“The idea was mine, I paid for it and I kept it.” The very same Massiel thus summed up the whereabouts of the most famous dress of her career during her time on the television show Sewing masters. The singer was invited to the fourth episode of talent of RTVE, which is now in its sixth season, and recalled part of the history of the Courrèges dress with which he won the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest singing The, the, the. A priceless television moment considering that the host of the program, Raquel Sanchez Silvawore an exact replica of the famous floral-print minidress.
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Raquel Sánchez Silva wears a replica of the dress with which Massiel won Eurovision in ‘Masters of Couture’.
Although the explanation that Massiel gave about how did you choose the dress and why she treasures it more than 50 years later seems simple, it contains a reality that is not the reality of today. Any style worn now at a festival with the impact of Eurovision is studied and elaborated for weeks and, of course, it is not the artist who is in charge of paying for it out of her pocket. However, when in 1968 Massiel became one of the two Spaniards who have won the musical contest (and the first to do so), things were very different. She, who came as alternate After Joan Manuel Serrat was discarded for pretending to sing in Catalan, he had to prepare the styling at the last minute. The singer found out that she would go to Eurovision just two weeks before the contest and she did not hesitate to stop by the Courrèges store in Paris y buy the dress herself with which he would make history at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
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Massiel during his Eurovision performance on April 7, 1968.
The French firm was not, however, his first choice. Accompanied by the photographer and her friend Joana Biarnés, Massiel visited the store. Dior, But there she found some shop assistants who were not interested in dressing such a young girl. A completely different experience from Courrèges, an avant-garde brand that fit perfectly with the singer’s progressive spirit and the “new dawn” that she talks about in the song.
He chosen mini dress, empire cut and full of flowers with a sixties flavor in pink (although all of Spain saw it in black and white due to the technical limitations of TVE at the time), it was made of tulle and was perfect for the performance thanks to the freedom of movement of his employer. It was essential that, in addition, the singer appeared in mini skirt. “There was a woman who decided to wear a garment to an international event that said two things: these are my legs and I wear them when I want”, as the presenter Raquel Sánchez Silva stated in the episode of Sewing masters which has once again celebrated one of the most famous dresses in the history of Spanish music.
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Massiel singing his anthem ‘La, la, la’ at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest.
The dress, which in 2018 was exhibited at the Costume Museum, was worn again on several occasions by Massiel after her success at Eurovision. Although its price has never been revealed, it is estimated that it could have cost the singer about 40,000 pesetas (about 240 euros). Today the mini dresses from the French label exceed 1,000 euros, but none are as special as the design with which Massiel revolutionized an entire nation and dazzled a continent.
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The singer Massiel collecting the prize at Eurovision (1968).
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