A short talk with a famous French-Italian haute couture designer about fashion, design and theater.

How did you become a designer?

I started by studying the architecture at the university in Rome and at the same time I studied fashion at the Academy of Costume and Fashion. Two years later, I abandoned the architecture and concentrated myself on fashion. In 1987 I found my fashion house and began to present my collections in Milan. In 1992 I participated for the first time in Paris fashion week. Since then I moved to Paris and became French {keeping my Italian passport as well}. I collaborate with many design companies, creating the interior design as well, as for this hotel where we are now [collection is showcased in the newly opened boutique-hotel situated on the boat at the Seine’s Quai d’Austerlitz]. It’s a transversal work between design, architecture and fashion.

You have also collaborated as a costume designer for some theater performances..

That is exact: I’ve just come back from the annual summer music and opera festival in Spoleto [Festival of the Two Worlds] where I created the costumes for the Opera “Don Giovanny’’. I made costumes for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as well.

Can you talk about the present collection: what is its idea?

Once again, the design inspired me in this new collection. The pieces rather describe the concept of the cloths. While such elements as dragons represent the idea of protection, a sort of mascot. At the same time its something which highlights us, like a frame. I used organza, silk and cotton as fabrics for this haute couture season. All pieces are unique, it is not a uniform.

What is your vision of the haute couture?

Haute couture represents for me the combination, a balance, of two fundamental things: emotion and quality. We can also find a lot of poesy within the haute couture.

Does your Italian origin influence your style?

Certainly it does influence me: the tastes, the scents of Italy stay inside of me. Nevertheless, I chose Paris as a family of adoption rather than the one I was born in. And I’m happy to be where I’m now.

What inspires you in your creation?

I should precise that I do not consider myself as a fashion designer but as a designer in general. For me the cloths is just an instrument which I’d like to use in order to help a person to express his or her interior feelings. Things like ‘’total look’’ do not really interest me in a way that I prefer more individual and complex perception of fashion. My client is a woman who creates her proper look intelligently.

‘’Fashions fade, style is eternal’’-, what do you think about this famous quote? To stay elegant, should a woman follow the trends?

I don’t think that she has to follow any trends: she should rather stay faithful to her own style and tell her personal story via the way she dresses. Today trends do not have any real values anymore.

What do you think about the transformation we are experience now in the world of fashion?

The fashion is a mirror of what is going on in the society. It doesn’t create but recounts its evolution. If there are revolutions and troubles outside of fashion, all this will find its reflection inside of it.