a>\u2014they also devote part of their space to promoting young designers, accessories and second-hand items.<\/p>\n

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KeFlamenka (Tres Peces, 34).<\/p><\/div>\n

This route is also a chance to experience a perfect blend of authenticity and chicness for the palate, and a good place to discover it is\u00a0Estado Puro<\/strong><\/a>, the gastrobar<\/em> owned by Paco Roncero that has reinvented traditional Madrid tapas. In both the establishment in the NH hotel on Paseo del Prado and the one in the NH Palacio de Tepa, a typical Spanish comb of architectural proportions covers the ceilings with a fish-scale pattern.<\/p>\n

A very different atmosphere altogether is what you will find at\u00a0Casa Gonz<\/strong>\u00e1<\/strong>lez<\/strong><\/a>, a grocer’s shop founded in 1931 that has evolved over the years into a delicatessen,\u00a0with prices to suit every pocket. The counter’s blue-and-white checkerboard pattern and an exquisite selection of French and Italian cheeses are wonderfully reminiscent of the French film\u00a0Am<\/em>\u00e9<\/em>lie<\/em>. But in fact Casa Gonz\u00e1lez could not be more authentic, with its letters etched on the shop window and a long list of quality Spanish wines.<\/p>\n

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Estado Puro (Plaza C\u00e1novas del Castillo, 4).<\/p><\/div>\n

Spanish wine, olive oil and beer are all products they can tell us about at the\u00a0San Fernando Market<\/strong><\/a>, the granary of\u00a0Lavapi\u00e9s, where a good number of stalls are committed to ecology, the sustainable economy and tradition. For example,\u00a0La Buena Pinta<\/strong>\u00a0sells artisanal beers like Cibeles, La Virgen and LEST, all produced in Madrid. Meanwhile, at\u00a0La Siempre Llena<\/strong>\u00a0wine can be purchased by the jug, like in the olden days. The partners got the idea after a trip to Italy, birthplace of the Slow Food movement\u00a0 which promotes organic foods and the consumption of local produce. Outside the market, on Calle Embajadores, the ecological fruit-cum-coffee shop\u00a0El Mar-Tiendita enBioverde<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0has also embraced this concept which is transforming Madrid’s most authentic neighbourhood, although it has preserved the picturesque tiled facade of the old establishment, a barber’s shop.<\/p>\n

For many people there is nothing more typical of Madrid than a plate of tripe. Just a stone’s throw away, at number 1 on Calle Encomienda, we come to an offal shop for\u00a0 gourmets<\/em>. \u00a0Os-Car<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was founded in 1932 and is so delicate, with its tiny shop window boasting innards hung like animal skins, that even those who are traditionally reluctant to discover how delicious the various types of offal truly are will succumb to its charms. All of these things are perfectly in keeping with an authentic chic palate because offal is currently being rediscovered by some of our finest chefs, like Abraham Garc\u00eda at\u00a0Viridiana<\/strong> and Joaqu\u00edn Felipe at\u00a0Europa Dec<\/strong>\u00f3<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Casquer\u00eda Oscar (Encomienda, 1).<\/p><\/div>\n

The soundtrack for this post would be a copla<\/em> performed by\u00a0Martirio<\/strong><\/a>, who has long been flirting with bolero, jazz and rock; a “neorealist cupl<\/em>\u00e9<\/em>” by\u00a0La Pur<\/strong>\u00ed<\/strong>ssima<\/strong><\/a>; or an erotic ballad by\u00a0La Bernalina<\/strong><\/a>, two young singers who have rescued the music of our grandparents’ day to prove how contemporary it still sounds today. And where better to end this stroll than at Sala Tribue\u00f1e, which won last year’s edition of the Ojo Cr\u00edtico theatre awards for its promotion of traditional Spanish culture. Its current show,\u00a0Por los ojos de Raquel Meller<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0written and directed by Hugo P\u00e9rez,<\/em>\u00a0is a musical about the legendary cupl<\/em>\u00e9 <\/em>singer who turned down the chance to work with Charlie Chaplin in\u00a0City Lights<\/em>, but that’s a story that deserves its own post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Typical Spanish\u00a0is a concept that can also be applied to things that are particularly exclusive or stylish. Artisans at the cutting edge of their craft, gastro bars with a neoca\u00f1\u00ed or neo-gypsy atmosphere, and young cupl\u00e9 talents have created an aesthetic that combines authenticity with the last word in chic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,4],"tags":[35,137,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}