Studio Irvine a Milan-based architecture and design firm specializing in product design, art direction, and material space and architecture design.
Led today by architect Marialaura Rossiello, the studio was founded in 1988 by James Irvine, the unforgettable British designer who arrived in Milan in the mid-1990s, attracted by the design culture present in the city.
An interest that united him with Marialaura Rossiello, who was also driven by the same motive to move from Naples. In the course of its evolution, the firm has developed a design method made of curiosity, love of detail and a lot of irony, combining a rigorous British-style approach with the layering of historical tradition typical of Italian architecture.

“The Irvine Method a method developed over the firm’s 30-year history and implies a recognizable approach not only in the final product, but in the entire process that, starting with the material, involves all stages of transformation: from production to communication and product strategy. A method that I wanted to summarize in the list of buzzwords that guide me along the way, depending on whether I approach the project from the perspective of art direction, product design, or architectural design.

Respect the material and its production processes. Building a consistent and independent corporate identity. Create a working team in which project culture and business culture can be combined. Respecting the Genius Loci. Designing alchemy of space light and matter. Ambition for timelessness.
I like to call it the Irvine Method: a mix of precision, curiosity, research and a lot of irony.
For me, restarting means starting over from single-materiality.”

 

“The Irvine Method a method developed over the firm’s 30-year history and implies a recognizable approach.”

It always made me smile at people’s reaction whenever I mentioned Keith Haring. The puzzled look to say, “Who are you talking about?” but if to his name you also show any of his work, his unparalleled style, then people’s faces light up, “Ah yes yes! Now I understand who he is!”
It makes me smile because, 30 years after his death, Keith Haring’s purpose can be called more than achieved.
But let’s start step by step.
Keith Haring was born in Pennsylvania in 1958. Since childhood, he has shown a strong artistic bent by drawing fictional characters that are a mix between a comic book and a cartoon. A middle-class family, they supported his artistic flair by enrolling him in art school, and that is when Keith learned the techniques and knowledge of history’s great artists, from Michelangelo to Leonardo Da Vinci, via Caravaggio to Botero.

 

The very strong desire to see all the works live pursued him for years, he wanted to be able to see with his own eyes the colors of the world’s most famous canvases, to understand the technique of color and painting, but at the same time he began to limit a political and social idea of art that would be defined precisely through the study of artists: the artist’s work as a social concept.
Squeezed into the provincial American mentality at age 19, he left his hometown to move to cosmopolitan New York City, which would introduce him to fame and popularity, serve as a springboard for his artistic vision but at the same time serve as a hefty bill to pay for a dissolute and promiscuous life.
In his New York years, Haring felt free to live out his homosexuality, which until then he had kept under lock and key, unacceptable in his country of origin, and not only began to experiment with sex with men but made his sexual orientation a political and social action apt to rid the world of the prejudice and stigma of AIDS that in those years had led to gays being discriminated against and hated more than usual.

“His last public work, a year before he died, was in 1989 in Pisa. He painted the facade of the church of Sant’Antonio Abbate, and the work (one of the few with a title) is called ALL THE WORLD. It is a huge depiction of the world, of what Haring hoped the world would become, of love and brotherhood.”

He meets the greatest exponents of Pop Art-Andy Wharol, Jean-Michael Basquiat, and Lee Quinones-but he hates the idea of artwork remaining locked in a museum. Thus the conception of making his worldview in every part visible. He began painting in small public spaces in the subway where people passing by could become familiar with his style. Walls of buildings, cars, plastic bottles, cups and T-shirts. He painted everywhere. Even on himself. Hence his democratic idea of art.
His messages are about freedom, peace, equality. But also very intimate: his pains, fears and passion for sex. He is obsessed with the idea that everyone should know his art, even those who are not interested in art or who cannot afford to go to a museum. And in an age still far removed from social, so he plans to make his images fluent through two major channels very close to young people: MTV and SWATCH watches. In no time his works became iconic becoming the quintessential symbol of the 1980s.
Start traveling the world. His works can be traced to all European capitals and South America. In New York, in the Soho neighborhood, Pop Shop opens. It sells gadgets engraved with his most iconic works but is also a space for young artists can experiment and showcase their artwork.

He died at the age of 31 from complications of AIDS. Realizing he would not live long, he founded the Keith Haring Foundation to support artists who send messages of peace and equality.
His last public work, a year before he died, was in 1989 in Pisa. He painted the facade of the church of St. Anthony Abbot, and the work (one of the few that has a title) is called ALL THE WORLD. It is a huge depiction of the world, of what Haring hoped the world would become, of love and brotherhood.

FROM HIS BEGINNINGS, TO THE OPENING OF HIS STUDIO, TO INTERNATIONAL FAME: HERE IS THE STORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING INTERIOR DESIGNERS

Pietro Del Vaglio is more than an interior designer, he is a great enthusiast who puts taste, talentand dedication into his work, creating true masterpieces around the world. Pietro Del Vaglio Studio di Progettazione, with offices in Florence and Monte di Procida, focuses on interior architecture and design. Pietro Del Vaglio’s signature creations have the characteristic of being able to adapt to the location, the customer’s request, the originality of the choice of creations, colors, and lines.

Pietro Del Vaglio, with his absolutely unique works, manages to establish himself in a difficult market, and his innate abilities are quickly recognized. And foreign countries also take notice of him. His first creation, in 1995, will be exhibited in Chicago in the Museum
of Architecture and Design at an exhibition dedicated to the 25 most interesting chairs of the last 25 years, in which they participate,
Philip Stark and Enrico Tonucci, among others. Later, his works are exhibited at showroom openings in Europe, the United States, Japan and Moscow. But his work as an interior designer continued in parallel with his work as a designer with his new studio in Florence, where he moved in the early 1990s and from which came designs and projects for numerous clients, including
well-known show business personalities, such as Anna Falchi. Very fruitful is his activity as an interior designer, thanks mainly to his innovative ideas. Since 2005 he has been making a series of restaurants and private residences in the United States, and in 2006 the publishing house Masso delle Fate published the volume “Abitare le Emozioni,” which collects the work of those years. From 2011 to the present, he continues to devote himself to increasingly challenging projects, both in Italy and abroad, always receiving wide acclaim from the industry press. AD Germany also took an interest in his projects, publishing an article in April 2013 about a residence built in Pozzuoli. In November 2014 in the celebratory issue
400 of AD, Pietro del Vaglio is listed among the top 13 interior designers who best interpret new trends in living, thus receiving the definition “of poet of living.” Currently his residential designs continue both on the Italian territory and abroad, while he lives and works between Florence and Naples. Numerous homes designed by him have attracted the attention of the industry press: first and foremost, the prestigious Architectural Digest, which published in July 2015

the stunning villa in Capri; in July 2017, another major villa on the island of Elba; and in June 2019, he received AD’s third cover with a fine renovation of a house in Naples. Also in the same year, the magazine listed him among the designers who have contributed to the magazine’s style over the years. His recipe? Light, color, sense of proportion, and scenic taste. In December 2019, he presented his third book in Sofia, entirely dedicated to a luxury residence built in Stara Zagora. Great interest from the public and the Bulgarian national press, which devoted extensive reports to the event. In 2020 he designed the SEVENZERO chair to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Sanremo, becoming the cover of a well-known weekly magazine on which Artistic Director as well as presenter Amadeus was portrayed. Very focused on hospitality, together with Michele Schiano Moriello, he is making many successful restaurants, boutiques and hotels. The elements present at the basis of his design are the colors of his homeland, an interest in history, with the intention of returning a project with a contemporary dimension, and finding the right compromise between the client’s needs and his creativity.

And the day came when it all began.
Then again, it takes a beginning to form a path, and rarely does a beginning manage to be traceable to a first and last name. In the case of fashion as we understand it today, one name is there: Paul Poiret.
Poiret was born in Paris in the late 1800s where women’s bodies were imprisoned in sumptuous, precious and rich corsets and yards and yards of cloth and lace. He began his creative journey by sewing clothes for his sister’s dolls as a child. But her creativity, her innovation, and her rebellion are frowned upon by a public still too attached to the trophy woman, to the woman swaddled in geometric inches of silk to clad stiff splints and ample crinolines. A woman who is austere and restricted in her movements.
Poiret desires for the woman freedom, lightness.
He immediately began his journey by learning his trade in the greatest Parisian tailors, trying a little at a time to revolutionize that world so anchored in the past and so much afraid of the future that was just around the corner. She began offering blazers and draped dresses (her forte) inspired by the Arab world with shimmering silk fabrics and precious embroidery. It was not a success. The women were bewildered
In the face of his boldness. By eliminating the splints the men would be able to see the shapes of their bodies and they still
Were not ready for this. It took years and much ingenuity for Poiret to come to be considered the revolutionary of his era. But the world was changing frantically, freedom was taking hold of creativity, and the new generation did not struggle to see in Poiret the advancing future.

 

The success was enormous. Poiret opened his brash atelier in central Paris. Large, bright and with huge windows. Unusual for the time where women locked themselves in small stores with half-hidden entrances to go and buy their clothes. With Poiret what was going on in his tailor shop was visible to everyone from the street. He was the first to conceive of the defilement. Mannequines wore his clothes
and walked down a catwalk for customers to see the fit of the draperies and the sumptuousness of those creations without any more constraints. Poiret began a traveling tour throughout Europe to introduce princesses and wealthy heiresses to the revolution of those dresses. If in art Picasso had broken all levees by conceiving t r i d i m e n – sionality, P o i r e t did so with fashion. But when a revolt
uction begins it is difficult to halt its process. Paul Poiret initiated the change by laying the foundations of fashion as we know it now: the dress conceived as an embellishment of the body, as a dream and as magic.
But in its wake others took advantage of the change that was now underway, and what had been a real social and costume revolution its fashion soon became old and boring. Coco Chanel was conquering Paris with her very comfortable, no-frills suits resting comfortably on women’s curves. He had imposed in his atelier the color black (a color that Poiret hated
deeply preferring it to bright colors) that reassured women, which immediately made Poiret go into oblivion.

Legend has it that Paul Poiret met Coco Chanel on the street and despising the black dress she was wearing asked her cynically, “Madame, why are you wearing a black dress? Are you by any chance in mourning for someone?” and Chanel, who had a good sniff of what was to happen shortly replied, “Oui, monsier. Pour Vous!”

From Alcoolique to Carla Carini “going through” social media

Interview with Campanian designer, who will be in charge of relaunching an Italian brand from the 1970s
Class of 1986, originally from Caserta, Rocco Adriano Galluccio, from early on demonstrated an innate passion for fashion. He began his career at the age of 16 working as a stylist and a few years later, following his experience in Bali, he decided to found his own brand “Alcoolique,” worn by national and international celebrities, later he does not miss TV with the program “Project Runway Italia,” until today, where he is very active on social media and was entrusted with the project of relaunching “Carla Carini.”

From your independent brand to a historic Italian fashion house, did you expect this?
Honestly, it has always been a dream of mine, but I definitely did not expect it in this particular historical period, it all happened quickly, although by now I have been working on the project for a few months already and I am really happy with it.

How do you experience the difference between your brand Alcoolique and the brand Carla Carini?
For me there is no difference, Alcoolique at the moment is focused on bijoux with a direct ONLINE distribution, for Carla Carini we will start with clothing, with worldwide distribution. But not many people know how fond I am of the Carla Carini brand : when I started as a kid to be a stylist much of my archive was just from the fashion house, as in the 1980s my mother was a super loyal customer, so I had recovered a number of garments that I used for my shoots and even back then I had my family tell me the whole story.

What do you do as creative director for Carla Carini?
I started from the interpretation of the brand identity and developed my personal vision by defining the whole story that will be told to the audience.
I have never left out the starting DNA of the brand, seeing it in a contemporary key, starting with the collection and going to the whole aesthetic of Carla Carini.
I always make it a point to put my beak on everything, to get the big picture and taking a lot from both myself and my collaborators.

How much does criticism influence your work?
Well … definitely you have to understand first of all who the criticism is coming from, whether it is (negative) constructive or just trying to destroy you for free.
In any case, as a general rule, I accept and listen to the advice of those who know more than I do in any field; I love criticism and sometimes it has helped me grow.

What is your favorite thing about your work?
I have to say that I like almost all the “parts” of the creative process… but by far my favorite moments are fabric selection and fitting.
The choice of fabrics because for me seeing and choosing them is like traveling, every time I touch one I imagine different worlds and what I could make.
Fitting because it is the precise moment when the designs become reality and the collection begins to take shape.

Of all the celebriets you have worked with, which one is your favorite?
Difficult question, also because for one reason or another I am connected to all of them, and for me every time is a surprise and I am honored, over the years the list has become long from Chiara Ferragni to international actresses such as Skai Jackson, passing through most of our women in show business, Noemi, Elodie, Francesca Michielin, Levante and Emma Marrone are just a few… but surely the biggest thrill was with Sarah Jessica Parker, I couldn’t believe it… and maybe still don’t believe it now!

You have a strong social presence, what are your thoughts on this?
I don’t hide the fact that I like anything that has to do with aesthetics, and for me that’s what Instagram is all about, getting a vision, one’s own language across, so it was pretty much a natural transition, I’m of the opinion that by now instagram is on par with linkedin–first you see the resume and then what a person posts.
I enjoy and enjoy social media, but over time I have learned when to put the phone down and enjoy things live.

Mario Dice refined and elegant is a designer who proudly represents the value of made in Italy internationally, classic futurist, dynamic and full of determination, today he is one of the examples of excellence of Italian fashion. His career is studded with educational experiences that have enriched him humanly and professionally.
In this exclusive interview, the designer talks about himself.

In the world of Fashion, you are one of the most appreciated Italian designers. You have collaborated with big names in fashion, what have they left you on a creative and human level?
Each of them in their own way helped the creative in me, to transform
one’s imagination into a job and to understand how best to make use of it by making it become concrete. On a human level as a person on the one hand I learned about the “dignity of work” on the other hand I realized how I would never I had to deal with the people who would one day have to work for me.
On the human level they had in common little respect for the “person.” What is the hallmark for your brand?
I think I can safely say “The Story of Experience.” It is perceived by those who choose one of our dresses. There are stories you have to feel them on your skin and then down into that unknown chest that holds our secrets so intangible because they are made of emotions, memories, experiences and intentions. These are stories that you have to feel taking root inside with their roots, you have to let them graft honestly to your nature, and then let them blossom out into an authentic tale told by the clothes, written in the language of fabrics shaped with fine hands, and workmanship so rich yet subtle that the skin decorates as they caress the soul .
Elegance for the woman in Mario Dice?
She is a strong and at the same time delicate woman “I have always had the utmost respect for women’s bodies but also for their heads.” The elegance of my collections stems from these two basic points. It is in this way that every woman who wears one of my dresses conveys her own elegance, creating and conveying herself in turn the elegance of Mario Dice.
In my woman you find my enthusiasm, my confidence, my ability to amaze myself before the world. Her transforming mine, in the collections you get that feeling of being at the beginning of every road, having all the possibilities in front of you.

How has the deep aesthetic of high fashion changed?
Haute Couture has changed, and has turned into a very Instagrammable showcase, of the lavish and creative craftsmanship, into an ode to the most extraordinary creations of designers, which in the industry have a ripple effect, influencing ready-to-wear and even fast-fashion collections.
Haute Couture is a territory of free expression, and it contributes to the construction of a brand image. The pandemic has revolutionized and changed the fashion system, with what consequences for made in Italy?
The ‘only big real consequence: not having learned anything from this you will continue to make the same mistakes that even before the virus were driving a well-constructed system into crisis. The real fashion pandemic is the system that makes it up.
The only consequence to was taking advantage of the problems of small businesses.
What do style, stars, sensibility represent to you?
Style is what educates my work, the most difficult thing to create sustain over time and carry on a dress. The “style,” recognizable, innovative is what creates a brand. Women who buy one of my dresses are the only Stars I follow.
Sensitivity is what makes me fragile, my Achilles’ heel in a world where being sensitive often doesn’t help, however, without it I wouldn’t be able to create a dream, only product.
Who did you say no to is why?
To be politically correct, I can’t name names but I can tell you that lately the naysayers are due to those who buy “brands” without even imagining that “fashion” is not a game but a job.
A fashion worldview that shifts to that today between e-commerce, digital fashion shows and sustainability. Your opinion on this?
Unfortunately, once again the fashion world is not united but individualistic. After so many phrases about seasons to be cancelled and collections not to be shown, nothing has changed. Are we talking about creating true collections born of creativity and of great quality? Now I pose a question. Where are they? Streaming parades are not staying working, even if the press driven by great planning will not admit it anytime soon. Fashion is created by too many emotional elements to become digital. A big milestone never before for us companies is e-commerce because it has helped us, not only in sales but in making us more aware of our product and those who buy it. Instead considered, however for me, a double-edged sword for multibrands, because they do not realize that their days are numbered if they do not change their system of buying and selling collections.
Sustainability? For now a utopia no company can guarantee that what it claims to be sustainable comes in at least 50 percent true.

What atmosphere does the new fall/winter 2021/22 collection plunge into?
“Sempre,” Gabriella Ferri’s seventh album, one of the most beautiful and intense memories in Italian musical history, becomes a collection, turning verses and stanzas into fabric to continue to tell emotions, between music and fashion.
“I worked trying to transfer on my clothes her feminine charge and her soul so special,” I imagined how and what this extraordinary artist would wear today to get on a stage or more simply to walk in the alleys of her beloved Rome.
She loved to dress in layers, mixing evening with daytime, using men’s jackets but always emphasizing the waist.
Among your brand news is the launch of a new e-commerce platform, would you like to tell us about that?
As I mentioned in the previous question, a great achievement because it gave us a way to understand how we are perceived by a wider audience, and this will definitely influence my next collections. We started with a few products about 30 and then expanded it over the years. As early as the next FW21 season, Mario Dice bags will be included.
Looking ahead, always and everywhere, with what perspective?
I think there is only one thing that a creative person in general should not lose, self-respect. Ours is a system that often forces you to deal with numbers and compromises that often lead you to forget that what a designer has to do is create, being free if within all the schemes.

 

 

“Haute Couture has changed, and has turned into a very Instagrammable showcase, of the lavish and creative craftsmanship, into an ode to the most extraordinary creations of designers, which in the industry have a ripple effect, influencing ready-to-wear and even fast-fashion collections.”