Sunglasses may be a staple fashion accessory for tourists visiting Rome in the spring-summer season. Yet those ones who are planning to spend a few days in the Italian capital this summer and maybe visit the Bulgari exhibition at the local Palazzo delle Esposizioni will have to remember to keep their sunglasses firmly on even while walking through the eight galleries of the exhibition.
Visitors will indeed be simply dazzled by the sparkling pieces showcased in the display cabinets of the “Bulgari - Tra Eternità e Storia” (Bulgari - Between Eternity and History) exhibition. While celebrating Bulgari’s 125th anniversary, the event, that features around 500 pieces – half of them taken from Bulgari’s Vintage Collection (a retrospective collection that will be put for auction in New York at the end of 2009 with proceedings going to Save the Children), half lent from private collections and exhibited for the first time – is also very important from a design point of view as it shows the developments of the art of making jewels over a century in Europe.
The visit starts from the first gallery where a black and white video tells the story of Sotirio Bulgari, a Greek silversmith born in 1857 in the Epirus Mountains who moved to Rome in the early 1880s, opening a shop in Via Sistina where he sold antique pieces such as silver chatelaines, ecclesiastic caskets and presentation basins.
At the time Sotirio also started making buckles and bracelets in gilded silver inspired by the Neo-Hellenic style and, as the years passed and the shop moved to Via dei Condotti 10, jewellery pieces and wristwatches were added. New styles and movements such as the Art Deco influenced the designs launched by Bulgari’s second generation of jewellers, Giorgio and Costantino. The pure and clear forms of Art Deco inspired wonderful pieces with rock crystals, emeralds, rubies and diamonds.
Vanity cases, cigarette boxes, diamond necklaces and tiaras that could be converted into bracelets or brooches thanks to the geometrical elements that formed them became popular in the 30s, together with one of the first designs destined to remain unvaried throughout the years, the “Trombino” ring (1932), originally given by Giorgio Bulgari to his wife Leonilde when they got engaged. The influence of French joaillerie was still strong between the 1940s-50s, but new influences renewed Bulgari’s designs in the following decades. The 60s introduced to the world of jewellery a new generation of Bulgari designers, Gianni, Nicola and Paolo.
They created more colourful pieces such as the necklace with precious and semi-precious stones – turquoises, emeralds, amethysts and diamonds – in contrasting colours bought by the Revlon founder for his wife in 1965 (that also appeared on a stamp recently issued by the Italian Post Office), and experimented with innovative shapes and silhouettes inspired by Oriental designs, producing multi-coloured peacock and “Giardinetto” (little garden) brooches with emeralds, rubies and diamonds, lapis lazuli table clocks, pieces made with carved Chinese jade and the iconic “en tremblant” brooches with ruby and diamond flowers mounted in a slightly bent white gold or platinum frame to reproduce the movement of the wind. The 60s also marked the beginning of a love story between Bulgari and the world of cinema. An entire gallery explores this connection, through portraits of actresses – among them Sophia Loren, Linda Christian, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Capucine, Claudia Cardinale and Romy Schneider – and extracts from various films. Music such as Nino Rota’s soundtrack for Fellini’s 8 ½ create the perfect atmosphere of the “Dolce Vita” years for the visitors stopping in front of the cabinets displaying Anna Magnani’s 100K diamond necklace and Gina Lollobrigida’s emerald and diamond pieces. A whole section is dedicated to the pieces that belonged to Elizabeth Taylor, among them the 18K brooch with diamonds and emeralds given to her by Richard Burton when they got engaged in 1962, the same brooch the actress worn when she got married to Burton two years after.
The actress’s “love affair” with Bulgari started while shooting in Rome Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra when Taylor and Burton spent many of their breaks from the set in the shop in Via dei Condotti.
According to the magazine Connaissance des Arts Bulgari jewels had become in those years legendary pieces, as recognisable as a Chanel’s suit, but the house’s successes had just started.
In the 70s Bulgari’s production became even more eclectic: great exuberance and variety were introduced thanks to the influence of the Optical and Pop Art movements and a new generation of family scions started producing interior design objects such as place card holders shaped like champagne corks, modern accessories such as the elegant “Melone” evening bags, oval shaped gold and sapphires bags, and fun pieces, among them a Stars and Stripes necklace in celebration of the opening of the first Bulgari shop in the States, amethysts, chalcedony and diamond brooches shaped like ice creams and thick necklaces with mother or pearl and coral playing card pendants.
“I always visit Bulgari because this is the most important museum of contemporary art,” commented at the time Andy Warhol and visitors will find it difficult to disagree with him admiring the galleries that follow and that display iconic pieces with the BVLGARI logo, the famous coin necklaces, the snake wristwatches made with handmade flexible elements, the “Tubogas” necklaces or modernist pieces created with the purest porcelain inserts.
The exhibition concludes with a final gallery in the central rotunda of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
Here visitors are introduced to the 21st century Bulgari designs made under the guidance of Francesco Trapani.
Among the extremely beautiful and expensive creations – some of them even reaching incredible prices such as 20 million Euros – there are the “Grand Kathéa”, a 32127K Burma sapphire mounted as a pendant on a simple silk cord, the striking “Flora Ring” and two opulent necklaces inspired by nature in which mandarin garnets, emeralds and diamonds form multi-coloured beds of flowers on yellow and white gold necklaces. It’s a spectacularly grand conclusion to a dazzling exhibition that perfectly illustrates the history and creativity behind the Bulgari house. “Bulgari – Between Eternity and History” is at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, until 13th September 2009.
If you are a fan of vintage fashion and you plan to pass through Florence for "Pitti W_Woman Precollection" or for "Pitti Filati", try not to miss the local vintage events, some of them organised in collaboration with Angelo Caroli, owner of the Lugo-based A.N.G.E.L.O. Vintage Palace. On 15th June A.N.G.E.L.O. will open a new vintage boutique in Via Dei Cimatori 25, Florence, while the “Small Museum” at the boutique will be launched with an Emilio Pucci exhibition that - from 17th June - will celebrate the Italian designer and Pitti Woman. Besides, A.N.G.E.L.O. will also be at the Vintage Fair at the Stazione Leopolda from 7th to 11th July, around the same time of "Pitti Filati". Angelo Caroli has been in the vintage business for the last 30 years, “A part of me is scared about such an important anniversary, but I’m also very happy thinking I have worked for three decades in a business I simply love,” he told me a while back. “During the last few years the Vintage Palace has turned from a shop into a sort of brand, respected and loved by many people.”
You can read the complete interview with Angelo Caroli on Dazed Digital.
A few days ago The Guardian dedicated a photo gallery to a few films that will be released soon or will be out later on this year that have some connections with the world of fashion. When the gallery was published the Cannes Film Festivalhad just started, so Taiwan-based arthouse director Tsai Ming-Liang's Visage (Face) - a film about a director shooting a movie based on the myth of Salomé at the Paris Louvre museum, wasn’t included in the gallery.
Yet this film starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Fanny Ardant and Laetitia Casta, has two very strong connections with fashion.
First of all, Tsai Ming-Liang could almost be defined as an image-led, visual director. You may think this can be stated about most directors out there, but it’s actually not true. The majority of directors perfectly balance in their movies images and dialogues, but Tsai Ming-Liang conceives images as central elements of his films.
Dialogues are rather sparse in Visage and images become the real protagonists with rich scenes shot among mirrors, snowy forests and in the water, one of the fundamental elements that ties the film together.
Some parts of the film are also shot inside the Louvre, which means the film offers an interesting art/cinema juxtaposition.
During the press conference at Cannes Tsai Ming-Liang stated that his filming technique is actually very similar to the work of a painter.
He shot for example Visage as if it were a big painting with no logic, intertwining the world of dreams with that of reality.
Moved and awed by some of the paintings in the Louvre collection, such as Leonardo da Vinci's painting of St. John the Baptist, little by little he started a personal journey of discover of the character of Salomé.
Yet I wonder if other paintings and works of art also inspired the costumes for the film.
The costumes for Visage are the second important "fashion element" in this film as they were made by French designer Christian Lacroix.
From what I have seen in the trailer, elaborate headdresses and pure white or blood red costumes seem to prevail, but we will have to wait and see the film before commenting further.
What I'd like to discover though is if the figure of Salomé was based on any of the 19th century paintings dedicated to this Biblical figure that portray her as a "dichotomic" femme fatale, a projection of male illicit desire and a woman who seduces and destroys men at the same time.
Some of my favourite paintings about Salomé are those by Gustave Moreau ("The Tatooed Salomé" and "Salomé Dancing Before Herod" for example), works that also inspired many years ago John Galliano’s "Suzie Sphinx" collection (A/W 1997-98).
I guess there will be enough time to develop my notes on what or who inspired Lacroix's costumes since the film will only be released towards the end of the year. In the meantime let's enjoy the trailer (guess also the polka dot dress on Fanny Ardant is by Lacroix...).
If you are in Venice or are planning to visit the place, don't forget to have a look at Marina and Susanna Sent's shops.
The two sisters hail from Murano and have created in the last few years refreshingly new jewellery using the local glass.
One shop is based near the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, in Dorsoduro 669, Campo San Vio, another it's nearer to St Mark's Square, in San Marco 2090, Ponte San Moisé. If you want to see where they actually make their pieces go and visit them in Murano, at Fondamenta Serenella 20.
Here's a brief Q&A with Susanna, but you can read the complete interview on Dazed Digital.
Question: Your designs are very different from traditional Murano pieces, what influences your style? Susanna Sent: We like simple and neat designs. We don’t have any particular designers in mind when we create our pieces, but I must admit the simplicity and clear lines of Nordic designs fascinate us. We do like very simple designs also when it comes to clothes. Some of our pieces are easier to make, others are obviously more difficult, but we often find that the best idea is the most strikingly simple. If you wear a very simple dress with a beautiful necklace, you easily realise that it’s the necklace that does the trick and transforms the entire look.
Question: Dou work on new collections twice a year? Susanna Sent: While we release new collections every year, there are some timeless pieces that we keep on doing because customers still request them. Some pieces have turned into our timeless and signature designs, so we decided not to remove them from our catalogue.
Fashionistas who are into French couturiers will remember how Marcel Rochas first launched his fashion house in 1925, becoming well-known when eight women who went to a party found themselves wearing the same dress.
Working with a great passion for fashion first in his salon in rue Faubourg St. Honoré founded in 1924 and, from 1931, in rue Matignon, Rochas was often at the centre of debates with other designers.
Many remember the diatribe with Schiaparelli over who originated the emphasised shoulder: for Rochas his inspiration came from Javanese and Balinese dancers he saw at the Exposition Coloniale in 1931. The magazine Femina claimed in 1933 that both the couturiers had had the same idea at the same time, but they applied their results in different ways to their work.
Rochas was important for injecting into fashion a sort of elegant restraint and rich yet subtle decoration.
In many cases he anticipated the times: in 1932 he designed a grey flannel trouser suit and in 1939 a plain white lace shirtwaister, both the designs ended up being popular many decades after.
One of his most famous and successful designs in America was his multi-coloured striped gypsy evening dress that became the most copied French model in the States in 1938. Behind Rochas’ designs there were two main principles: elegance and simplicity. According to him the body had to be liberated from excessive decorations and freedom had to be highlighted.
This is why his skirts were slightly longer yet softer, his trousers became a wardrobe staple and not an item of clothing that belonged to the sportswear category and the padded shoulders of his jackets became a trademark of modern design. Rochas’s woman never stood still: she moved around the city, drove a car, travelled all over the world, yet she was always elegant and chic.
In the 30s Rochas collaborated with textile companies creating a new jersey that allowed him to design fluid items of clothing and also did further experiments in the textile field, launching a material ideal for bathing suits that combined a cellophane-like consistency with the elasticity of latex. Rochas also designed the costumes for a few films, among them also Jean Delannoy's L’éternel retour (1943).
Last year Italian Marco Zanini was appointed artistic director at the French fashion house and I’m quite interested to see how things will develop now that he is leading it. The Italian company that produces the line is planning to keep prices low compared to the French fashion house's standard.
The first collection designed by Zanini was presented in February during Paris Fashion Week and was definitely based on Rochas’ main principles.
The collection includes slip dresses, perfectly cut double-face cashmere coats with Rochas’ classic emphasis on ample sleeves, soft blazers with relaxed silhouettes, drop-waist dresses characterised by beautiful details such as hand-embroidered micro caviar beads or silk tulle overlays and practical trouser suits and tuxedos with a masculine cut. The palette comprises grey, beige, ivory and powdery pink with just a splash of ruby red and dark green. The fabrics Zanini opted for - silk charmeuse, silk georgette, cashmere, textured wool and tweed - are all luxurious.
As a whole the collection looks very different from Olivier Theyskens’s previous designs for the French fashion house, but everything is very wearable and, as I said, based on minimalism, proving that fashion doesn't need to be excessive to look good (and sell well).
I have already explored the world of architectural shoes in a previous post last year, but it looks like further experiments and collaborations between fashion companies and architects require at least another post.
It was recently announced that the Lacoste footwear capsule collection designed in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects will finally be released in September 2009.
Some of you may have had the chance of discovering this project last October at the Frieze Art Fair in London where the background work for this collaboration was first presented. The final prototypes are now ready and from the images available they clearly reveal an architectural derivation. One important point for both the men and women’s shoes is the use of dynamic fluid grids that, wrapping up around the foot, expand and contract adapting ergonomically to the body.
Metal plates applied through a heat embossing and debossing technique to the calf leather create a sort of waving pattern, giving a tactile dimension to the shoes. The surface of the footwear turns therefore into a modern landscape as the waving patterns form a sort of 3D topography.
Fluidity is added through the strap closure system that features a bi-stable snapping metal band encased in the leather strap at the upper-most end. The band wraps up and secures itself at the ankle in the men’s model (available in black and navy) and at the knee in the women’s limited edition (black and purple). The collection is extremely limited: only 850 pairs will indeed be released and they will be exclusively available at high-end boutiques such as Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and 10 Corso Como in Milan, which means that, for most of us, owning a pair of genuinely architectural shoes remains still a dream.
Bernhard Willhelm’s men and womenswear collections have always been characterised by what could only be described as “outrageous playfulness”, an oxymoronic definition for a designer that favours colours, chaos and dark irony.
Take Willhelm’s Autumn/Winter 2009-10 menswear collection presented at the beginning of February at the Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week: with its designs inspired by the wintry landscapes of Innsbruck at the end of the 70s, Willhelm presented a mix of retro skiwear and modern and bold graphics through an ironic installation.
Colours exploded also in the designer’s womenswear collection for the next season, a sort of antidote to the bleak financial crisis with its long check patchwork dresses featuring colourful inserts and coffee bag prints; brightly coloured ropes holding skirts; knitwear with holes and hanging threads; short capes worn with long gowns; multi-coloured georgette dresses and bright yellow frocks with political slogans urging “Oil Now”.
But colours and fun weren’t the only things the two collections had in common: during the catwalk shows, Willhelm’s male and female models wore sunglasses by Berlin-based eyewear company Mykita.
Founded in 2003 by Moritz Krueger, Harald Gottschling and Daniel and Philipp Haffmans - the managerial core behind the successful ic! berlin - the brand that takes its name from the company’s first premises, a former day-care centre for children, has become in the last few years synonymous with light frames and classically elegant and avant-garde designs.
“It was Bernhard Wilhelm’s present collection that sparked our collaboration,” Moritz Krueger recounts about this special project. “When he gave us the first briefing about what he was going to present for the next season’s menswear collection – the 1976 Winter Olympics, a theme that leaves space for plenty of ideas – we knew what to do straightaway.”
Usually when fashion brands decide to release eyewear products, they license their names to a specialised company that suggests which may be the best options in this field. But in Mykita’s case things worked in a very different way.
“We are an independent brand with an in-house production, so our communication times are brief and ideas flow easily,” Krueger explains. “We debate daily about styles, shapes and silhouettes as we consider ourselves as ‘face couturiers’ who work in the same field of a fashion designer, but with one difference: a fashion designer dresses the body, we ‘dress’ the face. Our ethos allows us to perfectly interpret and therefore produce the ideal eyewear for a particular designer. In Bernhard’s case he gave us two guidelines, three basic colours - blue, white and red - and the use of mirrored lenses. What we did was trying to emphasise the designer’s ideas in the final collection.”
For what regards the men’s looks Mykita came up with three aviator styles: the “Franz” model, inspired by legendary downhill champion Franz Klammer; the drop-shaped “Sepp” model, named after an abbreviation of the Bavarian name Josef, characterised by a bulkier and more masculine style, and the sophisticated “Luke” model that reminds of the elegant atmosphere of Cortina, the ski and sport resort in the Dolomites, in the 70s. “The mirrored lenses traditionally used by high-mountain climbers such as bearded icon Reinhold Messner were combined with a vintage macho style and the final results perfectly matched Willhelm’s designs and inspirations,” Krueger says. “For the men’s styles we chose three aviator styles and evoked the 70s by opting for silhouettes that reminded of the rudimentary industrial frame-punching techniques and the inadequacies of past manufacturing methods.”
Women can instead choose between the “Janis” and “Uschi” styles: the former has a round and oversized shape inspired by singer and songwriter Janis Joplin, while the latter features a square frame. Both the models are available in three versions, gold with brown gradient lenses, gold with gold-mirrored lenses and silver with grey gradient lenses. The Mykita team hopes there will still be time in Willhelm’s busy schedule for further projects in the future.
“If Bernhard is in the mood and comes up with some exciting ideas that we can happily play with, why not?” concludes Krueger.
In the meantime this summer rather than “looking at life through rose-tinted glasses” fashionistas will be “looking at life through mirrored lenses” thanks to Mykita and Willhelm’s eyewear.
It's always a pleasure to get an email from Sandra Backlund since it usually contains new images of her latest designs.
A couple of days ago Sandra sent me the pics from her new collection entitled "Control-C".
The collection features pieces made in collaboration with the Vicenza-based Maglificio Miles (photos 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 - I dedicated to this collaboration a previous post) and pieces made by Sandra by hand (photos 1, 4, 8, 9).
The former feature elements taken from Sandra's original handmade knits and it's amazing to see how Miles managed to reproduce them through advanced techniques while still retaining Sandra's trademark designs.
The latter seem to be less dramatic than her previous designs but they are also definitely more wearable.
One main principle characterises all the pieces: the modification and transformation of the human body through the knitting techniques used.
The body silhouettes are indeed highlighted by dramatic and theatrical shapes, especially around the shoulders, while the chain-like knitting technique Sandra used in one top and in one of her dresses is interestingly new since it could be applied to both winter and summer designs.
I also particularly like the voluminous jackets or tops and dresses characterised by what look like 3D patterns.
For the time being Sandra's fans will still have to keep on dreaming about owning a piece created by their favourite designer: indeed at the moment nothing has been decided yet regarding the distribution, but hopefully, Sandra told me via email, things are heading towards the right way and soon her designs will be more available.
"Control-C" Collection by Sandra Backlund Photo: Peter Gehrke / Adamsky Styling: Naomi Itkes / Link Details Hair: Peter Andersson / Mikas Make Up: Kajsa Svanberg / Mikas Model: Tilda L / Stockholmsgruppen Art Direction: Sandberg&Timonen Retouch: Matchmill
There’s one thing that has always fascinated me about the Art Deco period and that’s the clear language of the forms this movement breathed into interior design objects, architecture and jewellery.
I’m particularly fond of jewellery designer Jacob Bengel who created pieces inspired by simple geometrical forms that even decades after still look amazingly modern.
Despite many contemporary designers tried to recreate Bengel’s forms in their jewellery, I don’t think many succeeded as well as Osman Yousefzada did.
The young designer recently released a sort of capsule collection comprising four interesting pieces exclusively made for the Astley Clarke online jewellery boutique.
Yousefzada designed two rock crystal necklaces with sapphires in gold vermeil and matching rock crystal earrings and bracelet.
The elements that called back to my mind Bengel's designs when I first saw Yousefzada’s pieces are the wide snake chains used for the necklaces and bracelet, but also the rock crystal tiles interlinked by white gold vermeil bars set with brilliant cut blue sapphires that produce the surrealist effect - when seen from afar - of being domino pieces.
There seems to be also echoes of Bengel’s chromium bands or tubular wires with trapezium plaques, Galalith and chromium elements and toffee coloured cubes, or of his onyx and amazonite rectangular brooches.
Art Deco employed synthetic materials such as plastic, from bakelite to lucite, vitrolite, linoleum and formica, and metal, from chrome and stainless steel to aluminium and wrought iron. Yousefzada employed crystal instead of translucent plastic to create limpidity, yet the sober and geometrical style, the decorative articulation and dynamic abstractions and the objectivity of forms also calls to mind artworks from the futurism era such as Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space and more contemporary works such as Arnaldo Pomodoro’s sculptures based on volumes and perfect geometries.
The pieces also combine the same modernist tribalism from Yousefzada's "Tribal Bauhaus" collection (S/S 08) with the most impressive pieces by Naum Slutzsky, the metalworker and master goldsmith at the Weimar Bauhaus, who always remained
faithful in his jewels to the theme of the cube and the geometric plate. I'm now curious to see how the collection will develop in future and I'm wondering if Yousefzada will also start designing an accessory line.
My temporary neglect of this blog wasn't due to laziness, but to a combination of tendinitis due to typing, flu and hectic working schedule. Time to catch up now, so let's start with a brief video featuring Carmina Campus’ Ilaria Venturini Fendi.
The talk was recorded during the late morning session of the Lusso Essenziale event that took place from 21st to 23rd May 2009 at Rome's Macro Future.
The event tried to explore new trends connected with the world of luxury products from different points of view (art, culture, sociology, fashion, lifestyle, etc). The topic was interesting and stimulating (though there were also some random and rather unnecessary talks and presentations…). I find particularly interesting the debate around the authenticity of the world of fashion and luxury companies promoting eco-friendly/ethical products.
The late morning session featured Daniele Kihlgren, who's behind the restoration project involving Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo; Raffaello Pino, a collaborator of architect Mario Cucinella, designer of the 100k house; Ilaria Venturni Fendi, entrepreneur, designer and owner of Rome based shop Re(f)use and Alberto Bruno from the Lancia car company. The moderator was (Italian) Marie Claire's editor in chief Antonio Mancinelli.
I was planning to post an Italian version of the video with English subtitles, but my video editing programme has just blown up, so the video is in Italian, but you will find under it the transcription of the English translation (accompanied by a few pics of Carmina Campus bags made with recycled materials such as car parts or made with tribal headgear crocheted with many colours and patterns by a group of Cameroonese women).
Just a couple of notes: when Ilaria Venturini Fendi mentions the people who talked before her and restoration techniques for historical villages she is referring to Daniele Kihlgren's presentation. The voice you can sometimes hear in the background asking questions to Ilaria is Antonio Mancinelli’s.
Towards the end of her brief presentation she also mentions AltaRoma.
This organisation helps promoting Rome’s fashion scene and has been developing in conjunction with the United Nations' International Trade Centre (INTRACEN) new projects such as initiatives that help women from disadvantaged countries through fashion. AltaRoma has been also trying to involve Lazio-based companies and designers (such as Carmina Campus) in this project and is also planning to launch training courses for those fashion businesses interested in developing eco-friendly and ethical products.
Further initiatives will be launched at the next AltaRoma event in July 2009.
Video Transcript:
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: I think it would be interesting to start talking about how my project started from the very beginning, because Carmina Campus is just one branch of what I have been doing in the last few years. As you can understand from my surname, I was born into a family that has been creating fashion products for generations. I myself worked into the family business when I was very young. This was indeed my previous job before I went back to the world of fashion with the Carmina Campus brand. In between the two things I became an agricultural entrepreneur. So I’m going to tell you how my life has changed in the last 5 or 6 years. There was a point in my life when I understood I really needed to change something. Maybe this need came from the fact that I had just had a baby or maybe I was looking for some time for myself. Working into a creative job is a very beautiful thing, but in the fashion world everything is regulated by precise rhythms and this can be very stressful. I was brought up with the fashion seasons and as you know they are very different from the natural seasons. I got to a point in my life when I decided the moment had come to change something and try something different. I’ve always been passionate about nature and always loved the countryside and when I discovered this agricultural business that I now manage and which is based in Rome, in the Veio Park, I decided the time was ripe for change, also because being born into the world of fashion I had seen my mother, her sisters, my sisters and myself as well working into a job regulated by a mechanism that could swallow you and not grant you a single moment to stop and think. I used to work on a collection and when that collection was finished there was no time for stopping and taking a break, but the next day I had to start working on the next collection. In the end I decided to take back my time and bought the agricultural business. I therefore settled upon changing my life radically and I must admit that at the time I never thought I would have gone back to my previous job. At the time the farm lands I had bought were overused and I didn’t know what to do with them yet. Then, little by little, I started working, doing some courses and trying to educate myself, grasping at least the initial notions I needed to start the job. My love for the land made me understand what I really wanted to do with this business. The lands were overused, so I let the grounds rest and started a land rotation system. Then I opted for a conversion from a conventional regime to an organic system; I’ve actually been working following the organic system for quite a few years now. I have followed today other speakers who talked about their own experiences and I think my job touched in part also their fields. In fact I started studying eco-friendly and sustainable techniques that can be used in the renovation of historical villages and areas. I discovered that it’s not easy to put these studies into practice nowadays since bureaucracy is still slow and some studies are not easily approved by the local authorities. So during a particularly long winter when the land was resting and bureaucracy blocked further developments, almost without realising it, my old job came back into my life and I started designing bags using recycled materials, old bits and pieces that I would find by chance in warehouses. I used the experience I had gained in the past and applied it to these new bags, combining it with values that I think also the world of luxury products has forgotten. From the bags I moved onto interior design objects, pieces of furniture and jewels. Antonio Mancinelli: Did you designed them always following your “recycling philosophy”?
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: Yes, I always kept this philosophy in mind. I think that the 5-6 years I dedicated to different activities with different rhythms from those ones that regulate the world of fashion, brought back into my old job a different awareness. I think I have been very lucky as I discovered I could afford the luxury of changing not only my job, but my entire lifestyle. We often talk about sustainable fashion, but I think we are at the point when we must apply a change in different contexts. I’m not an economist or an expert, but we know this is the truth, this is what we need to do. I hope my experience can be an example also for what regards a new sort of craftsmanship, a new fashion that is generated in a different way.
Antonio Mancinelli: There is still another aspect of your job, an ethical aspect I would say as you have a group of women who work for you, can you tell us more about it?
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: I combined my love for nature and sustainability with ethical values and projects. I can see among the audience Simonetta Gianfelici from AltaRoma and I must thank them because they gave me the chance to get in touch with the International Trade Centre, an agency of the United Nations, that took charge of my project and will take it forward in a quicker way and with the proper regulations. Antonio Mancinelli: You have also been travelling recently to develop your projects, haven’t you?
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: Yes, I’ve been to Cameroon where there is a group of women working for Carmina Campus. The king of the small town we visited gave us as a present a piece of land where we will start a workshop with the help of INTRACEN and of the United Nations and contribute to developing local craftsmanship projects.
