“The only way to be a successful designer is to always research and study the past” is an advice that the Italy born and raised designer gives to his students. An advice that he lives up to himself as well, his multi-cultural background allows him to mix and match different cultures and refer to time periods from various places. A privilege he also applied to his Spring Summer 2017 collection Apart, where he deconstructed and reconstructed iconic menswear and turned them into a new form of street wear.
You have an MA in Fashion Design, got trained at Vivienne Westwood and you also worked for Roberto Cavalli. What are the main things you have learned during this creative journey?
I have had many experiences in fashion and all of them have taught me something. I built my DNA layer-by-layer and experience-by-experience. I learned how to apply my creativity to the fashion system, but most importantly in the production end.
Your collections are made for the young adolescents. Do you have a certain person in mind whilst you’re designing?
I don’t have a precise persona in my mind when I design my collection, but I do have a very clear idea who my tribe is: a fragile youth-generation that hides behind this virtual world.
What is your opinion on genderless clothing and how would you like to see this evolve in the future?
The word ‘adolescent’ for me is more ‘gender fluid’. What I mean by that is a culture of adolescents that can exchange my clothing. I don’t know the exact direction of the genderless evolution, but I'm sure this idea will further develop and strengthen in my future collections. I noticed that the people that wear my garments in the end are both boys and girls, teenagers that ‘bond’ with the same outfit.
Relating to the question about gender, what is your favourite silhouette to work with and why?
I always find inspiration from masculine silhouettes. The ‘male world’ is the main foundation and source for all the designing I have done, whether referring to sports, patterns, or iconic male garments. I think that the male silhouette is what best represents my collections and my world.
You grew up in Florence, but also have Sicilian, Greek and Turkish roots. In what way is your cultural background visible in your work?
I grew up in a compound family, so this allowed me to shape my own creativity from the different cultures. I learned not be scared about people's differences, but to accept them. This kind of mood became the signature of my collection, where mixing different concepts became the approach to my designs.
Could you tell a little bit more about your Spring Summer 2017 collection Apart?
The Apart collection is based on an imaginary adolescent day at home where some friends spend time together. In the collection, I deconstructed and reconstructed iconic menswear and turned them into a new form of street wear. I added the elements from the ‘papaboys’ and the ‘hooligans of the Pope’ — referring to the Italian Catholic world. In all my previous collections, there are always references of shapes from ethnical cultures, and this year I was inspired by the Taekendo uniform from Korea. More references are made to the 90s skate world, referring to baggy pants turned into inside-out jeans. I am also touched by the night world of the Internet, which becomes the graphic on t-shirts, provoking social commentary by adding elements of our daily digital world of fast life and fast sex.
How did you come up with the photo shoot of Apart? In what way do the models, their way of posing, and the environment add up to the collection?
The idea behind the photo shoot was to create a very natural environment between two friends that hangout at home. I wanted to capture a very casual, yet intimate moment in the daily lives of these teenagers.
You’re also a teacher at Polimoda in Florence, where you finished your master in Fashion Design. What is the best advice you can give to your students?
The only way to be a successful designer is to always research and study the past. You have to keep up-to-date with the present in order to understand the contemporary world. Be a sponge and contaminate yourself with the cultures of the world.
