His last name might be a number, but his work is the only thing that you should consider to measure in his life. Fabio Quaranta is a mature Italian designer that once understood how to deal with experimentation in the fashion world, how to make a full-of-soul outfit from a mental question mark. In his own complicity he turned the imperfection into perfection: a minimal, immediate one that is nothing more than pure strength for the daily routine. He is authentic as the same time as he is courageous – his final pieces equal the minimal and conscious mirage always needed in life.
How do you go from the economics world to the fashion one?
As a pilot who knows how a plane works, and remains enchanted by the flight of an eagle.
You have your studio in Rome and your showroom in Paris. How do you understand the dynamic of these two capitals? In what things are they really different nowadays?
Rome is the endless city, its light is unique. Once you meet it, you cannot run away and it’s perfect for the studio. But Paris will always be the capital of fashion.
Your Instagram has an upside-down aesthetic. Why is that? How did you start it?
It started shooting symmetric seaside landscapes, and since then I enjoyed showing reality “upside-down”. I love to see simple things from another point of view.
And what is up and what is down for you?
Intimacy is up, and exhibitionism is down.
Womenswear and menswear. How do you organise your mind to create two collections each season?
With mathematics. There are two seasons and we present four collections: two men’s and two women’s. If menswear equals womenswear, then two plus two will always equals two. Numbers are important. Clothes, as the laws which rule the world, obey mathematics and heart.
Do you currently think about the pressure in the fashion world? Do you feel it or not at all?
Pressure is part of the job, it assumes different shapes. We are always exposed, but it’s what we want, it’s part of the game.
How do you discover exactly what you are looking for and when do you know that you have actually found it?
I can look for days, months, years, but “in the end true love finds you.”
How important is comfort in your work?
As important as the imagination for who devotes to a creative process.
And what are the challenges that often come with the need of the timeless style that Fabio Quaranta represents?
Trying to be timeless but always desirable.
Your casting really stands out. Could you tell us a little bit more about the concept behind it?
“To turn a Homeless into a Prince for a while.”
Besides dreaming and believing, what keeps you going?
I cannot do anything else.
And how would you like to be remembered? Like an urban pirate kind of designer?
Just as a good designer.
