L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Your first collection in 1987 was an homage to Bette Davis, the queen of H o l l y w o o d , a n d t h e r e b e l l i o u s w r i t e r Annemarie Schwarzen- bach inspired your ready- to-wear debut in 1998. My women, apparently so distant from each other, are all strong, intelligent, cre- ative, and independent. Each collection tells a different story. The female reality is v a r i e g a t e d , s t r a t i f i e d a n d multiple. I don't have in mind a pre- cise type of femininity—some women attract me, for exam- p l e , P i n a B a u s c h , S i l v a n a Mangano and Isabelle Hup- pert. When I draw, I dream of a f r e e w o m a n w h o c a n e x p r e s s a n d r e a l i z e h e r dreams and desires. Thus were born the collections ded- i c a t e d t o w o m e n s u c h a s M a r i a L a i a n d C a m i l l e Claudel, among many others. Y o u b r e a k t h e u s u a l approach to using fabrics by employing layers of fabrics through new com- binations and interven- t i o n s s u c h a s r a w - c u t hems, stains, and tears involving precious mate- rials. You mix past and contemporaneity as a tex- tile archeologist. Is your research conceptual? W e l i v e i n a h i s t o r i c a l m o m e n t t h a t a l l o w s u s t o range over space and time. Horizontally you can draw on all the world's geographies and vertically on all the eras that have preceded us and then tangle, juxtapose, and cross everything. It is a great fortune to draw on such dis- p a r a t e s o u r c e s a n d m a k e them your own by proposing them your way. "Art is a con- tinuous theft," said my men- tor, the great Sardinian artist Maria Lai. She was so right. T h e m o m e n t a r t p a s s e s t h r o u g h y o u r h a n d s , i t becomes yours. It is like what happens with fashion. L a s t S e p t e m b e r , t h e I t a l i a n i n n e r w e a r , hosiery, and swimwear Gruppo Calzedonia took a majority stake in your company. What does this agreement mean to the Antonio Marras brand? This decisive step repre- sents a new chapter in Anto- n i o M a r r a s ' h i s t o r y . N o w there is a community of pur- pose with a large group, the possibility of taking advan- tage of a joint synergy, and the awareness that your work will be preserved, guarded, and valued. I can only be even more motivated and enthusiastic about the cre- ative work I have dedicated my whole life to. What is your defini- tion of style? Style is something innate and a personal thing. It is the ability to dare, naturally and freely. It is the courage to try, experiment, and go beyond the boundaries and the rules. It is a deviation from the norm, even with tiny detail. Those with a sense of style do not fear the excess and eccen- tricity triumph over the flat- ness and banality of ordinary d r e s s . T h o s e w h o d o n o t adapt to the prevailing pre- scripts and seek the gap, con- trast, and error have style. What do you love most a b o u t t o d a y ' s f a s h i o n world, and what do you like least? I like that it is cosmopoli- tan; by contrast, it refines and values diversity. I can't stand and don't understand the phenomenon of influ- encers. And I detest the lack of memory, an inherent dis- ease in the fashion world. Your father had a fab- ric store. Is it where you found your vocation as a designer? As a child, I frequented "Les Botigues," the historical shops my father and uncle owned in the historic center of Alghero, where I familiar- ized myself with all types of fabrics. I started working with my father, taking care of the shops that later my father turned into the first local boutiques. I remember that I was thirteen, and it was the m o n t h o f J u n e w h e n m y father took me to Buccinasco, 4 miles southwest of Milan, where Elio Fiorucci had his warehouse. I recall walls with b r a c e l e t s t h r e a d e d i n t o a rack, hundreds and hundreds of bracelets from Uganda. There were tin buckets from India, a thousand objects, clothing, accessories, note- books, umbrellas, ornaments, photographs, stickers, and plastic animals that Fiorucci c o l l e c t e d o n h i s t r a v e l s worldwide. My father was very avant- garde and very open to novel- ties. His shops, over time, had become a point of refer- ence for all of Sardinia. You were an insecure child with dyslexia. You couldn't read, yet "Poetry made me breathe," you said. Who was the first p o e t t o c a p t u r e y o u r attention? Aldo Palazzeschi. I was in primary school when I read his poem Rio Bo which I still know by heart. As an adult, I love Giuseppe Ungaretti. Do you write poetry? I adore poetry but enjoy writing song lyrics. You adopted the so- called Ligazzio Rubio: a r e d t h r e a d , a t r u e f i l rouge, as a trademark of your fashion production. Is it a good luck charm? Yes. The Ligazzio Rubio, the Marras red ribbon, is a lucky charm and an object symbol full of meanings. It guides us through the world's labyrinth by showing us the way. It unites and ties knots of affections, feelings, and emotions. The Ligazzio Rubio is resistant to time and wear. Why do you like the color red so much? Red conveys the meaning of blood as a life force, purifi- cation, regeneration, flow of e x p e r i e n c e s , m o v e m e n t , heart, feelings, warmth, pro- tection, and passion. My red is blood red. It is crimson with a hint of burgundy that h a s b e e n i m m o d e s t l y renamed Marras Red. This choice has ancient origins: it is the legacy of the Phoeni- cians, whose name means purple. The Phoenicians col- lected murex shells, mollusks from which they obtained the pigment used to color the red-purple fabrics that were products of extreme luxury t h r o u g h o u t t h e M e d i t e r - ranean. They extracted only one gram of the dye from a murex, making those fabrics almost priceless. Y o u a r e a l s o a ceramist. How did you d e v e l o p a p a s s i o n f o r ceramics? I a p p r o a c h e d c e r a m i c s after intense years of painting that resulted in the Milan Triennale exhibition. In my c e r a m i c w o r k , y o u f i n d t h e m e s t h a t a l s o u s u a l l y make up the collections of clothes in the form of ideas dear to my poetics: travel, ties, and the taste for person- a l a r t i s a n a l d e t a i l . M y thought is in constant balance between the celebration of the past and a creative pre- sent. You are an eclectic col- lector of objects, furni- ture, clothes and books. Y o u s a i d , " I n s i d e m e , there are traces, textures, memories, and memories of people who still want to live." Is this a way of honoring the memory of our predecessors? And is your creative approach anthropological? It's instinctive and dictated by Stendhal Syndrome, by the coup de foudre, love at f i r s t s i g h t . W h e n I s e e a p a i n t i n g b y a n u n k n o w n painter or a design object, I can't rest until I own them. Once, on my way to Amster- dam by bike, I told the person with me to stop suddenly. I spotted an old scale that now makes a pretty sight in my kitchen. Too bad we risked falling into a canal. Style is something innate and a personal thing. It is the ability to dare, naturally and freely. It is the courage to try, experiment, and go beyond the boundaries and the rules. Backstage at the latest Marras show (Photo courtesy of Antonio Marras) Continued from page 4

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