LCI Barcelona to honour Paris fashion museum director with Felicidad Duce prize

LCI Barcelona’s fashion school Felicidad Duce will be honouring Miren Arzalluz, art historian, curator and currently the director of Palais Galliera, the fashion museum of the city of Paris, as per a press release sent out by the school. Arzalluz will receive the Felicidad Duce prize on February 2, 2024.

The Barcelona design school is recognising the curator for her contribution to the fashion sector and her importance internationally.

Miren Arzalluz was born in Bilbao and studied history in her native Basque country, and later comparative politics and the history of costume in London.
She later wrote the book ‘La forja del maestro’, or ‘the forge of the master’ about Cristóbal Balenciaga and the role he occupied in the history of fashion.

The art historian has been working in the world of fashion for over 15 years. Before being named director of Paris’ Palais Galliera in 2017, she was responsible for the collection and exhibitions at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Foundation for seven years.

Under her mandate, highly successful exhibitions have been held in the Paris fashion museum, such as ‘Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto’, which opened at the beginning of the pandemic, and ran until 2021.

Miren Arzalluz, director of the Paris fashion museum to receive award at LCI Barcelona

There was also Azzedine Alaïa, couturier and collector, with Alaïa's hitherto unpublished heritage exhibition, which takes us back to 19th century fashion to learn about its beginnings.

Previous winners of the prize include Balenciaga’s Pablo Coppola, Spanish fashion designer Teresa Helbig, and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

The jury for LCI Barcelona’s Felicidad Duce prize 2023 includes: Estel Vilaseca, head of the Felicidad Duce fashion school at LCI Barcelona, fashion consultant at Unseentrends and deputy editor at the Spanish magazine Vein Magazine, Lucia Alcaina, fashion designer, trend forecaster and cultural and innovation theorist as well as president of this year’s jury Charo Mora, a journalist, professor, curator, researcher and fashion consultant.

"To be able to create frameworks for dissemination and reflection with a critical view of the history and sociology of fashion is of vital importance in order to enhance the value of the discipline," Estel Vilaseca, head of the LCI Barcelona fashion school and jury member said in a statement.

She continued: "Miren Arzalluz's contribution to this, first as an expert on Balenciaga, and currently at the helm of one of the museums specialising in fashion, is undeniable."

This article was edited after publication. The date on which Miren Arzalluz received the award was changed from December 18 to February 2 as per the school's request.