Story of a passion

"I vividly remember my first fancy dress. My father bought it for me at Selfridges in London. I was 9 years old." This cherished memory evokes the origins of a lifetime's fascination with the fantasy, the beauty and the elegance inherent in the world of the performing arts. A fascination that developed into a passion and which has found faithful expression over the course of 50 years devoted to making clothes and footwear, with the precision of a professional and the patience of a craftsman, for actors, dancers, singers and variety show stars, gymnasts and skaters... This has been the passion of Marcos Menkes, tailor and visionary, the founder of the MENKES fashion house and patriarch of the family that enthusiastically shares his tireless search for perfection through craftsmanship.

Marcos Menkes, son of an affluent banker from Tangier, suffered the blows of fate that affected so many families during the first uncertain years of the Second World War. Having taken refuge in Madrid at the age of 12, he studied at the Lycée Français and began his professional career as an apprentice to the Catalan fashion designer Marbel, who made costumes for stars of the stage and screen. At the age of just 21, Marcos Menkes set up his first modest business, which specialised in making regional costumes.

 From La Gran Vía to Broadway

The course of development followed by MENKES from the humble Madrid office to premises in New York, the latest city in which the fashion house has opened, spans half a century. This period has seen the consolidation of a national network of stores and workshops (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Alicante, Saragossa, Santander, Murcia, La Coruña and Valencia) and the opening of the first international subsidiary in Le Marais in Paris. This development has been guided by the sound and timeless philosophy of the firm's founder: quality of craftsmanship, supported by the personalised service that has characterised the MENKES fashion house since its origins, and which continues to lie at the root of its interna tional prestige.