Fashion Design - IED Alumni interview: Italo Marseglia
In a nutshell
- IED Roma
- Fashion Design - 2012
- Founder and Creative Director at Italo Marseglia
Who
Italo Marseglia was born and raised in Southern Italy.
He has always been in love with fashion and beauty, and attended scientific studies until high school. Mathematics, logic and methodology become the foundations of his creative self. Still very young, he moved to Rome to attend the three-year degree in Fashion Design at IED. He began his professional career within Roman Couture working as a style consultant for many companies: working in p-à-p and taylor made through private and public companies.
What
“I am a multifaceted and eclectic designer. I have a background as a fashion designer but I have never set limits on the expression of creativity. I have followed different projects that go beyond clothes, which often take into account technical and logistical solutions rather than artistic ones. In March 2016, thanks to the work experiences that have marked my career increasing my transversal skills, I founded my own label. Today the Italo Marseglia brand is recogniezd as one of the most creative and interesting emerging brands for the relentless search for precious materials in the high-end upcycling field “
Where
"I was born in Vairano Patenora, between Naples and Rome, in a rural context that has always made big cities seem like a dream, but also made me aware of the rhythms and needs of nature. My home town has left a deep imprint on what I do today because I like to the idea of preserving that part of the world even if I don't live there anymore. I moved to Rome at the age of 19 where I attended the three-year IED degree in "Fashion design", completing my studies with honours in 2012. Today I am very happy to live in Rome and to enjoy the atmosphere and history of our capital city. I have been working as a consultant for the Colosseum Archaeological Park for 3 years ".
Why
I have been lucky enough to work on many projects throughout my career so far. I actively collaborate with institutions and private companies. The most formative project I have followed is to start my own label, wanting to become a pioneer and innovate. I started looking for upcycling solutions when in Italy it wasn’t yet known; I wanted to produce my own materials and find alternative approaches. I think it is also the project that made me stand out and today gives me greater visibility.
During 2020, from the lockdown period experienced in full pandemic, I was able to define the MADEINITALO with a personal reflection on "Made in Italy" that brings me back to my mission: to enhance the savoir-faire of Italian craftsmanship and the use of quality high materials, coming from certified supply chains. However, #madeinitalo takes a step beyond: I have chosen to create products that combine the characteristics of Made in Italy with the requirements of environmental sustainability, the result of an enlarged "uptodate" network, which geographical boundaries in the pursuit of excellence, to obtain something attributable only to me (such as materials, patchwork of French lace scraps, and salmon skin from Iceland used in previous collections). I think it is this mission, brought forward with strenuous professionalism and a touch of irony, for which I am better know.
How
Although I have always been in love with Italian high fashion and dreamed of becoming part of the world of Roman couture, my beginnings made me realise that creatively I needed fast rhythms and dynamic projects. My first work experiences were effective in making me understand what were the things I loved and the things I didn't want to do. This is how I started my career as a freelance, which helped me a lot by increasing my transversal skills beyond just the creative ones. I had the opportunity to work in Italy, Europe and beyond, and this taught me to deal with different cultures, learning a lot. I believe this multifaceted path has formed me as a complete professional and has given me the right skills to become a leading designer of the time that lives: we are called to be multifaceted! We cannot think of our career as a straight line because the current period has too many sudden changes. We must embrace the concept of resilience and mutability!
Hollywood sul Tevere “Hollywood on the Tiber” is now one of IED Alumni Experiences. Tell us how the idea came about, how you chose to share it with the IED Alumni community and, if you want, some trivia or background?
I grew up with the myth of Rome and the glossy images of international models parading surrounded by its monuments. This made my interest and curiosity grow. As with my passion for cinema, this interest led me to discover “Hollywood on the Tiber”: that historical period in which Hollywood productions moved to Rome and were filmed in Cinecittà. International divas frequented Roman ateliers, making them and their tailors a beacon of elegance for the international jet-set with names such as Fernanda Gattinoni, Sorelle Fontana, Irene Galitzine, Roberto Capucci and many others.
The most famous scenes had stars such as Hepburn on a Vespa in Roman Holidays which starts from Via Margutta, and Anita Ekberg who calls in a loud voice "Marcello" from the Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita.
It is also important to underline how the combination of fashion and cinema began thanks to one of the most famous names among roman tailors, like Maria De Matteis, for the costumes of the 1956 film "War and Peace" (by King Vidor) with Audrey Hepburn, and Fernanda Gattinoni for the creation of the Empire-style costumes, marking the beginning of what will be one of the most flourishing of history: between fashion and the art of acting.
We are lucky because Rome still retains many of these jewels and there is the opportunity to experience and admire them. I love to share these stories with my colleagues.
