There are Calvin Klein, Armani and Hugo Boss items among García Márquez’s clothes, but what he always preferred were tailored clothes. “We also found a pen he used to sign his books in another jacket,” says García Elizondo, holding up a Sharpie that once belonged to the writer. One of the most valuable items, a black-and-white striped jacket, still carries a stain on an interior pocket from the time when one of his pens leaked.
There are around 20 of these emblematic coats that the Colombian author would wear on cold Bogotá mornings or rainy Mexico City afternoons. “What I most remember about Gabo are his tweed jackets,” she says. García Elizondo explains that she selected items that were in good condition for the sale, or those that could be considered iconic. But on the morning of October 20, close friends of the couple were invited to a preview to sift through the contents of Los Gabos’ closet. In order to attend, it is necessary to make a prior appointment through the space’s Instagram account.
The first public event to let people see the famous home of García Márquez and Bacha is this clothing sale. It will not be a museum, but a place dedicated to art which they have called the Gabriel García Márquez House of Literature. The house was left without both its long-term residents last year, following the death of Mercedes Bacha in August – García Márquez passed away in 2014 – and since then the family has been working to turn it into a cultural space. When Gabriel García Márquez wanted to be a foreign correspondent in Madrid