Alicia Rueda

It is not surprising to see the deputy general of Bizkaia, Elixabete Etxanobe, wearing one of his creations. Or actresses such as María Botto, Adriana Ugarte, Hiba Abouk or Eva Santolaria. “I am lucky that people come to my workshop from all over Spain, even from the United States and Mexico,” she says. She is living a good professional moment and feels very comfortable in Bilbao.

Alicia Rueda was born in Bilbao just over fifty years ago. She grew up surrounded by sewing patterns, scissors and basting machines. Her mother sewed at home. “In a small room where she kept the machine and the rest of the things,” she recalls. She spent her summers in a small town in Jaén. And since her grandmother and great-grandmother were also seamstresses, the sun shone through the sparse clouds and the olive trees were buttons.

At 13, she rebelled: “My mother made my clothes and I ended up dressing like a child. One day I got angry and said, ‘You’re done making clothes for me, I’m going to sew them myself’”, she explains. That was the beginning of her career. She went on to study fashion design, pattern making and industrial tailoring, while sewing commissioned work. Since then, she has never stopped learning. An admirer of Balenciaga and Chanel, among others, she has developed an eclectic style characterized by femininity, elegance and comfort, cut and finish. She works with all kinds of materials, silks, gauzes, guipures, chantillys, jacquards, brocades, embroideries, rhinestones, etc.

Shortly after turning 20, she presented some pieces to the then most powerful chain of multi-brand shops in Bilbao. They placed an order for a thousand garments. ‘That was my first project, something totally incredible’, she recalls. He created a company, his brand and ended up selling in dozens of stores all over Spain. The crisis of the first decade of this century and the ensuing chain of non-payments took all that away.

Experience has led Rueda to change her approach. She now has a showroom in the city centre. I create made-to-measure clothes for those who need a special dress. For women who want to have an exclusive wardrobe and stand out,’ she explains.

She says that what she does “has an identifiable style because of the way I make the clothes, not because I follow a trend. I can be more rock and roll and then suddenly be very classic. It all suits me. I love fashion in general, so I draw from all the trends”.

Her concept is “to sew well, with criteria, with wonderful materials and to enjoy the process”.

A philosophy of slow fashion in the land of slow food.