Pronovias headquarters is huge. It's also ridiculously close to Barcelona's airport and one of the first buildings I spotted when I touched down. We were welcomed to the atelier by a handful of people, including the head of corporate business in America and the marketing team. They were so excited to host us, we celebrated with glasses of cava, a traditional Champagne.
Supermodel Irina Shayk just so happened to be trying on her gowns for the show, so we got a sneak peek at one of her looks. Next, we watched busy pattern-makers and seamstresses put the finishing touches on the Atelier line. We learned that the creation of a dress pattern alone can take up to 80 hours and how important lace is to Pronovias as a brand — it's a signature detail on almost all the finest gowns.
The design team assembles up to 300 pieces of appliqué on a mannequin like so, creating the toile, or model, for the final product. After this laborious process is complete and designer Hervé Moreau is satisfied, technical directions for replicating the dress are printed.
