Eccentrics

Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada i Sentmenat (born 22 June 1960) is a Spanish fashion designer who is one of her country's best-known personalities in the clothing industry.

Following their marriage in 1958, Juan Manuel Ruíz de la Prada y Sánchiz and Isabel de Sentmenat y de Urruela, (daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Oris and 26th Baron of Santa Pau, by her last name Urruela of the house of the Marquess of San Roman y Ayala y Mejorada del Campo), became the parents of Ágatha, who was born in Madrid. Following studies at the Barcelona Fashion Institute (l'Escola d'Art i Tècniques de la Moda de Barcelona), she entered the world of fashion in 1980 at the age of twenty and started her career as a designer the following year,after her spell as a belly dancer in the aftermath of having arranged her first fashion show in Madrid's Centro Superior de Diseño de Moda. Top models like Eva Riccobono and Andreea Stancu walk regularly for her during fashion weeks.

In the following years, Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada became a leading figure of the capital city's sociocultural movement of the late 1970s-early 1980s, known as the Movida. The popularity of her original bright-colored designs was assured by her skillful use of the motifs of moons, stars, suns or hearts, which also transferred to her designs for furniture, carpets, crockery, lamps, pens, pencils, lip balms, scents, sleeves, towels or bed linen as well as clothes for men, women and children. She is also known for having joined and supported Spain's Green party, the Confederation of the Greens, and for her success with top commercial enterprises such as Audi, Air Europa, DHL, Absolut and El Corte Inglés. In addition to fashion stores in a various Spanish cities, she also has outlets in Milan, Paris and New York.

Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada has continued to reside in her native Madrid, where she has one of her main studios and lives with her partner, journalist Pedro J. Ramírez, and their children, Tristan Jerónimo (born 1987) and Cósima Olivia (born 1990).