Pedro Sánchez has, like more than half of Spaniards, a slight imperfection in his vision. The first time he entered Gafa Vintage was on a Saturday morning with his wife, without security guards or stylists. Jorge Portela (Vigo, 49 years old) thinks he remembers that it was 2015, three years before he became president of the government. “I think he came in a tracksuit that day,” says the owner of this shop, an optician by profession and explorer of designer frames that are no longer produced. Portela is the president’s official glasses seller.
The Dior Monsieur model that Sánchez wore to the Senate on October 30 and went viral is by no means the first one he bought in this shop in the Palacio neighborhood of Madrid. The salesman explains what the dynamic is with the president and with all the customers: “We decide based on what they like and what I recommend.” Years ago he bought a pair of Zeiss West Germany, from the Iron Curtain era, for 180 euros. “Zeiss frames became famous because they didn’t break. That’s why they stopped producing them, I didn’t rent them. I explained the story to Pedro and he was fascinated.”
Since the president’s public appearance with Dior, Gafa Vintage’s Instagram followers have increased rapidly and Portela has read between 30 and 40 messages asking for the same model purchased by Pedro Sánchez. “But I also received a lot hatred”, duck.
In his small shop he crowds every corner with drawers full of glasses (1,000 ready to sell and 10,000 still to be reviewed), old optical articles, optotypes, records and posters of cult films such as breakfast with diamonds AND Terminator. It exhibits frames by Dolce & Gabbana, Kenzo, Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Vogue, Guess, Selecta, Hoya, Alain Mikli and, of course, Dior.
Jorge Portela opened Gafa Vintage in 2009, together with his then partner, Sandy Moragón, from whom he later separated and dissociated. It all started with a shop online, Two years later he transformed it into a physical store (the headquarters are in via Santiago 9) and today he relaunched the website. Every morning when the business opens, he lights several candles and searches for music, which could be Kate Bush, John Coltrane, Gang Starr or Michael Jackson.
The pairs, mostly produced between the 1960s and 1990s, come from German, Italian and English opticians and from children of opticians looking to liquidate a family inheritance. The difference between Gafa Vintage is that its products are stock out, Unused discontinued models. “In Spain the product is not understood because there is no term for old but new”, he explains.
For this specialist, the secret to good conservation of glasses lies in the darkness and control of the humidity of the environment. Every month he buys new pieces, which can be sold the same day or 15 years later. The pair costs, without crystals, between 180 and 230 euros. Dior Monsieur by Pedro Sánchez was slightly more expensive, remember: around 250 euros. Regarding his political orientation, he clarifies: “Here I am apolitical, I treat everyone the same. In fact, the other day a customer from the People’s Party wrote to me saying: ‘Congratulations, Jorge, on Pedro’s glasses, but I am a better customer.’
Portela quotes stylists, tells anecdotes, talks about how some actors chose their models themselves, without wardrobe managers. In addition to being a specialist and lifelong eyeglass wearer, his greatest pride is that his items are used in film shoots. They have appeared in many productions, including Model 77 (2022) e The man of a thousand faces (2016), and will soon be seen on That, a Netflix series about Raphael. His best client, he says, is the singer Dellafuente, but they have also made use of Gafa Vintage Rosalía, C. Tangana, Sofía Reyes or Nathy Peluso. One of the strangest commissions he remembers is that of conceptual artist Eugenio Merino, for a hyper-realistic sculpture by Andy Warhol.
His greatest treasure is a sampler he brings from storage with about six very fragile frames, which he purchased from the grandson of a 1920s optical traveler. The optician and glasses advisor to the President of the Government has all the characteristics of a collector: passion, obsession and tenacity.
