Josie: «I would love to present the Chimes with Pedroche because it is a phenomenon that we have created together»
José Fernández Pacheco's phone, better known as Josie, opens the new year with a bang. While the rest of Spain fights the hangover by exchanging the first memes and congratulations on WhatsApp, the mobile of the person who went from being a television stylist to a television stylist is not enough to answer calls and messages. “In 2016 it stopped working. I went to a spa and when I came out it was spoiled by the crazy activity I had. Now my phones have gotten used to it, ”he says about the commotion that year after year is caused by what Cristina Pedroche wears to give the Chimes.
The rain of notifications is a sign that she has achieved it again. "The worst thing is not that people criticize, the worst thing would be if they didn't say anything," she concedes about the objective of her work as the architect of the Vallecana's most anticipated and viral look. To ensure that no one is left indifferent, Josie has opted this year for ingredients worthy of the deserved virality: the traditional transparencies, a pseudo-shaved neck with which the presenter has been generating expectation the previous days and a dress with 30 years of history and a silhouette very different from the hyper-tight garments of previous editions.
Under the cape of Buj Studio, Pedroche hid a transparent dress by Manuel Piña. Photo: Juan Borgognoni
It is a creation made of iridescent openwork taffeta signed by the late Manchego designer Manuel Piña, one of the names that shaped the fashion of the Madrid scene and exported the Spain brand to cities like New York. “It is the first time that we bet on a design that already existed and I am very excited that it is by Manuel Piña because he deserves it more than anyone. In addition, it is a very current dress. Very 2022”, explains the stylist.
He, who seeks to reflect the pulse of fashion each year in the "Pedrochecampanadas", revisited the work of his countryman Manuel Piña when in March 2020 he passed the confinement in the town where they were both born, Manzanares. “I met him when I was a kid and he was one of the reasons I always knew I wanted to be in fashion. This year I haven't stopped running into new designers who make very Pineapple dresses, with hoops and lace like theirs, and that's why I thought it was time to pay tribute to them”. At first, however, he was not sure if the Pedroche-Piña union would come to fruition. “He had muses with a lot of personality like Rossy de Palma or Bibiana Fernández and for Pedroche to be able to become part of that group he has had to undergo a transformation not only physical, but also spiritual. If she put it on in 2015 it would not have worked, but at 33 years old she is more overwhelming than ever”, she says about a dress inspired by the metamorphosis of insects and reptiles and with which Pedroche looks like “a kind of firefly” .
The presenter's complete 'look' has been an update of the main piece, a dress from 30 years ago that is "very 2022". Photo: Juan Borgognoni
The Manuel Piña museum has given a design for the occasion that has never been exhibited in its rooms, but that Josie rescued from its collections. His choice is symbolic since it is part of the 1991 spring-summer collection from La Mancha, the last one he presented in the old Cibeles before returning to his homeland to die a victim of the great epidemic of his time: AIDS. "If we didn't get to have Piña on our side from the other dimension, this wouldn't have gone ahead," says the stylist, who attributes the luck of having come across the original sketch to the afterlife. “That was how I realized that he had designed it together with a helmet and I decided to entrust it to Manuel Albarrán”.
Original design sketch by Manuel Piña.
The designer, a craftsman specializing in metal who has dressed international celebrities such as Lady Gaga or rapper Lil Nas X, has been one of those in charge of updating Piña's look, hammering out the brass helmet and shoes worn by Pedroche. The winged cape –“it's a real gem”, Josie points out– was carried out by Raquel Buj, who has been in charge of Buj Studio for more than five years after making the leap to fashion from architecture, and who invested 300 hours and various techniques in making it. “If Generation Z, or the general public, Googles Manuel Piña, Buj Studio or Manuel Albarrán because of the Bells, I will be satisfied. I want to take advantage of the media spotlight that this moment entails to launch a fashion message to the world”.
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Also to attract the public to museums such as Manuel Piña's -located in the town of Ciudad Real-, which will exhibit throughout 2022 the complete look worn by Pedroche, and which are outside the circuit of the big capitals. “It is very difficult to recover a dead designer who does not leave a cosmetic delegation or a brand with a surplus. That is why I would like this visibility to help people visit his museum. It is necessary to vindicate the fashion of the provinces, although many who are modern get hives when this word is pronounced. That's because there are more rednecks in the Salamanca neighborhood than in Manzanares”, assures the stylist, who describes his land as “an amazing place”.
The previous sentence is a good example of a naturalness always on the verge of provocation that has made Josie stop being in the shadow of the stars she dresses to become one in her own right. After sneaking into the homes of thousands of Spaniards on his way through the MasterChef Celebrity cooking show, where in addition to being a finalist he became the best ambassador of thermal spray water, the man from La Mancha saw his popularity skyrocket thanks to some television skills that he himself would like to continue exploring. “I would love to present the Bells with Pedroche, I think it would be very cool if she and I did it because it is a phenomenon that we have created together”, he acknowledges without complexes or “false modesty”.
The original design of Manuel Piña in his spring-summer 1991 parade in Cibeles.
Reason is not lacking. Since in 2015 he dressed the Vallecana for the first time to say goodbye to the year, the attention that the "Pedrochecampanadas" represent, primed during the previous weeks with television promotions, interviews and Instagram publications, has translated into a progressive and unstoppable increase in the audience. Just a year ago it reached its maximum share, bringing together more than six million viewers and a few share points (27.5%) to snatch the historical leadership from La 1.
Her flower bikini, her torso turned into a golden sculpture or the interpretation of the confinement look that she wore last year have had a lot to do with it. “They are all very important looks to me. I love and hate them in equal parts, but I have special affection for the one by Jacinto de Manuel because it was very complicated to do, ”he recalls in reference to the golden bust that the presenter wore to receive 2020. A design that a couple of months ago returned to to be current after the Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni wore a similar design signed by Schiaparelli. On the 2022 bet, Josie is clear about her verdict: «I don't know if it is the year in which she is the most beautiful, but it is that the coolest is going. He is my favorite ".
The presenter posing with the architects of the 'look': Manuel Albarrán, Raquel Buj and Josie. Photo: Juan Borgognoni
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