Interview-with-Emiliano-Laszlo_fy0

“Ichinen iwa omo toosu”.

Willpower also crosses the rocks… Nothing is more true, in some cases. The famous Japanese aphorism helps us to introduce a guest who draws strength and inspiration just from Japan, both in his life and at work.

The Italian Emiliano Laszlo founds Studiopretzel in 2011. The brand – at the beginning a communication hub – combine the irony of a pop-cultural name with a minimalist, plainly aesthetics. A clever dichotomy revealed in the brand symbol: a chubby and smiling pretzel divided into the rigor of its Teutonic origins and the explosive investiture as a made in USA street-icon. Authentically made in Tuscany, Studiopretzel instead makes the zero kilometre food concept its own by using and turning it into an added value in the handmade fashion system. The brand mixes respect for the tradition and nonconventional taste. The silhouettes are loose. The original and classic items are of a contemporary classical nature.

Emiliano arrives at fashion just the same as the majority of the youth today lands at that sure harbor which is a realized dream: through rough and underhand ways. He grabbles with cinema, theatre, photography and sport (he’s a jiu jitsu trainer). Each of these passions is in his creations. They’re molded, reinvented at the service of a fruitful, consistent and concrete mind. The consecration is not late. In 2014 he’s among the finalists of the prestigious contest Who is on next?. The same year he models during the Zurich Fashion Week.

For the F/W 2015-16 he dives in the Pacific Ocean and from the Japanese coasts he swims to the Chinese ones.

He goes along with an even deeper spiritual need and the Black and White Collection is rife with the Ying and the Yang: two opposite but not separate entities defining each other. Two subjects that in a continuous exchange can relate to, go one towards and completing each other, like the shady side of the mountain which complements the sunny one. And all this mirrors the continuous exchange of clothes and tones between him and her, an easy and flexible fit, a true way of replacing the idea of two wardrobes, merging them together.

 

Fucking Young! – Hello Emiliano! How are you? In 2011, you found Studiopretzel: first a communication study, then a brand with a minimalist concept that mixes innovation and Italian sartorial tradition. How did you get there?

Emiliano Laszlo – Actually, the step was short. As a communications hub, Studiopretzel followed some of the events linked to fashion and, already in the past, it crossed my path through photography.
But it was the logo that gave me the initial push. It seemed to me a so much impact one that I decided to print it on the t-shirts.

 

FY! – One question this one that you have probably been asked dozens of times but that I must ask you. Why Studiopretzel?

EL – The name Studiopretzel comes from the desire to combine two aspects, the playful and the serious ones. The pretzel is definitely part of the first sphere, a symbol of joy and fun that reminds me so much of a smile. Instead, I liked the word studio because it is the place where things are created, from photography to architecture. So, the intent was to play down the work “seriousness”.

 

FY! – The pretzel, just like the hot dog, is a symbol of New York. However, you reference reminds more of its transalpine origins. Indeed, it is in Switzerland that the brand takes shape by parading for the first time last November during the Zurich Fashion Week. Why this choice?

EL – Indeed, for me the pretzel represents Germany and has therefore little to do with the Tuscan craftsmanship and my enthusiasm about the East.
Switzerland actually supported me by promoting my show in Zurich thanks to the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, the IMG and my agency, the P. Comunicazione.
Here, the combination of these realities allowed me to be supported and produced from the start till the end for my exciting debut on the runway.

 

FY! – Yours is a type of fashion that we could define “at km 0”, made in Tuscany. It is a philosophy of life that has even become, to some extent, your trump card. What are the difficulties and the advantages of an inside production in this historic moment?

EL – The “local” product, as they like to call it, is an important reality for the territory. It is a source of income and exchange and it helps those individuals who, starting from a handmade base, compare with different aspects – such as a certain type of fashion – to grow.
The weapon is a winning but a double-edged one. I mean that the foreign countries are definitely more sensitive – both culturally and economically – to this way of thinking while Italy, big fan of anything outer, prefers the exotic and this is a mindset more difficult to be scratched.
I think that, in the long run, a strong localization pays you back: even if the quality and the so-called heritage behind the production are more expensive, they are eternal as well.

 

FY! – We mentioned Italy, Switzerland, United States but, actually, the brand is strongly linked to an Eastern, aesthetics, namely a Japanese one: basic, comfortable, precise. What is the link with the country of the Rising Sun? And what, in your clothes, the connection between Tuscany and Japan?

EL – The relationship with the East, namely Japan, has always been strongly present in my life. As a child through the cartoons, as an adult through the martial arts and the Shintoism. I attended Japanese friends. I came and visited their country and I immediately felt so influenced that I endured it in my daily life, not just in what I do.
Let’s say that in my view the attention to detail or particular fabric adapts to a baggy, relaxed, less usual wearability. The result is a world interpreted as a comfortable, casual\sporty fashion that winks at the kimono and jiu-jitsu jackets and at the same time well represents the Eastern men’s elegance.

 

FY! – With an adjective, how would you define your style?

EL – Easy to wear.

 

FY! – Last June you were among the finalists of Who is on next?, the prestigious contest sponsored by Vogue Italia and Fondazione Pitti. How do you feel today about that experience and what has it represented for you?

EL – To be one of the finalists was beautiful for the first 5 minutes but it also represented an important point from which to start with new incitements.

 

FY! – Let’s talk about Rushmore by Wes Anderson: a cult-comedy from which you get inspired for your S/S15.
In fact, Studiopretzel Society – the competing Competition – tells of an imaginary group of people, devourers of life. They like different disciplines and this is the reason why they divide into clubs. They wear uniforms, each with its own emblem: that of the sailing, that of the young explorers, that of the jujitsu (your big passion). Would you want to tell us about?

EL – Studiopretzel Society was definitely the funniest-to-create collection. The sources of inspiration were a lot but I did not want to take the risk of copying. The clubs in which I divided my hypothetical society represented disciplines which I was experienced in.
It was important to include real aspects of my life. Let’s say that the sense of the collection was a declaration of individuality and belonging in front of the world.

 

FY! – Black and White is the name of your F/W15-16. Simple but with a high-impact, the Collection is like a continuous exchange of clothes and tones between him and her, an easy and flexible fit, a true way of replacing the idea of two wardrobes by merging them together. What can you add?

EL – The initial idea at the basis of the collection was just the interaction between the male and female aspects and the representation of their basic difference anyway involved in a continuous exchange. From here the colors, white and black, which easily synthesize the synergy and the different affinity.
The unisex theme is always present in my collections: it is subtle and not so obvious as it could seem.
The real challenge for me is to find a type of wearability that can make, through the same size the same item, a man confident and a woman sexy.

 

FY! – The most representative item?

EL – The baggy pants with the suspenders in the strap. They must be worn this way, with either a white shirt or a t-shirt; you cannot tighten or shorten them.

 

FY! – Your path to get to fashion is incredible. You passed throughout cinema, theater, photography… A movie, a pièce, a photo to tell us Studiopretzel then.

EL – Certainly, anytime I search for inspiration, my first thoughts go to a whatever Wong Kar-Wai’s movie title.

 

FY! – What could you never give up in your life?

EL – Love, in the end, is the most important thing.

 

FY! – Now, as usual, our last question. For you, what is really FUCKING YOUNG!?

EL – For me, to be FUCKING YOUNG! means to pursue your own passions. Not necessarily just one but you should get overwhelmed and follow the ‘flou’.

 

Take a look below at Studiopretzel’s FW15 Collection:

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