Velvet

There's a reason why my posts have been scarce, and it's the same reason that my Spanish is slowly improving: Velvet.

Velvet (on Netflix) is a Spanish television series set in 1950s Madrid. It follows the ups and downs in the lives of the seamstresses, sales staff, and owners of Velvet, a high class fashion store. It only took the first episode to hook me, and now that I am in season 2 I'm all but dreaming about the characters and their stories.

There's the Marquez family - Alberto, Velvet's owner, and his stepmother Gloria and stepsister Patricia, both of whom would like more control over the store than what they have. Then there's the Otegui family - Gerardo, the wealthy patriarch, and his children: Cristina, who is in love with Alberto (even though he is in love with Ana, a seamstress), and Enrique, who would rather be a shrewd businessman than husband to his wife Barbara. Mateo works as Alberto's right hand man, balancing out Gerardo's demands.

Then we have the sales staff, headed up by Emilio, and the seamstresses under the strict command of Blanca. This is where the real life of the store is - on the sales floor and in the workroom. Between Pedro's antics, Clara's dramatization of anything that happens to her, and the friendship of Ana, Rita, and Luisa, I'm not sure who entertains me most.

In short, I've laughed, I've cried, I've shouted "TELL HER YOU LOVE HER!" at my TV, and I've learned a few choice phrases in Spanish, such as: "El me quiere!" ("He loves me!"), "Confia en mi." ("Trust me."), "En serio?!" ("Really?!"), and "Dime la verdad." ("Tell me the truth."). Who knew learning could be so much fun (and so dramatic!)?

Here is the Season One trailer - a nice set up for the show. No subtitles, but it gives Ana and Alberto's history (they grew up together at Velvet until his parents sent him away to London for school), and shows us Alberto's return to the galleries (and the problems he encounters once there) to take ownership of them.