Spain Culture

Spanish menswear for spring and summer 1991 is the most promising new entry on the international scene. The clothes are not unlike the famous architecture for which this city is noted--extraordinary in the extreme.

The Spanish cape, that classic swirl of mystery and elegance, is making a modest comeback on the frosty streets of Madrid this winter as a cloak of many guises. The king of Spain has a cape, and so do a growing number of Eurocrats in Brussels. Picasso and Hemingway wore Spanish capes; Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve still do. Capes are still rare in the swank precincts of Paris or Rome, but the sight of a caped Madrileno on an evening prowl is more arresting than unusual.

At the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the great Prado Museum in Madrid faced a terrifying threat--the loss of the heart of its collection. Some American art lovers had proposed that the United States forgo the Philippines as war booty from Spain and take the Prado's Diego Velazquez paintings instead. But American bureaucrats slapped down the idea, thus keeping the Prado intact.

Maybe it's too early for heraldic trumpeters, red carpets or even pomp and circumstance. But the King and Queen of Spain are coming to Southern California next month, and everyone is pretty laid-back about it. Consider, for instance, one of the kick-off events leading up to the two-day visit by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia in late September--an art exhibition sponsored by the Spanish government. Works by El Greco, or Picasso or Dali? Not quite.