FASHION EXPERT Damiano Biella
February 12th last year celebrated the 70th anniversary of the first Giovanni Battista Giorgini show in Florence, which marked the beginning of a long history of “made in Italy” fashion.
This is a story of great global success, to which Damiano Biella has also made a great contribution during thirty years of his career, having since 2019 occupied the position of the Creative
Director of Luisa Spagnoli, who was among the first to represent and spread the Italian style. Milan is the last destination of a rich career path that Biella took from an early age, having worked
in Paris, New York, Rome, Monaco, Florence, Singapore and Barcelona, and having always been at the head of the “creative” department of some of the most famous brands in the worldwide luxury.
“I am proud to have been able to display “made in Italy” beyond the limits of national borders,” - he tells us, recalling his most significant experience. "I think "made in Italy" to be a passion, a method of work and ability to translate into reality ideas and visions that can turn into successful production processes. Years spent in New York with Carolina Herrera convinced me that Italy can play an even more significant role in the fashion industry from the point of view of creativity, manufactories, fabrics, and I was proud to have accepted an offer from the brand involving a new position, thanks to
which I had an opportunity to develop Italian production in such a vast and varied market as
American".
Biella enthusiastically remembers cooperation with the world of culture and entertainment. In particular, we are talking about his close friendship with a very popular opera singer Anna Netrebko, who, according to him, “in many cases chose dresses that were created during the period of
Biella's collaboration with Escada“. I immediately began to admire her elegance, neatness and taste for beauty. Her femininity, Biella continues, has always inspired me, aroused curiosity about the Russian world, its traditions, folklore, bright colors and culture of the country that I still
have not visited, but in which I have an extraordinary interest.
A memory that still evokes a storm of emotions in him - Biella told us - there was a day when he, still very young, crossed the threshold of the Palazzo Mignanelli in Rome in 2003 to start his collaboration with Valentino, which lasted for three years. It was the ultimate dream of a child who has been drawing sketches since the age of seven, inspired by the outfits at the shows of the Roman fashion house, which were shown on television at the time during high fashion days in the capital.
Over time, I learned to perceive creativity as joy and freedom, considering it the engine of my whole life, not only profession. My inseparable companions are always with me – a blank sheet of paper, a pencil and paints, I'm always on the constant lookout for experimentation; I like to stop at
details and observe everything that happens around me: how people talk to each other, how they communicate, how they move. I collect ideas together with information. I accept challenges, every collaboration started with a blank sheet of paper - says Biella. Based on my professional experience, I choose companies with their own interesting history, which I personally really want to explore. "Only going deeper into the past, the future can be understood, and, so you can innovate, rebuild
and change the creative components of the brand. Repeatedly I was lucky enough to do this."
Damiano Biella claims he fits perfectly into the Luisa Spagnoli modern trends, the origin of which he really admires (“the story of a woman for women”), who worries about the strength of her past, about the foresight of the present and about future ambitions. He calls himself enthusiastic and reliable - qualities that, along with many years of experience in the fashion industry, according to him, were most likely to have convinced the famous Italian brand to choose him. Biella is now ready to keep on making contribution to the projects that are being carried out in this difficult period of social change. It is nowadays unthinkable of to discard adaptation of your world to the new daily life, the stylist says. Our life has changed significantly, and in a way, it will no longer be what it was before; observing, studying and assessing the needs of each of us will help us re-qualify the market of goods and services supply. You will no longer depend on digital technologies and their consequences regarding the means and timing of communication and business processes. And yet, it is unthinkable of not to consider a whole generation of consumers who, with inconceivable faith pursue new values and care very much about the protection of environment and it’s sustainability. This is about themes - which, says Biella with conviction, are intended for further development and which certainly will not just disappear like a passing trend. Stylists should analyze and value them in order provide orientation for a new creative process.
Looking to the future, the emergence of my own clothing line “Damiano Biella” is not my priority, says the Italian fashion designer. He does not rule it out but prefers to keep dreaming through creating "beautiful things" and not only clothes. It does not matter, if the brand bears his name or someone else’s. Among some points on Biella’s wish list are: a return to Paris to live in the French capital, with a huge professional experience after he made the first steps up the career ladder as a young man in his twenties; then Biella seeks to obtain professional experience in London, where he has never worked before; finally, after so many faces in the entertainment, culture and cinema world, the Italian fashion designer aims to dress a woman at a political summit of a large country or a large international institution.