Italian designer creates for Chinese women
By Caterina Bernardini |
April 13, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MARCO Galluzzi is a 40-year-old Italian fashion designer who thought fashion was going in the wrong direction because designers didn't dare take chances.
He did take a chance in Shanghai and the Marco Galluzzi label today has an overwhelming Chinese following.
Three years ago, he opened a shop in Shanghai, but he studied and worked in fashion since he was a teenager.
Galluzzi comes from a very small Italian town, Fabbrica di Peccioli near Pisa in Tuscany. He attended a famous private fashion school in Empoli, another Tuscan town. There he learned to design, cut, sew and do everything else.
In 1989 he designed his first women's collection and he did his first runway show: simple stuff for a small audience.
He also volunteered as a model for classmates, a small act of kindness that paid off. A cameraman from a national television network filmed the show and Galluzzi was spotted by Carlo Pignatelli, a very famous wedding dress designer who wanted him for his advertisement video.
The video was a great success and big fashion names such as Versace, Armani and Valentino wanted him to model at their shows.
That's how Marco Galluzzi's modeling career began. But that was just a small interlude. His dream was not being a model but to design what models wore and he refused an offer from l'Oreal.
As any Italian guy in the 1990s, Marco did his military service. Then he found a job as a model maker's assistant in an Italian fashion company, Apllausi, which soon sent him to the East: India, Pakistan, Laos, Vietnam and finally China.
"I really love to travel, even if it's for work, because in that way you can really capture the land and its tradition," he told Shanghai Daily.
After years of working for other people and growing his own skills, he struck out on his own and chose Shanghai, where he has lived for almost six years.
He wanted to do something new. In 2009 he created his own brand because fashion was heading in the wrong direction, in his view.
"During the 90s the big designers used to make new stuff and had no fear of doing something new. Now nobody dares," he said.
So he started with the idea of being an "undertow," an subsea current that pulls people in, designing whatever he liked. He doesn't follow trends, just his instincts.
"I create my clothes in my mind, I design what I like in that moment, without thinking about selling; it should start another fashion cycle, I take all the risks," he said.
His style is very simple, almost minimalist, but Galluzzi likes to use colors and play on fabric patterns. His clothes work for everyday, but for special occasions he uses materials suiting any woman.
Good news for Asian women. He creates sizes to fit Chinese women, who represent 95 percent of his customers.
Thanks to his many years in the city and to word of mouth, he has created his own Chinese market. Being Italian is a great plus and a guarantee for Chinese women who like Italian style and trust his taste.
At first he did just two or three pieces for each item, standard practice for a boutique, but now he makes more to meet demand.
He has one boutique in Shanghai and plans to open others in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and in Shenzhen, Guangzhou Province.
Some Chinese companies invest in his work, enabling him to stage a fashion show in Shenzhen in May.
A hundred percent Italian designer with a hundred percent Chinese market.
He did take a chance in Shanghai and the Marco Galluzzi label today has an overwhelming Chinese following.
Three years ago, he opened a shop in Shanghai, but he studied and worked in fashion since he was a teenager.
Galluzzi comes from a very small Italian town, Fabbrica di Peccioli near Pisa in Tuscany. He attended a famous private fashion school in Empoli, another Tuscan town. There he learned to design, cut, sew and do everything else.
In 1989 he designed his first women's collection and he did his first runway show: simple stuff for a small audience.
He also volunteered as a model for classmates, a small act of kindness that paid off. A cameraman from a national television network filmed the show and Galluzzi was spotted by Carlo Pignatelli, a very famous wedding dress designer who wanted him for his advertisement video.
The video was a great success and big fashion names such as Versace, Armani and Valentino wanted him to model at their shows.
That's how Marco Galluzzi's modeling career began. But that was just a small interlude. His dream was not being a model but to design what models wore and he refused an offer from l'Oreal.
As any Italian guy in the 1990s, Marco did his military service. Then he found a job as a model maker's assistant in an Italian fashion company, Apllausi, which soon sent him to the East: India, Pakistan, Laos, Vietnam and finally China.
"I really love to travel, even if it's for work, because in that way you can really capture the land and its tradition," he told Shanghai Daily.
After years of working for other people and growing his own skills, he struck out on his own and chose Shanghai, where he has lived for almost six years.
He wanted to do something new. In 2009 he created his own brand because fashion was heading in the wrong direction, in his view.
"During the 90s the big designers used to make new stuff and had no fear of doing something new. Now nobody dares," he said.
So he started with the idea of being an "undertow," an subsea current that pulls people in, designing whatever he liked. He doesn't follow trends, just his instincts.
"I create my clothes in my mind, I design what I like in that moment, without thinking about selling; it should start another fashion cycle, I take all the risks," he said.
His style is very simple, almost minimalist, but Galluzzi likes to use colors and play on fabric patterns. His clothes work for everyday, but for special occasions he uses materials suiting any woman.
Good news for Asian women. He creates sizes to fit Chinese women, who represent 95 percent of his customers.
Thanks to his many years in the city and to word of mouth, he has created his own Chinese market. Being Italian is a great plus and a guarantee for Chinese women who like Italian style and trust his taste.
At first he did just two or three pieces for each item, standard practice for a boutique, but now he makes more to meet demand.
He has one boutique in Shanghai and plans to open others in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and in Shenzhen, Guangzhou Province.
Some Chinese companies invest in his work, enabling him to stage a fashion show in Shenzhen in May.
A hundred percent Italian designer with a hundred percent Chinese market.
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