Meeting the Man behind the furs

Vladimiros Logo is purple and yellow 

simply because he liked those colors together.

  

   From the very start of this study abroad experience, putting together a fashion show for Vadimiro Gioia  was the first project that was given.   From the time of working on these projects back at school, and my first week in Milan, I was very eager to meet him and it was one of the most exciting parts of this trip for me.   Today, we were all finally introduced to Vladimiro Gioia and learned more about him, his line, his inspirations, his muse, and were able to see sketches of his Spring 2012 collection as well as the textiles for it.       Vladimiro Gioia's factory is located in Lake Cuomo, in a family neighborhood.  The location of his factory is the last place you would think to find a fashion designer working on his collection.  
 Vladimiro describes his brand as different, luxurious and new, catering to the target market of 30 year old well established women.   He loves to mix materials together and loves to use colors, not just black.  His work is a mix of luxury and street wear; night and day outfits.   It was very unfortunate to find that the price of one of his unique fur coats, was the price of a car when converted to dollars.   :( 
    Vladimiros Fall/Winter 2011  fashion show is what we (JWU study abroad) will be working on.   

His theme for his collection is Africa.  He chose this theme he says because of the 
“freedom and colors” of Africa and their culture.  In the process of determining his color palette, Vladamir starts from 2 colors and from those 2 colors he creates the other ones.  He does not follow trends such as the worldwide pantone color palette, because he designs what he likes, which shows his confidence in his artistic expression through design.  This also demonstrates that he has a true connection with his target market, enough so that he can predict what they will like, without following the trends.  I thought this was a great asset to have as a designer, because he is producing different colors, textures and silhouettes that are unique next to other designers that do follow the trends of the season. 

 Thus far, we have made his shopping bag and his garment bag.  Our ideas have been considered for his fashion show, such as the backdrop, the music, invitations, hair and makeup for the models etc.    Vladimiro Gioia’s fashion show is a very important part of this trip for all of us, so meeting him today gave me a better understanding of his style and his expectations of the outcome of his show, from the questions we asked today. 

          There are 45 pieces to Vladimiro's collection. Since he is a luxury brand, his products are made to order, not mass produced like we are familiar with in America, they are one of a kind pieces.   Vladimiro  did not go to school for fashion design, it was a gift he had, and was something that he learned and was taught at a young age, since his family was in the textile/ production industry.   He officially began designing at age 19 with a very important designer in Italy.    For him, creating the garment is the most difficult part of the process in making a collection, and not the sketch.  Vladamiro said that this is difficult because you must think about fabric and how much you can use, there is not much room for error. It is easy to have inspiration he says, but you have to think about the technical meeting of what he wants and what works. 


      Maria discussed a little bit of how the fashion show will be.  After the show there will be a cocktail party that we will all attend as well as the Italian fashion press.  At this cocktail party Vladimiro's new website will be released.  
     
      Using his inspiration for motivation from his favorite designers Karl Lagerfeld for his ability to produce great quality clothing  and Gianni Versace, for his introduction of a new way to design with color and edginess.   It is a future project for him to expand to men’s wear, possibly for Fall 2014.  Another goal of his is to be known as a brand who presents a beautiful luxury brand image not necessarily world wide, but the important shopping areas.   My excitement grew from seeing the garments and fabrics in person, and seeing the pictures from his look book, I know that the experience and hard work of creating a fashion show for a designer of this high standard will be a monumental event in my fashion career.