The week ahead, with Jordi Garrigós

Some of the things we hope not to miss in the next seven days

I will finish McCartney: the hunt for the lost bass, about the mysterious disappearance and recovery of Paul McCartney's first bass, a Höfner 500/1 bought in Hamburg in 1961 for only 30 pounds. This marvel sounded on the original recordings of Love me do, she loves you and the early Beatles classics. A road movie musical about the greatest pop group of all time.

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There are people who have the talent to make you feel expected. Jordi is one of them. It's not just a way of serving tables or learned cordiality; it's also a way of looking, listening, and always finding the right word. In his restaurant, hospitality is not a gesture: it's a way of understanding life. That's why, when you cross the door of Can Facundo, you feel like you've been there before, even if it's your first time.

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The so-called society post (post-Fordist, post-industrial, postmodern, post-analog and, also, post-COVID) in which we live, confronts us as individuals continuously with ambiguity, the new defining substance of the character of urban life in the 21st century.

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Fashion is political. When we decide to wear flat shoes instead of heels, put on ripped jeans, or tie a tie, we are making a statement about how we want to position ourselves in the world. As feminists proclaimed in the seventies, drawing heavily on countercultural thought, the personal is political. It is no wonder, then, that throughout history institutions, ideologies, and parties have tried to appropriate the symbolic power of clothing to persuade, construct identities, and, at times, also dominate.The latest episode has been starred by Pedro Sánchez's government, which a few days ago presented DMOCRACIA, a graphic campaign built with all the codes of a streetwear brand, with a slogan that leaves no room for doubt: "When you dress, you position yourself". The initiative, framed within the acts commemorating fifty years of democracy, aims to bring this political system closer to the younger generation, with an urban aesthetic and the accompaniment of a battalion of influencers. The first reaction, I confess, is to look around for the hidden camera. It's hard to decide if we are facing an institutional campaign or a parody of gigantic proportions. But, once the absurdity is accepted, it's worth asking: is it a genuinely Spanish extravagance, or does dressing political ideals have a history older than it seems?The Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David, known for works such as The Death of Marat or The Oath of the Horatii, played an active and committed role in the French Revolution. Convinced that, in addition to establishing a new political and social order, it was also necessary to give it a visible form, he designed various outfits to define the appearance of the new republican citizen. Through the three colors of the flag, references to Republican Rome, and inscriptions such as Liberty, Equality or French People, he aimed to create a new visual code for a society governed by revolutionary ideals.However, the project did not prosper. History has shown that, apart from regimes that impose a certain appearance – as in the People's Republic of China, where the Zhongshan suit (Mao suit) became hegemonic attire under strong pressure – fashion is not adopted by decree. People do not simply wear what a government prescribes, but what emerges from a complex network of desires, identifications, aspirations, and social dynamics. Politics can try to dress an ideology, but not decide what society will wear.

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It is hard to find someone who conveys as much passion when they speak as Irene Cordón. When she explains everything she has experienced in Egypt, the interlocutor needs to go there. "When I am in a special place, I cry," she says, recalling a trip to Ethiopia to visit the sources of the Nile. She has also cried in Egyptian burial chambers and when visiting the room where Alexander the Great died in Babylon. She cries when she arrives at places where history has been written. Her life has been like this for years, although for a good period of time it seemed it would be quite different.

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On the eleventh day of each month, at eleven at night, a small community gathers at the Hotel Bruc, at the foot of the Montserrat mountain. The establishment has recently become popular for its appearance in the series La Mesías, but the meeting is much older. For over forty years, a group of people has been punctually attending before heading towards a discreet spot in the mountain range. Once there, they observe the dark, starry sky with the hope of seeing something: a strange light, an inexplicable phenomenon, some sign of extraterrestrial life.

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When he was 7 years old, Carles Gel left the farmhouse near Vilassar de Mar where he lived and, without saying a word, decided he would climb the Creu de Montcabrer alone. Between climbing up and down, he stayed there all day. He was born to explore. Carles (Vilassar de Mar, 1963) still remembers that first peak and the escapades with his parents to Montseny. Or the trips to the Pyrenees with the Salesians of Mataró, where he forged his personality and his desire to travel the world. This man from the Maresme region, who has lived far from the sea for years, would put down roots in the Pyrenees, and currently lives in Andorra, in Pal. Although he studied to be a draughtsman, he ended up working as a mountain guide, as he is not a person destined to live confined in an office. “I could have been a good architect, but there came a point when I told myself that I had to pursue my dreams. We cannot live without dreams,” he explains. He has now been working in this profession for 40 years, which has allowed him to reach peaks on all continents and cross Greenland, a journey that changed him. When he remembers that white immensity, he gets emotional. He speaks of it with the same passion as that boy who, at 7 years old, climbed the Creu de Montcabrer.

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At Ses Clotades, in Formentera, architects Marià Castelló and Lorena Ruzafa turn architecture into an extension of the landscape. Built on the isthmus that connects La Mola with the rest of the island, in a territory shaped over centuries by the movement of dunes and where small sandy hills, the 'clots', pine forests and ancient cultivated fields draw a changing terrain, the house embraces this entire natural environment without trying to tame it. More than occupying the place, it has found its place there.

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There are many movies I haven't seen. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the tragedy, until confinement I hadn't seen Dirty dancing (what a marvel) nor Pretty woman. I wanted to take advantage of this series of articles to effectively fill some of my cinematic gaps. In an era of massive audiovisual supply and absolute atomization of channels, I cure my FOMO in deferred. This week I saw Blade runner for the first time.

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We are immersed in Paris Haute Couture Week. The collections presented these days have left absolutely spectacular pieces, especially from Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli and Jonathan Anderson in his haute couture debut for Dior. But, despite the creative display that is capturing all eyes these days, there is a dress that is eclipsing them all. A very unique dress because, in reality, no one has seen it yet. And the more time passes without knowing what it looks like, the more conversations, speculations, and expectations it generates. I'm referring to the one Taylor Swift wore at her wedding to American football player Travis Kelce, held on July 3rd.Beyond the possibility that the images will be reserved for a future exclusive, this situation fits perfectly with the logic of the attention economy. In fact, a good part of the fashion world revolves around a concept that has become commonplace in the sector: hype. More than promoting a product, hype consists of building desire for it before it exists – or before it is accessible – by feeding rumors, leaks, small clues, and waiting periods that keep the conversation alive. In short, hype is the art of turning waiting into desire, because whoever controls time also controls the narrative and decides when, how, and who will have access to what everyone is waiting to see. Precisely at a time when we have become accustomed to getting almost anything immediately, it is here that marketing strategies manage to trap us. Desire, after all, usually reaches its peak intensity when we don't yet have what we want, but it dissolves with surprising speed as soon as we get it.

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They wear shorts and a t-shirt in the blaugrana colors, and pose smiling in front of the goal with several footballs. Anita Rafat appears a bit shy: she wears a kind of turban on her head and black tights and an undershirt so that neither her arms nor her legs are visible. In contrast, her sister, Fereshteh, has no complexes: she shows her hair and thighs. They are 37 and 28 years old, and fled Afghanistan in August on one of the Spanish evacuation flights. Now in Barcelona, they do what they could never do in their country: play football.

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Teyana Taylor, an American actress and singer, presented the iconic show "Saturday night live" in January dressed in an unexpected piece: a white t-shirt, completely embroidered with sequins, featuring one of the most iconic logos of the 20th century: "I❤️NY". The piece was part of Chanel's Métiers d'Art 2025/26 collection, the line with which the French house showcases its maximum artisanal virtuosity each year. This time, however, the most exquisite luxury had allied itself with one of the most kitsch objects of tourist culture: the souvenir t-shirt. The episode could have remained an anecdote if it weren't for the fact that, since then, other celebrities – especially from Generation Z – have also revived this same symbol.

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Lately, Donald Trump has been depriving us of one of the most characteristic elements of his aesthetic: his hair tuft which, with improbable aerodynamics and a generous amount of hairspray, defies the Newtonian laws of gravity. Instead, he is gifting us with a new element that is becoming a personal trademark, especially since the invasion of Iran: the baseball cap. A cap that has become a patriotic symbol and political slogan, alternating the colors of the United States flag and two embroideries depending on the occasion: "USA" and "Make America great again" (MAGA). When Trump puts on his red cap, more than simply repeating an electoral strategy, he is reactivating a much older tradition: that of turning a head accessory into a flag.

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There is an idea that we have normalized to the point of not seeing it: that happiness can be bought. And we are not talking about that one-off acquisition of a long-desired object, but about a happiness built on a constant drip of small purchases, apparently insignificant but which, in perspective, draw a pattern of behavior and almost a horizon of meaning. Through consumption we build ourselves, we relate to each other, we articulate our free time and, in short, we shape our lives. This way of inhabiting the world is consolidated especially from the Second World War, when in the United States consumption projects itself beyond the strictly economic sphere to become an identity factor, even patriotic, and a mechanism of social stabilization that will end up being exported on a global scale. And, among the areas that most intensely participate in this logic, we find, in a paradigmatic way, fashion. But why does buying a new sweater or acquiring seasonal shoes make us happy?The key to this feeling is not so much in the acquisition itself, nor even in the moment we wear that skirt we liked so much in the store for the first time. The decisive moment — the one in which dopamine is activated, more linked to desire and expectation than to satisfaction — occurs just before the purchase: when we look for the item, pursue it, imagine ourselves wearing it, or leave it waiting in the digital cart. It is in this interval, in this tension between what we do not yet have and what we project, where the most intense peak of pleasure is concentrated. The purchase, on the other hand, does not end it: it reactivates it. The cycle resumes immediately, and with it the need for a new object, a new impulse.However, although the collective imaginary has associated compulsive buying addiction almost inseparably with women, it should be understood that it is a transversal behavior, inscribed in the very logic of capitalist economies. The idea that women cannot restrain themselves in front of a pair of shoes is constructed throughout the 19th century, in a context of profound contempt that uses this stereotype to question their moral capacity and justify their exclusion from the rights and freedoms derived from liberal revolutions. Consumption thus appears as proof of supposed weakness, of an inability to govern one's own impulses, in contrast to a masculinity defined by self-control.

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Rapa Iti. A beautiful volcanic island, which can only be reached from time to time by crossing the Pacific Ocean from Tahiti. A dot on the map that Jaume Bartrolí wanted to set foot on. He wanted to put a face to it and meet its people. And he ended up living there for a few months, turning it into a place where every day, with his memories, he returns mentally. “I was looking for the most original, the best-preserved Polynesia. It was a craving I had. Islands have always attracted me and I was looking for a place where local culture was maintained. I looked at an island near Fiji, some in the Solomon Islands... in the end Rapa Iti seemed like the best option. It wasn't a flat island, here the landscape invited you to discover it. A place with a colder temperature because it is further south, halfway between Easter Island and Tahiti. I had to go”. No sooner said than done.

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There are many movies I haven't seen. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the tragedy, until confinement I hadn't seen Dirty dancing (what a marvel) or, incredibly, Pretty woman. For someone born in 1990, turning thirty and never having seen Pretty woman is like saying you've never heard La Bomba, or like having crossed the square firmly in the middle of a water fight and having completely dry clothes. Well, it's possible. Pretty Woman! I like the triangle it traces with the universal Cinderella story and how Nights of Cabiria (Fellini, 1957) is its dark, fatal, bitter version. And yet, with a ending that illuminates the spirit with the force of a thousand suns.

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Days before July 4, 1776, Benjamin Franklin invited twenty-one chiefs of the Iroquois nations to Philadelphia. These leaders represented the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a league of six Indigenous nations whose territories spanned part of what is now New York, Quebec, and Ontario. The Indigenous delegates were lodged on the second floor of the Pennsylvania State House—now known as Independence Hall—directly above the room where the U.S. Declaration of Independence was about to be signed.

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