The stylists of the royals you (perhaps) do not know: Letizia of Spain and the Felipe Varela case

It is not just about designing beautiful clothes but also comfortable, elegant clothes, attentive to the etiquette and the occasion. This is what a maison is asked for when called from a royal house. It is a relationship of trust that becomes a real partnership, with its crosses and its delights. If we introduced you to it last week Nathanthe fashion house of Edouard Vermeulen, dear to the queen Mathilde of Belgiumthis Sunday we move on to Spain deepening the relationship between the Queen Letizia and his discreet stylist Felipe Varela.

For a long time the Spanish newspapers enjoyed calling him the other Felipe di Letizia. When the former journalist announced in November 2003 she was engaged to Felipe of Bourbonnot only had to reorganize his life but also that wardrobe designed for his television half-length profession.
Taking part in parades, cutting ribbons and shaking hands is a very different job that must respect a series of more or less codified rules. The bourgeois Letizia then relied on her future mother-in-law, Queen Sophiawho advised her to find someone to help build the character of princess of Asturiasmaybe someone with a low profile since as we know discretion is one of the essential values ​​when dealing with royals.

Letizia, that on the day of the engagement she wore an Armani suit bought in a boutique without the intermediation of anyone stylistit didn’t take long to baptize what would become his couturier. He turned his gaze to theInfanta Elena, her sister-in-law, and asked for the name of the tailor shop she was using. Felipe’s sister and her husband Jaime de Marichalar they lived in the same neighborhood as the atelier of Felipe Varela, it must not have been very difficult to introduce one to the other. The agreement between Letizia and Varela was immediate and, even if the bride had already commissioned the wedding dress from the monument of Spanish fashion Manuel Pertegaz (born in 1918), the 36-year-old designer was responsible for the respectable task of dressing his mother Paloma Rocasolano and the sisters Telma and Érika Ortiz.

The first important release for Felipe Varela it was the day of the national holiday, October 12, 2004. Not yet the queen of royal glamor, for Letizia she created a no-frills suit in shades of purple and brown. The designer’s name then began to circulate.

But who was this Felipe Varela? There was little information except that he had paraded with his brand at the Madrid Fashion Week from 1996 to 2002 and then retire to the atelier. His clients, it was said, were the ladies of Madrid in their fifties and the Latin American upper-class couples, but the list, of course, was not in the public domain. If at that time little or nothing was known, from 2004 practically the end of the broadcasts. His reserve, already strong, became obsessive. The last interview dates back to 2004 and if even today someone wants to know more, there is no bio on his site either. Searching for news about him is a job for investigative reporters. And in fact the press went wild to try to draw a profile of this so enigmatic figure.

Felipe Varela was born in Madrid in 1968. All of his brothers, seven, and his mother Manuela worked for the company, at least initially. Managing the communication and the press are Ruth and Jacob, also very sparing in the information on the activity of the brother. Felipe apparently studied at the school of Santa María de los Rosales, the same one frequented by Felipe of Spain first and then by the daughters Leonor and Sofia. According to the various press releases analyzed under the microscope by the press, Varela would have joined theInstitut Français de la Mode and at the international school of design Esmod in Paris. Contact him in time from Vanity Fair Spanish, both institutes have not flatly denied but have limited themselves to saying that there is no trace of that name in their archives. Probably, they say gracefully, it’s their problem, so many things have changed since then.

In his resume Varela would boast internships from Kenzo, Dior, Lanvin, Ferré And Thierry Mugler, his teacher. Here, too, everyone apologizes if they don’t remember who he was. But you know, the years pass, the creative directions change and the companies change ownership. From Paris he returns to Spain and founds his own brand, which remained a bit under the radar until he makes a bang by starting to dress Letizia.

The two don’t dare too much at first. The princess of Asturias begins to become one fashion icon also recognized internationally in June 2010 when at the dinner on the eve of wedding between Crown Princess of Sweden Victoria and Daniel Westlingsports a dress with a high rate of sensuality, cherry red, with bare shoulders and a strong slit.

The following year she charms everyone with another dream dress, once again for someone else’s Eve dinner royal weddingthat of William and Kate. Letizia shows up in a lavender-colored dress of yesteryear, which, very tight at the waist, opens into a wide skirt like a fairytale princess. On that occasion, Varela himself accompanied his special client to London to check that everything was perfect, even on the actual wedding day when Letizia chose a delicate pink lace outfit.

For a long time all the clothes for the main appointments of the royal agenda were signed Felipe Varela: the Princess of Asturias awardthe National holiday and the Pascua Militar. Felipe Varela wears the white suit with precious details that accompany Letizia in her transition from princess to queen consort on June 19, 2014the day of Felipe’s investiture after the abdication of King Juan Carlos.

Doña Letizia for her part continued to buy designer clothes on her own Hugo Boss, Carolina Herrera or Nina Ricci when he did not rely on his trusty couturier. Everything has always gone smoothly between Letizia and Felipe Varela until in 2015 the queen met Eva Fernández, a very influential figure in the Spanish fashion industry. In a short time, the then in his early thirties left the magazine Cosmopolitan for which he worked and began to work for Real house with the task of dressing the most important woman in her country.

Little by little, Varela’s tailoring garments have been reduced to make room for new brands of young Spanish designers who combine creativity with an ethical and sustainable approach. Over the last few years Letizia’s wardrobe has become more varied so that in her wardrobe you can find both pieces of Zara or H&M that of Dries Van Noten or Cherubina, an emerging brand. The quantity of Varela’s creations have not been put in the attic but are increasingly filed under the heading “responsible consumption”, therefore as clothes worn over and over again. This is why we cannot speak of damnatio memoriae for the designer but only of a removal that is not better justified.

At each party where Letizia appeared with another signature, the newspapers spoke of betrayal as if Felipe were really the other slice of the royal apple. Trying to find answers has become increasingly difficult, again because of that proverbial discretion. Confidentiality has always been the key to that relationship also because another designer, Jorge Vásquezwho dared to communicate that the queen had asked him for an appointment in the atelier, was punished with the cancellation of the business meeting.

As often happens in these cases, the newspapers then went to do the accounts in the pocket of the Varela brand, discovering that the combination of the pandemic and the queen’s failed orders, caused some landslides in the family business. The brand asked for public contributions which, in addition to guaranteeing survival, should also have been used to relaunch the brand also with a view to internationalization.

El Mundo in 2021 perhaps the right question is asked or at least strives to look at the facts by choosing another angle: “What if it was Felipe Varela who abandoned Queen Letizia and not the other way around?“.

The labels stuck on a brand by royalty give as much as they take away. If a creative has ambitions perhaps, even if the turnover is fine, in the end designing pastel-colored coats begins to feel a little tight. Felipe Varela to celebrate the twenty years of the brand in 2016 was back on the catwalk at Madrid Fashion Week with a rather bold collection that Letizia, or the other wealthy clients, would never have been able to wear to gala dinners or military parades. From what is known, Varela would now move to Miami continuing to design clothes while the company remained in Madrid with family members.
Across the Atlantic will follow Letizia who continues to dress despite everything. Every so often her majesty sends a message to her old friend with a boss who accompanied her in her career as a queen as if to say “I do not forget” as she continues her race towards the highly coveted candidacy of best dressed real in the world.

Why then want to know more at all costs? Maybe the story we imagine is less interesting than it seems. One day, who knows, a royal biographer will come up with the whole truth about the Varela case. After all, the title is already there, only the book is missing.

Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you:

– The royal stylists you (maybe) don’t know: Natan, Mathilde’s couturier from Belgium

– The great stories of royal clothes. Letizia Ortiz and the white suit for her engagement to Prince Felipe

– Letizia Ortiz, the dress is (still) that of the mother-in-law

– Letizia di Spagna in H&M: what the royal looks tell us at the gala dinner in Stockholm