"SHARING MY EXPERIENCE"

My ongoing collaboration as a professor with the Academy of Fashion and Costume in Rome, through the Master's program in Fabrics for Haute Couture, has been a regular and stimulating experience over the years. This program is aimed at young graduates who wish to enhance or deepen their cultural and professional training in this very specific sector of the fashion industry, an intensive study path both theoretical and practical involving research and operational laboratory work, with the ultimate goal of pursuing a career as a Designer in the creative studios of Haute Couture ateliers and leading Prêt-à-Porter companies.

The Master classes I hold at the Accademia are a significant commitment but also a great source of inspiration. I see them as both an ethical duty and a responsibility towards the new generations, to whom I wish to pass on my experience and knowledge in this field. The lessons are an important opportunity for an exchange and a dialogue between myself and the students. Engaging with their freshness, their constantly evolving world and their incessant pursuit of knowledge is a formidable and mutually beneficial experience. We live in a time of great accelerations, where staying updated is fast-paced and constant. The younger generations offer an external perspective and a direct link to the current trends. It is my task, as a professional in the field, to filter and channel this wealth of information into projects that can actually materialize into real high fashion products.

The students embody and express their idealistic dream of approaching the subject matter. They live the enthusiasm of their own dreams, infused with wonder and curiosity. My contribution is to provide them with a targeted perspective, filtered and condensed through my thirty years of experience in this field. I view my teaching as indispensable because I show them that there truly is a form, a substance, a tangibility to Beauty. Observing, studying, and reading a fabric, understanding its essence, is to realize that dream and give shape to the aspirations of these young creatives. They, who are so accustomed to a predominantly virtual approach, finally have the opportunity to bring their own ideas to life and tangibly experience them.

Understanding the fabric allows them to materialize their own garment ideas, comprehend the differences in quality, and recognize potentials or limitations. As the courses are also open to foreign students, the exchange becomes even more important, with new and diverse inputs, contributions from different fields and distant cultures, along with fresh perspectives and new languages.

What I wish through my teaching and find absolutely fascinating, is for my students to learn to recognize the sound of silk, taffeta, gauze, organza...the unmistakable notes of fabric...the sound of opulence, of luxury, that unique sensory experience that fabric conveys. The bond I create with some of my students, which often persists even after the lessons end, gives me great satisfaction. Being a link and a point of reference for them in the various stages of their growth in this field, often encountering them in fashion houses or through their careers, is a renewed stimulus to continue on this path.