Jesus Del Pozo
Jesús del Pozo – The Spanish Inspiration
Jesús del Pozo was born in Madrid, Spain in 1946 and died in 2011 in the same city leaving behind him a colorful legacy of fashion designing, perfume making and inspiration to the young’s of his country to carry on the job onward from where he left.
He started his designing business by opening a store at Almirante Street in Madrid. The location is centre of Spanish culture and heritage, which was advantageous. He worked 2 years for presenting his first collection of men’s haute couture in SEHM Paris Show. It brought him acclaim and he went on to prepare for presenting his collection for women. In 1980, his ready to wear line for feminine clothing was presented at Cibeles Fashion Show held in his own city. Later in 1989 he opened his designs at Tokyo in Fashion Foundation Show. In 1990 he presented his designs at the Louvre in Paris at La Cour Carree.
Del Pozo started his business at a time when political scenario in Spain was changing for Autocracy to Democracy and simultaneously the social values were changing under a movement called La Movida. He became a part of this movement to help modernize Spanish culture. The economy of Spain was being resurrected after a long role of General Franco plus there arrived freedom of expression in addition to removal of imposition by the General in the country.
Del Pozo was inspired by Spanish prime designer of past Cristobel Balanciaga but he used his own modern ideas in creating the fashion according to ever changing couture designs. He was of the view that each person has his own identity which is also to be reflected accordingly in his dressing, etc. Del Pozo did not much depend on gimmicking his designs extraneously or superfluous trappings on his dresses.
He kept the individuality of each of his dresses intact presenting them after thinking a lot over his idea and kept each dress unique, modern and definitely trendy. For his efforts, he received many awards such as in 1981 he was presented with the Golden Needle Award, given in 1989 the prestigious National Award Cristobal Balenciaga plus he became the first one to receive the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 1998 for his haute couture.
On designing front Del Pozo was very active; bringing out his own brand of collection of lingeries, scarves, jewelry, etc. In 1996 he launched his ready to wear wedding dresses’ collection named as ‘Moda Barcelona’. Then in the same year he launched readymade brand of clothing for women prepared in his own factory. Next year saw his launching of a fresh brand J.D.P. in five departmental stores of Japan in collaboration of Daimaru Inc.
For Sevile International Expo 1992 he was selected to prepare uniforms for the attending staff just because he was the only one who would produce a cultural heritage of Spain for the world to see. He also designed for the theatre, opera and ballet performed at the Expo. In addition to this he had been designing costumes for Royal Madrid Theatre play Carmen, as well as for other theatres of the city. He produced a number of designs for young children under his label Jesus Del Pozo Junior in 2001.
On social front he was the key figure in launch of Spanish Designer’s Association, which he also presided for its first two years from 1999 to 2000. He also created Jesus del Pozo Foundation, a charity organization. He started a business internship course for Professional Expertise in Fashion Design.
His entry into the perfume world was through launch of his first fragrance namely ‘Duende’ in 1992 a superb feminine perfume, which prompted him to launch his next one namely Quasar in 1994. In 1996 he brought out Esencia de Duende, in 1997 it was Halloween, in 1999 Quasar Adventure came out. His perfumes ‘On él’ and ‘On ella’ came out in the year 2001 soon to be followed by J. Del Poze in Black in 2005, whereas Halloween Kiss was released in 2008 and Ambar in 2010.
Jesus Del Pozo made his fragrances by collaborating with eminent perfumers such as Hamid Merati-Kashani, Violaine David, Pierre Wargnye, Francis Kurkdjian, Marie Salamagne, Christine Nagel, Jean Christophe Herault, Christophe Raynaud, Olivier Cresp, Max Gavarry, Alberto Morillas and Christopher Sheldrake.
The conception, the times, the movements, the zeal, all of them helped Mr. Jesus del Pozo succeed in creating an empire keeping a relevance to past heritage, following the contemporary trends and a foresight into future needs leaving an indelible impression on his country’s culture for the next generations to learn and follow.