En 1987, pocos años después de la incorporación de España a la Comunidad Económica Europea, hecho que permitió a los productores extranjeros comercializar directamente sus productos sin depender del sistema de licencias concedidas a distribuidores locales, la Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (Cámara nacional de la moda italiana) y el Istituto nazionale per il commercio estero (Instituto nacional de comercio exterior) organizaron una pasarela colectiva de moda italiana en el Palacio de Cristal del Parque del Retiro (Madrid). El objetivo era que el acontecimiento constituyera el punto de partida de una serie de acciones de penetración en el mercado español.
El presente artículo reconstruye la organización previa al acontecimiento a través de la documentación de archivo producida por la CNMI y conservada en la Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi de Milán. Asimismo, mediante el análisis de material hemerográfico, el estudio se amplía a la recepción de la moda italiana en España, tanto en la prensa como en los certámenes, desde el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
In the 1980s, after Spain’s accession to the European Economic Community as a full member —a development that allowed foreign manufacturers to market their products directly without relying on the system of licenses granted to local distributors— the conditions for a broader internationalization of fashion distribution were consolidated. Within this framework, in 1987 the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (National Chamber of Italian Fashion) and the Istituto Nazionale per il Commercio Estero (Italian Institute for Foreign Trade) organized a collective fashion show of Italian designers in the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid’s Retiro Park. The aim was for the event to serve as the starting point for a series of initiatives designed to facilitate the penetration of the Spanish market.
This article reconstructs the preparatory organization of the event through archival documentation produced by the CNMI and preserved at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan. Furthermore, by analyzing press materials, the study expands its scope to the reception of Italian fashion in Spain, both in the press and in trade fairs, from the end of the Second World War onwards.