PACA

Francisca Zaratiegui Gambarte Barado Garces (better known as PACA) was born in Tafalla, a small town in the Basque region of Northern Spain. PACA was raised by the nuns of the Maria De La Cruz Order. While she was still a small child, the nuns taught her needlework skills that she would take with her, and nurture, when her family moved to Paris.

At the tender age of nine years old, and for several years after, PACA spent her afternoons at the warehouses of Christian Dior, where she learned about tailoring and designing from an aunt that worked for the prestigious French couture house. Soon PACA was designing and executing much of her own ideas.

As it was also a tradition in PACA's family, her three brothers and one sister studied music and during her early teens, she was a skilled classical pianist adept at both piano and organ.