I'm republishing today an interview with Italian menswear designer Andrea Pompilio that I recently did for another publication.
Around a year ago Andrea Pompilio decided with the help of a group of loyal friends and clothing manufacturers to launch his own brand.
Weeks of sketching and experimenting followed, then he took part in the Italian Vogue competition “Who is on Next?”, won it and, in three seasons' time, his dreams and hopes suddenly turned into his new life.
Pompilio may be a newcomer on the Italian fashion scene, but he’s definitely not a fresher: for almost 15 years he has moved between Milan, New York and Paris, working for brands and companies such as Alessandro Dell’Acqua, Prada, Calvin Klein and Yves Saint Laurent.
His Autumn/Winter 2012-13 menswear collection is a sort of 360° journey into a man’s wardrobe with incursions into work, sports and evening wear.
This informal collection characterised by a relaxed style offers a bit of everything for all tastes, from shirts with animal prints and white trousers with dark stripes forming decorative motifs on the sides (slightly reminiscent of a groom's wedding suit from Galičnik) to classic yellow oilcloth jackets and ponchos or elegant velvet suits in dark emerald green. While the choice is wide, there is one main point that reunites all the pieces in the collection: they are all are produced in Italy by high quality manufacturers, including Mario Portolano, that produces gloves since 1895, and Leu Locati, a leader in small leather goods.
When did you first start following fashion?
Andrea Pompilio: When I was a child, in fact I was as young as 8 years old. I come from a family of artists: my father is an architect and my mother a ceramist, so I always saw them drawing, painting, designing buildings or furnishing houses. They passed onto me their passion for colours and style.
What inspired your Autumn/Winter 2012-13 collection?
Andrea Pompilio: This collection is a reinterpretation of a man’s wardrobe inspired by the metropolitan jungle theme. For example the prints of the monkey in the collection represent my love for all animals and for monkeys in particular since they remind me a lot of human beings, but they are also the embodiment of the collection's main theme.
In this collection you have worked a lot on destructuring the outerwear, was this an attempt at playing with different weights?
Andrea Pompilio: That’s actually an aspect of the metropolitan jungle theme of the collection that moves from informal and relaxed moods. I’m always on the go and I don’t like rigidity of forms especially in the jackets, so I decided to revolutionalise this garment and came up with the idea of treating the jacket as a visually formal piece, destructuring it from the inside. From the outside the wearer still looks formal, but his movements and his freedom are guaranteed by the absence of an internal structure and by elasticised fabrics such as stretch nylon. I would define my jackets as cardigans actually since they do have the functionality and the practicality of a cardigan.
You also employed fur in some of your pieces, but mainly used it for the lining, is this again part of your destructuring process?
Andrea Pompilio: Yes, the lining of one jacket comes in rabbit fur, but the interesting thing about it is that it’s extremely light, so you could actually wear this piece also under another jacket and create in this way new contrasts.
Did you find it challenging designing also the accessories for this collection?
Andrea Pompilio: No, I’ve always collected shoes, so designing footwear represented for me one of the most interesting projects linked with this collection. I worked for 15 years in the fashion industry moving between Milan, New York and Paris, and I’ve worked for many years with companies making leather goods, shoes and bags, so I’ve always loved leather, especially when it comes to outerwear. I had never tried to design a bag, a pair of shoes or a belt, though, but, rather than being a difficult challenge, I would describe it as a stimulating and exciting project.
Who do you imagine is Andrea Pompilio's ideal wearer?
Andrea Pompilio: A man as multi-faceted as a diamond who has manifold interests, moves around the world a lot, listens to different types of music and has a very open view on life. It’s also a man who tells my story, my way of being and my will to experiment with clothes and garments.
Where do you manufacture your designs?
Andrea Pompilio: Everything is made in Italy by high quality manufacturers, some of them are the same ones who produce Yves Saint Laurent’s footwear and Céline’s womenswear, so we’re talking about luxury producers and at the moment I’m distributed in Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea, though I also sell my pieces through thecorner.com and Park & Bond.
What would your dream outfit out of this collection be like?
Andrea Pompilio: I would love to go to the theatre one night with a pair of trousers, a furry woollen jacket and a yellow oilcloth piece on top. I guess that would be really modern, innovative, exciting and unusual.
Fashion-wise, is there a lesson that men should learn from women?
Andrea Pompilio: Men should gain more confidence from women and work a bit more on their look, exactly like women do. That’s already happening in a way, but it would be extremely interesting to see more men working on their image and style a bit more.
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Posted by: online jobs | January 24, 2012 at 03:30 PM