Imogen Calderwood
SPANISH designer Manuel Pertegaz, the man behind Queen Letizia’s wedding dress, has died aged 96.
As well as dressing Letizia for her big day, the designer – who died in Barcelona – has also worked with stars such as Jackie Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy, and actresses Audrey Hepburn and Ava Gardner.
Landing his first tailoring job at just 13, Pertegaz went on to open his own shop in Barcelona at 25.
“I design from the heart,” he told the New York Times in 1964. “One cannot predict fashion. It is youth, with its carefree attitude, that sets the mark.”
Jose Ignacio Wert, Spain’s education and culture minister, released a statement in honour of the designer, saying that to think of Pertegaz was ‘to think of elegance’.
