sergio-daricello

Sergio Daricello… Stubborn, determined, a dreamer. Lover of art, in every forms. An immense love for, as he likes to call it, La Reine (Marie Antoinette of France). Graduated at Istituto Marangoni. The first menswear designer for Versus and Versace jeans, now Giuliano Fujiwara’s head designer. His sophisticated flavor, authentic Made in Italy, merges with clean lines, minimal-Eastern that have always characterized the brand Japanese-Milanese… It’s a success! The debut in June with the 2013 S/S Men’s Collection inspired by the star of the cult movie Cruel Intentions, Sebastian Valmont. The one that he will present on January 12 during the MMFW is instead still to be discovered … White shirt, sneakers and leather jacket: the items that should not lack in your wardrobe… but let’s know him better!

 

Fucking Young! Sergio Daricello. Young, very young and already with a long professional experience. Versus, Etro, Versace, Dolce&Gabbana… When and how did you know to have been chosen as chief creative officer of the Japanese-Milanese brand Giuliano Fujiwara?

Sergio Daricello – Young? Uhm not so young not so old! Well, I had some meetings with the brand before being confirmed, it was in March, and they called me one Sunday when I was out of Milan barbecuing with some friends. When they called me I had to leave everyone and run as faster as possible to be in time at the Giuliano Fujiwara’s head quarter.

 

FY – You’re from Palermo. For many years you have collaborated with two brands (Versace and Dolce&Gabbana) which of that opulent, baroque taste typical of southern Italy have made, in their own way, a distinctive trait… How do you combine your background with the more conceptual and clean lines characterizing Fujiwara?

SD – Well it’s true, I am Sicilian and I spent these last great years working for wonderful brands with the best designers ever, where I breathed the fashion taste that comes from the south, but I would love to say something about fashion design, it always happens that everyone thinks that you have the same taste of the brands you work or worked for… I think it’s not correct, when you are a designer, I think, you interpret your own way, so even if you are minimal, you are able to make something richer, and vice versa. It would be so boring if you were always the same, if you always had the same direction, we should remember that things change, and a designer can evolve too… I studied the past collections by G.Fujiwara a lot and with the coming collection I hope I will be able to propose my own interpretation of the minimalism, but for sure I will bring something from my past… it’s inevitable, I think.

 

FY – When was your love for fashion born?

SD – My love for fashion is something that comes from my love for Art, costumes, theater, people, so I think this love was born with me, but the will to be a designer came out when I was an adolescent, thanks to a very close friend of mine, there was a challenge between us every day, the challenge to draw the most beautiful dress. It’s thanks to her that I realized I would have loved to be a fashion designer. And thanks to this dream I found the strength to follow this love. I would definitely call it love, passion and sacrifices, war and peace…

 

FY – Fashion today (the men’s one). What’s it? How has it changed from the past?

SD – Hard question… Before answering we should talk about the period we’re living in, the crisis involves every branch of life, and men’s fashion generally follows the “zeitgeist” even more; the “uncertainity” of this period is influencing the market and the global taste a lot… we are tied between two forces, should we defy the crisis with something brought to the excess? Or should we decide to follow more the commercial needs? It’s the hardest choice for a fashion designer. Now, as everyone can see, simplicity is running faster on the catwalks, and sometimes it’s boring, I would love to see something happier that doesn’t bend to the commercial needs, something that recalls freedom! But now, I am afraid it’s not the right time. So men’s fashion today is something that has to respect the moment but always being loyal to what you have inside… but please never take for granted we don’t have to be more… and above all for men, never forget detail and good taste.

 

FY – You are a young designer, an emerging one, we could say. How hard is to establish yourself both in Italy and abroad in this period? What difficulties have you encountered (if you’ve encountered any) in your way? What advice would you give to those who are spreading their wings just now?

SD – When I was a student I had to work at night in bars etc. etc. to pay the school fee (it was very high!) and the rental. I was alone and I didn’t use to live with my family… I would have loved to have the good time my young friends had but I had to study hard in the spare time to succeed. Unfortunately here in Italy young people are not helped in the right way and emerging is becoming very hard! All I could ask for is that there should be more chances for young talents to become someone, to have the support to found their own companies, it could give both a new life to fashion and to the business world and more job opportunities too! New fresh air at last, but it’s still a dream… Young people and fashion are underestimated. I feel inside the strength to fight and go on, always believing in my dreams and of course trusting the people all around me… My advice is “a dream can come true, the most important thing is: never give up!”.

 

FY – What about your relationship with the press and, more generally, with the new generation’s media? How much do these contribute to the success of a collection?

SD – It is quite good. I love reading everywhere: magazines, newspapers and the internet. Internet and social networks are the new frontier we should discover more and more, they represents the future, our future. Bloggers and journalists have a greater and greater influence… Something is changing, in the past the rules came from the press top management to the bottom, now I think that a blogger’s needs should be taken into account by the fashion editors. When we reach a balance between the two there will be something great, I hope…

 

FY – Who is the Sergio Daricello’s man and who, instead, the Giuliano Fujiwara’s one?

SD – I think my man is a well-balanced one able to dare when  the right moment comes… I think he’s sexy, he’s a rocker… I think he’s someone who takes life from its best. The original G.F.’s man is a bit more mature, very sophisticated but over the years he changed becoming younger and edgy. I think now the street we’re walking on is between the two past directions, always considering the high quality of the product… All made exclusively in Italy by Italian manufactures.

 

FY – By drawing your inspiration for 2013 S/S  from Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe), star of the cult movie Cruel Intentions, you introduced a rock, metropolitan and even romantically elegant man…. What can we expect for the 2013/14 F/W? What is your new inspiration?

SD – For my first collection, as you can understand, I faced a time racing but, for the forthcoming collection, I have had the time to analyze the roots of the brand, its history, and I have wanted to make a connection between the past and the future. I always bring something rock and sexier but the atmospheres for this collection are darker. I realized my dream to make a collection with dark colors, where the black is the emperor.

 

FY – The essential garment or accessory in your closet? Instead, what’s the item that every 2013’s man shouldn’t lack?

SD – Sneakers, white shirt, round neck sweater, black jacket and leather jacket.  For the 2013’s men…The coats I have created for the coming collection!

 

FY – Is there a designer who you draw inspiration from or that you like more than the others?

SD – There are some designers I always look at with great admiration… French brands are very good for me but also some Italian one… Please don’t let me say any name!

 

FY – Surfing here and there the internet I came across some of your drawings… The art together with the cinema – not to mention one of the most famous pop icons of the recent years, the Queen Marie Antoinette – are your passions… How and how much have these elements affected, and affect, your work?

SD – Art, painting, drawings, restoration, movies… They create worlds and, of course, these worlds are the keys for my inspiration. Culture is a place where you can find a lot of sources. Mrs D.Versace have taught to me a new way of studying and loving art, she offered me the key to look at art from another point of view. Mr Dolce made me able to study old Italian movies to understand a precise taste. So now I find my own references in  the books I have read, in the movies I have seen, in the exhibits I visited… inspiration come from a “never-ending new comeback”.

 

At this point of my life La Reine is not yet the inspiration for my collections, for me she’s not a pop icon… She was a woman and, even if she was “cool”,  for me she is something more than fashion… It’s a passion I have since I was a little child and I was fascinated from the sadness involving this figure. I respect this historical character and, with a fashion collection, I am afraid to reduce the importance she has. But I am studying the way to do something linked to her… We’ll see.

FY –  How do you see yourself in ten years?

SD I would love to see me in a big office, drawing, cutting fabrics for… …my own brand, with all the people I trust in that I met in these years.

 

FY Your motto?

SD – Dreams are created to be either destroyed or realized; destroy the ones you don’t really care, and fight and do the possible to achieve all the rest. Always remembering that when someone says he’s doing the possible, it’s likely that he’s underestimating himself!

 

Thank you very much