The Wild Reed: Remembering Paco Jamandreu, Evita’s Gay Friend and Confidant

Friday, July 26, 2024

Remembering Paco Jamandreu, Evita’s Gay Friend and Confidant

Above: Horacio Roca as Paco Jamandreu and Esther Goris as Eva Perón in Juan Carlos Desanzo’s 1996 film, Eva Perón: The True Story.

The Wild Reed’s 2024 Queer Appreciation series continues with a tribute to Paco Jamandreu (1925-1995), the Argentine fashion designer who was not only Eva “Evita” Perón’s stylist but a trusted friend and confidant to the controversial Argentine First Lady.

Jamandreu made his debut as a movie costume designer in 1942, working for leading lady Zully Moreno in the film Historia de crímenes (“Crime Story”). He followed that with designing for El muerto falta a la cita (“The Dead One Missed the Appointment”), released in 1944, and then for 1947’s El misterioso Tío Silas (“The Mysterious Uncle Silas”). Jamandreu, who admitted his homosexuality to his father at age 15, became known among friends and clients alike not only for his talent, but also for his candor.

Jamandreu began his friendship with Eva Duarte before she married populist leader Juan Perón in 1945. Their relationship was initially of a business nature, and Jamandreu began a long series of clothing designs for the actress (right) and, later, First Lady (below). According to Susanne Ramírez de Arellano, Jamandreu “widened Evita’s options by styling her in different dresses. Some were glamour adorned with glitter, feathers, and aigrettes. Other styles played on exaggerating her femininity.” Jamandreu also introduced Evita to the great fashion houses of Europe and, allegedly, was responsible for convincing her to go a darker blond. In time he became her confidant . . . and she became his.

The following dialogue and screenshots from Juan Carlos Desanzo’s 1996 film Eva Perón: The True Story beautifully captures the special relationship that developed between Evita and Paco, whom Evita often referred to as “Paquito.” It was a relationship that ended with Evita’s death from cervical cancer on July 26, 1952 – seventy-two years ago today. Another reason, then, to share Evita and Paco’s story on this day.

Evita: Come, sit beside me. . . . I needed to see you and to be with someone who really likes me. You’re one of the few. They’re saying that I’m sick, Paco. I know what they’re afraid of . . . that I’ll be vice-president. They know I bring along the unions, the workers and the poor. Neither the military nor the Church nor the Establishment like that. . . . There’s just one week until August 22 [and the election]. What shall I wear? Something Dior?

Paco: Dior was for the President’s wife. Now, comrade Evita has to wear a suit, a very simple suit, Madam.

Evita: Say, Paquito, can you see me as Vice-President?

Paco: I see you . . . up at the top, Madam.

Evita: And the poor?

Paco: They see you at the top too. The poor and I want you to be vice-president. . . . You know what? The poor and us fags always agree. They are all doomed. They get nothing but scorn and hatred from the Establishment’s machos. As do the fags. Being poor and homosexual is exactly the same thing, Madam.

Evita: You know, you’re right, Paquito. It’s the same for me. They say I’m a whore. They scrutinize my past to dig up dirt. . . . They will not forgive anything. “That actress . . . That soldier’s mistress . . . That social climber.” In Argentina, in the year of 1935, I was an illegitimate child, from the provinces. I was poor, and a woman to top it all of.

Paco: If you had obeyed the powerful people in the country, no one would bring up your past. But you raised up the humble, and that is unforgivable. [Your detractors] are wretched, Madam. They answer your passion with filthy gossip. . . . You know what? We share the same fate. To be a fag, poor, or Eva Perón, in this merciless country, is one and the same.

Following is how Wikipedia documents Paco’s life after his friend Evita’s death.

Following a relative absence from Argentine cinema credits during the 1950s, Jamandreu became more active as film fashion designer during the 1960s, when he worked on six films. Between 1969 and 1995, he retired from designing clothes and focused on acting. He debuted as an actor in the 1980 film Una Viuda descocada (“A Shameless Widow”). In 1986, he acted in Soy paciente (“I’m Patient”), but that film was never released as its producers were unable to finish it.

In 1996, Jamandreu’s last work as a film costume designer was shown in Argentine theaters when Amor de otoño was released. Jamandreu had been working on this production when he died from a heart attack on March 9, 1995.