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Her highly personal approach to couture has produced some of the most delicately seductive designs of recent years. Alma Aguilar (Madrid, 1976) is a fervent enthusiast of romantic detail, which is never missing from coats and dresses, her garments of choice. Timeless and meticulously structured, her creations transport us back to the golden age of haute couture, in the early decades of the 20th century.

February will bring another chance to see the discreet retro elegance which has captivated the likes of Salma Hayek, when Alma Aguilar presents her latest collection at the Cibeles Catwalk. Fashionfromspain went to her exclusive boutique in Madrid’s Callejón de Jorge Juan to find out more.

How did you come to fashion?
I trained to be an artist and ended up in fashion almost by chance. My first job was as an illustrator, doing drawings and figurines for different publications, like El País, Época, Mia... I began to get a taste for putting clothes down on paper and continued my training in that direction.

Do you miss anything from that period?
I’d like to be able to spend more time on my illustrations, because I’m a real perfectionist. I do still draw, but I can’t devote as much time to it as I’d like to. But it’s also true there came a point when the world of illustrating seemed too limited and I wanted to branch out. The bit I enjoy now is seeing a drawing develop into a garment. I illustrate every single garment in my collection and do caricature-type sketches. I even draw some of the prints we use, though others we buy in.

What was your first contact with fashion?
My company started out with women’s ready-to-wear. But before that I’d made kidswear for El Corte Inglés department store. I’d also illustrated jewellery for Ansorena and worked on ready-to-wear for other designers like Devota & Lomba. Alma Aguilar was created as a company in May 1998 and we presented our first collection in September the same year. Now, although I still create the designs, in every other area I have people to help. There are ten of us altogether.

Any role models?
I can tell you designers I like, though I don’t feel my work is anything like theirs. I wish it were! Among the international designers I like are Karl Lagerfeld and Nicolas Ghesquiere. Going back a bit, there are Spanish designers like Balenciaga and plenty of others that appeal on a more personal level. But I can’t say I feel a kindred spirit of anybody in particular.

As I designer, I like my style to be my own

Describe the Alma Aguilar style?
It’s a very feminine approach based on pure lines. All three dimensions of a garment matter to me, so I look to sculpture in my designs. And of course, I like my style to be my own.

How has your style changed over the years?
There’s a key moment when you discover yourself and what you are looking for. To start with you don’t really know what you want. All you know is that you don’t want to look like anyone else. Then comes a certain point when you begin to relax and that’s when it all happens. You finally realise what you’re really capable of. My collections always include link-garments which connect one idea with the next. Very often the last design in one catwalk show leads me on to the first garment in the next. And ten there are certain garments that fit effortlessly into more than one collection. I love going back to the golden age of couture, as I see it, between the nineteen twenties and fifties. Although I make ready-to-wear, my garments tend to be so complicated a lot of workshops are incapable of mass-producing them.

Do you have a favourite garment?
People are always particularly taken with my coats and dresses. There’s one winter dress from five seasons back which I feel more comfortable with than any other I’ve made, even after so many different collections. The ideal dress is the one that apparently goes unnoticed, but has an eternal quality about it.