Mr. Malkovich has developed his new range at the “Rami” design studio in Prato and will present it at the White in Milan.
Can you tell me what’s so special for you about making fashion in Italy?
“I think that, from the aspect of clothing manufacture, Italy is a fulcrum of explosive creativity in constant expansion. My Italian collaborators have a sense of, how can I put it? chaotic precision, which is fundamental to the materialisation of the ideas I have in my head when I set out to design clothes. Riccardo Rami has become an extremely valid ally, and his new range of clothing will be launched in Milan along with my own.”
From what imaginative source have you drawn your ideas for creating this new fashion collection?
“The inspiration is the appearance of a bohemian of the new millennium. I felt that it was necessary to update the figure of the bohemian, but not in the classical manner; that is, it was necessary to bring the bohemian up to date and make him into a cosmopolitan perfectly integrated in the technological world that we now live in. The name of the new range – which will only be revealed at the White on 21st June next - draws both on the bohemian imagination and on the cosmopolitan and technological theme. The name comes from a phrase I read in an as yet unpublished Italian novel.”
How do you express your creativity when you design clothes?
“I believe that all forms of creativity go through a process of incessant growth during which their capacities for expression and for keeping pace with the times are gradually refined. In this sense my clothes are the product of a maturing that is reflected in the choice of the fabrics and the shapes that I have chosen to experiment to dress the new bohemian.”
As we know, your range is part of a broader cultural project which is aimed at exporting a r-evolutionary lifestyle all over the world.
How do you translate this project in your own life?
“I simply try to live my life as someone devoted to the attempted creation of beauty, or to the encouragement of it, wherever or whenever I happen upon it.
Together with the designer Riccardo Rami and another two Italian partners, our intention is to suggest a different approach to the quality of life from that proposed by the dominant ideology. Our principal aim is to promote ‘the beautiful’ in all its expressions. We are organising ourselves to bring about a new form of patronage and to trigger processes of change that with time will be reflected in the daily lives of every individual.”
In the new fashion collection what imprint is there of John Malkovich the actor?
“There’s a strong correlation between the profession of designer and that of the actor, who takes on a different role every time, transforming himself. I like experimenting with transformation even in the clothes I design; at bottom every transformation is a confirmation of the fact that we are constantly being born.”
I’m in Prato, in Riccardo Rami’s studio. He ushers me into an armchair of the type you find on an airplane. I look down and I notice that the floor is transparent. Running beneath us is a rivulet of water that spouts forth from a large dark stone fountain behind me. All we need now is for a gondola to appear fluttering in the air.
Riccardo, how old were you when you started designing clothes?
“My father was a weaver, and my mother worked in a spinning-mill. From when I was little I inhabited a world made of fabrics and textiles. Even now, it’s enough for me to breathe the smell of woollen cloth and, like Proust with the madeleine, I immediately go back in my mind to those afternoons when I came home from school and lost myself in that world made of fabrics and looms. For me it was like a magical world where my imagination could run riot. Then I met Angelo Forchione, a tailor who came from Naples but lived and worked in Prato, and thanks to him I began to discover all those secrets that are concealed behind the folds of a garment. I was 18 years old when I began designing and making my first clothes.”
Riccardo tells me about the early days of his career as a stylist, and as he does so he genuinely seems to be enthralled by a dream world that only he can see.
How important was the role of fantasy in the creation of this latest collection of yours?
“I believe that in the sphere of design and fashion, fantasy is rather like a calling-card. It’s hard to succeed in making clothes unless you draw on the imaginative world which is somewhere around us. As I see it, clothes that are made without drawing on the imagination are sterile and lacking in equilibrium. In my latest collection I have sought above all to follow my personal vision of harmony and balance of forms, clearly drawing first and foremost on fantasy.”
In your work as a designer how do you manage to decipher the taste and harmony of one of your creations?
“Over the many years I’ve been working in this field I’ve devised a sort of yardstick of taste that enables me to gauge the harmony or disorder of every garment. For apparel I try first to find a fabric that stimulates my aesthetic taste, and then on the basis of the print I design the garment, so that I can achieve a creation that satisfies me. During my travels to China, Japan, Turkey and India I have the chance to find very nice fabrics, materials and colors.”
And what was the yardstick of taste that inspired the creation of your SS 2010 fashion collection?
“The meeting with Mr Bianconi, who produces my collection and is a lover of the fabrics of yesteryear, enabled me to choose the types of cloth normally used to make shirts; applying my yardstick of taste to my imagination, I then used them to create my new collection, coming up with results that surprised even me.”
Who is the man that will wear the new Riccardo Rami collection?
“A man who lives his life as if it were a work of art and seeks to integrate the beauty of life, investing first and foremost in quality.”
What do you expect from the launch of the range?
“That it may have a supernatural power!” quips Riccardo “But, joking aside, I genuinely hope that this new collection may really be capable of enhancing the psycho-physical state of every person because there is a little bit of magic stitched into each garment.”
The illusion is complete, and we can’t wait to be swept up in the conjuring trick of Riccardo Rami’s new collection at the Papaveri showroom in Milan on 21 June next.