I’m actually shooting our new perfume campaign in London!

Inside a massive hangar, without any light or air, so I’m very happy you took me out of there; I’m going to have a cigarette finally.

Ah, yeah, I have a feeling my fashion month is really my fashion year, and I have small little breaks like Thailand, which are very needed to get a bit out of the rollercoaster. I try to always go on a holiday in February or March for at least one week, because having two brands, like Diesel and Y/Project, means a lot of connections and a lot of people, and it’s a seven-day job, to be honest, and I think my mental space needs a bit of a break. Thailand was fantastic. Have you been to Thailand?

Well, the islands are, of course, what they are; it’s like there’s nothing to do, and they’re good for just enjoying the motorcycle, the great food, and the beach. But Bangkok is the most lively, fun, and open-minded city; it’s really great, and I really enjoyed it. It’s a discovery for me too.

Well, I mean, in this situation, because I take holidays myself, the company obviously is not taking holidays. Every hour, I have a little WhatsApp to reply to. But I’m managing much better than three years ago to not take it too personally. They know I’m on holiday, and they know I’m not going to reply straight away. I will reply during the daytime; maybe it’s really important, but I have to rest; I think it’s just healthy.

I have to admit I’m a very, very, very blessed person because I think I really manage to have fun in whatever I do. Being the co-director of brands like Diesel, of course, comes with a lot of responsibility that can be very heavy because every decision you make has triggered thousands of people, and this can give you some sleepless nights just because of this awareness. But on the other hand, my teams are amazing, and the brand is just fun. The great thing about a brand like Diesel, for example, is that it’s a brand with an edge; it’s fun and joy. It’s about a successful life; it’s about no bullshit; it’s about having fun; it’s about enjoying life to the fullest. And I think the brand values, are also reflecting the company values. So I’m really blessed, to be honest. It’s just a lot of work, of course, but for example, I’m in London shooting Diesel, but then we have a rave in Rome in two weeks. Everything is always connected to this moment of life, of really living life to the fullest. So when you’re at the head of this, you kind of embody it also. But it’s really fun. I am a person who is also very diverse in my way of living and being. The typology of joy for me is also very diverse. I can enjoy being a creative director on a brand and doing raves, but I also need to have my moments to go hiking. Yesterday was my day off, and I went to see Hampton Court, which is the castle of Henry VIII, because I love history. So I do have this kind of diverse way of enjoying my private life, and I think that’s something that’s very needed for me. If I do too much in one direction, I also get a bit blank.

I think the starting point is to be able to deal with everything I do. You have to have my personality disorder. I don’t have a disorder; to be honest, I’m joking, but I’m a person who is very easily bored, so I need a lot of inputs. I’m very curious, so I think that’s what helps me a lot.
Being able to stay focused and not be exhausted by all the independent things that come to me has been my priority. I can be a bit overactive. But then, what I do is also quite structured, of course. I can’t be too chaotic either, and you cannot be chaotic in any situation I’m in. I really manage to separate my different companies. Meaning that, when I work at Y/Project, I only have Y/Project people there and only in Paris; when I work at Diesel, it’s only Diesel people in Italy or wherever, so the teams are very separate. This makes it much easier for me to say that the moment I step into a certain company, I become that company, and I’m not taking something from the other one. So that really helps me differentiate every single product I’m making. Trying to not have familiar faces in the different departments. And then for the rest, of course, I have a lot of help as well. I also have an amazing assistant, Paola, who takes care of all my agendas because this is something I can’t do any more. There’s no time for organisation. There’s not even time to go to the dentist. I haven’t been to the dentist in three years. And I really would like to go [laughs].

I’m like, when the fuck am I going to the dentist? I have no issues, but I just don’t know when to go to the dentist.

[Laughs].

It’s very Diesel, though. Because the thing is, I think what a creative director should do when he comes to a company is understand the founding values of the brand and the reason why the brand became big. Of course, at Diesel, it was very clear that there are many reasons the brand is big and has recently turned forty-five years old; one of the main ones is that it is obviously an active brand. So the garments are real, simple garments, but they are the kings of treatment, and that’s something that was given to me when I arrived. The first distressed, industrialised denim is Diesel denim. There’s a big story about that. I think in the 70s or 80s, Renzo Rosso, the founder, developed the first distressed and broken denim, produced it, and put it out on the market, and everyone was screaming and saying, “Your denims are broken!” and he was like, no, I bought them like this. And of course, now we think of the brand as broken denim.

Exactly, It’s core to Diesel to do all these kinds of manipulations now. And that is, of course, what I do best. What I really love to do as a designer is engage in that and then try to find my creative way of exploring it. So, whenever we do runways, we have a big part of the runway that is ready-to-wear. But we also decided to do runway shows during fashion week because we think that even though we’re not a luxury brand, we can be very creative. Just because it’s not a luxury doesn’t mean you can’t do creative things. So, we have this whole artisanal department, which is in charge of, for example, this red coat that we’re talking about. And they’re always based on fabric manipulation, but all of them are based on upcycling. My team is not allowed to make any new fabric, and I think that’s kind of a fun fact. So, you work with low-quality everyday materials but creatively reinterpret them to make something very exclusive out of them. And I believe it is something we strive for.

Yeah, I think you make a very good point there. The thing is that, for me as a designer, I don’t need the sets to hide the lack of creativity, that’s for sure [laughs]. But in my work, for example, at Y, there are no sets at all because the clothes are extremely complicated and the looks are very, very integral and work through and are very challenging. So I don’t do sets at all because there’s no point; why would we need the sets? At Diesel, I don’t need a set either because the clothes that you see in every collection, even if they’re more simple to understand than Y/Project because it has some easier-access silhouettes, are very integral and very, very well-thought-out and they’re also quite different from the industry. But why do we do sets? The difference is that, since my arrival, we have claimed that we are an alternative to the fashion industry. Obviously, as I said earlier, once you do Fashion Week Milan, you do have to pay according to certain codes, don’t you?

You have to, of course. So, I decided to actually do sets, which are much more engaging for a lifestyle brand and the democracy of the people. So that’s why, for example, on the last runway, there were like billions of condoms, but all those condoms were given out to stores worldwide, so everybody could go and get free condoms. The season before, we opened up to all the people that wanted to come – five thousand people. And then we also gave them the show of being present to witness the biggest blow-up doll in the Guinness World Records. So it’s more like giving something back. I think what I don’t want to do with you is build up a set right now that is just there to elevate the brand. I want to do a set where I can give back to the people who are coming because, after all, we are a democratic brand. The runway is there, but the pre-collection is coming out next week. The price point is the opposite of any kind of other pre-collection that you find in the industry; it’s your fair price, which is of course still expensive, but it’s not something compared to luxury brands. So, I think that’s really why we have to always be aware that this is playing on different levels of society and fashion.

For me, it’s kind of feeling happy in every single situation, respecting the situation, and being curious about the situation. I think we all have the privilege in 2023 of travelling for not even that much money, thanks to low-cost airlines and trains. We can engage at different levels of society; we can really be global. And I think that’s something that didn’t happen with our parents; they were much more stuck in a certain bubble. And I think for me to be successful, you have to really become a global person, respect others, and engage with others. And love people who are different than you, enjoying every single situation without being scared. For example, camping is great, fancy hotels are great, raving is great, and opera is great. I don’t know. I think that’s for me; successful living is to feel very comfortable and part of the world and everything, with respect, of course.

I’m trying to live like that. But I think I’m quite successful. Yeah [laughs].

I think happiness is the main goal of success. I think happiness is the only thing that leads to happiness [laughs]. But that’s very... I don’t know. Maybe I’m a bit idealistic.

Sucsexful living was definitely linked to Durex, of course, and the collaboration with Durex. But I do think that being sex-positive is a very good reflection of successful living. Because, of course, being sex positive – I mean, not for everybody, but I think for a majority of people, it means enjoying and having fun and, yeah, having a great, great time and being happy. So somewhere there are links to the actual brand, which is about being happy and having fun. That is why, for example, we have ads for every single runway and invitations that are linked to something a bit more kinky, like sex toys as an invitation or edible underwear. I just think it’s quite a globally accepted mentality that sex is fun, and okay, it should be fun.

I’m really reflecting on it. Diesel is a brand that has existed for more than forty years. I think what happened is that it was going through a classic midlife crisis, meaning that I don’t think everybody working at Diesel was aware of the gold mine they were sitting on and of all the beauty that they had at hand. They were trying to reinvent it and do something else with it. And I think sometimes that’s not really the answer. Sometimes the answer is really just to celebrate what your fundamental values are and who you are. And that’s the basic job that I’ve done at Diesel. I think I celebrated all these great things that I fell in love with in the 1990s and 2000s. Of course, I celebrated it with a reflection on 2022, 23, and 24. It’s, of course, a different era. But I went back to those values of fun, straightforwardness, and enjoying life. And I think that’s why, for example, the younger generation of today is really loving Diesel, because I think even though they weren’t even born when Diesel was made or had any idea about the brand, they really enjoy it because it is super honest and straightforward. And I think it’s a very eclectic brand, too. It’s really engaging with all the diversity, the fun, and all the different individuals. It’s basically, I think, what people needed, so I’m very happy. It’s also maybe what I needed; I also like to have a brand like this. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. I think that’s why it works really well.

I think every single brand should do what is core to their brand values, of course. So they do whatever they want to do. But I do think that in 2023, we have to be aware that with the rise of social media and everything happening on Twitch and Instagram, your message is being spread around so much faster and bigger than in the past and, of course, much more globally. Which means that it’s congruent with responsibility. A lot of people are watching and following you, and you cannot be just a brand thinking about aesthetics anymore. You now have a social impact. And I think it’s important because I have markets all over the world; some of them have a political system that is not at all as free-spirited as Spain, France, or whatever, and I know that my images and my messages are getting followed there. So, I need to be very consistent and bring a message of respect, peace, and awareness continuously. Potentially, it will speed up the process of global ethics based on respect and involvement. And it will encourage you to live your life the way you want to live it, as long as you don’t hurt anybody. So, I think that’s what brands – definitely big brands –should be aware of. It cannot be created just for the sake of your personal ego and personal aesthetics. It has a massive impact, and that’s also one reason why I joined this industry, because on top of that, it has this massive reach. But not only to privileged people from the luxury industry, which is only talking about luxury. We are really talking to every single person who has the essence of fun, reality, and life. And I think that’s really why I joined Diesel. Because I can talk to so many people. And I can make so many people feel.

Very good question. What do I say no to? Yesterday, I said no to wine because I had been drinking the whole weekend. I need to have a day without drinking [laughs]. I’m quite excited to experiment with anything. As long as it’s within the borders of control and respect. What do I say no to? Not so many things. Unless it sounds very boring.

With the exception of yesterday, normally I always say yes to having a drink [laughs], having a drink, and having dinner. But yesterday, I was in London with some friends of mine. So, I was with the same bunch of friends; we were out for two days. So yesterday we were doing touristy things. Cultural tourist things – that was the answer for yesterday. But, I say yes to everything.