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Pertegaz has always considered himself to be Catalan because he moved to Barcolona with his family when he was only 12 years´ old and started work in a tailor´s. It was there that he discovered his passion for womenswear design.

The first garment that he designed was a black coat that he made for his sister. He started working with her at the table of the dining room of the small house that they had in Pelayo street.

In 1942 he opened his first couture house in the famous Diagonal Avenue in Barcelona and introduced his first collection. Six years later he opened his first boutique in Madrid. In the same year, 1948, he travelled to Paris for the first time and made contact with the world of Dior and Balenciaga. Then, in 1956 in Madrid, he met the most influential exponent of female Parisian fashion for decades: Coco Chanel.

In 1942 he opened his first couture house in the famous Diagonal Avenue in Barcelona and introduced his first collection. Six years later he opened his first boutique in Madrid. In the same year, 1948, he travelled to Paris for the first time and made contact with the world of Dior and Balenciaga. Then, in 1956 in Madrid, he met the most influential exponent of female Parisian fashion for decades: Coco Chanel.

In the year of 1954 he took his first trip to the United States where he received a Fashion Oscar from The University of Harvard and opened the doors to the American market.

During the sixties he was the most popular high-end fashion designer in Spain. However, even though he had designed for as many as 500 people in Mardrid and Barcelona in the sixties, at the end of the seventies he had no other option than to auction items from his workshop, due to the crisis that affected haute couture at that time.

A pioneer in launching his own perfume, Pertegaz has received numerous awards such as the Gold Medal for Artistic Merit from Barcelona City Council in 1998 and the Merit for Fine Arts, given to him by the Spanish government in the same year. In addition, he has been presented with the Golden Key award from Boston and New Orleans (USA) and Gold Medals from Berlin, Cairo and Mexico City. In 2004 he received the “Aguja de Oro” (“Golden Needle”), a predecessor to the prestigious “Premio Nacional de Diseño de Moda” (National prize for fashion design in Spain), the first ever of which was awarded to Pertegaz.

Manuel Pertegaz is single. He lives in a fifteenth century mansion in Pineda el Mar, in Barcelona, with a 12th century defence tower protruding from the main building.

In 2010 he was named the adopted son of Teruel, his place of birth, and a series of Spanish stamps were dedicated to him…)