Ilenia Durazzi: a quest for rawness
A new headquarters and an anti-glossy aesthetic for Durazzi Milano – interview with founder Ilenia Durazzi: «France taught me savoir-faire and what it means to combine tailoring and creativity»
Durazzi Milano: The Interview with Creative Director Ilenia Durazzi – Rough is the imperfection of the Ordinary
«Roughness is a concept I associate with the everyday life, the idea of the undefined or non-artificial. An aesthetic sense that is outside the norms of what people believe to be perfect. An anti-glossy beauty that highlights imperfections». Overcoming fleeting trends and embodying the Made in Italy spirit through a multidisciplinary approach: these are the pillars of Durazzi Milano, as Ilenia Durazzi, Creative Director and co-founder of the brand, explained to Lampoon.
«My creations originate from research processes in the art world, translating what inspires me into the fashion world: two very different spheres, two creative containers with equally distinct purposes but always in constant dialogue. If the creative process were not fun, the result would be very sterile and unengaging».
Ilenia Durazzi makes her interests and lifestyle choices the common thread influencing her creations. After living and working in Paris for over ten years, her return to Italy and meeting artist Maurizio Cattelan laid the foundations for the establishment of Durazzi Milano.
«France taught me the art of savoir-faire». The early stages of her career at Balenciaga and Maison Margiela
Durazzi started working at Balenciaga when she was 22. «I was a young woman with a strong desire to create, and France gave me the opportunity to work, which I couldn’t find in Italy. The environment was mixed and international, allowing me to be influenced by people from all over the world in a space infused with multiple inspirations. In France, I learned the art of savoir-faire while working for Nicolas Ghesquière and later for Maison Margiela, two fashion houses that taught me how to combine creativity and artisanal skills». Now Creative Director of Durazzi Milano, Durazzi began her career in menswear but felt the need to create her own vision of femininity with an eponymous brand. The fascination with male uniforms, attention to functionality and details, and artisanal workmanship are among the strengths of men’s fashion that Durazzi has translated into her women’s collections.
Durazzi Milano – Representing women’s clothing through Fashion and Art
«The entire creative phase occurs outside traditional working hours, when I visit exhibitions, travel, or meet people. I choose women who inspire me and I ask them to enter their universe. Friends, artists, curators, women I greatly admire: I ask to access their world through studio visits or simple conversations. This creates an exchange through our products; they choose what they like and wear it, so the dress does not remain just a creation but enters everyday life».
Durazzi explains that the brand’s intention is based on conveying the values of doing and creating, beyond being and appearing. A woman’s desire to move while wearing specific clothing that allows her to be comfortable, practical, and feel confident. «The design of a dress must be thought out for the context in which it is created. It must be a tangible and usable project in the ordinary life; otherwise, it remains merely an exercise in style».
A female empowerment manifesto that is whispered through artistic performances whose aim is to send a message. As in the presentation of the Spring/Summer 2024 collection, models transformed into living sculptures – a tribute to artists such as Piero Manzoni and Joseph Beuys – as well as witnesses of a fashion idea that creates structures for the body to be protected and enhanced. Each model, or organic statue, is unique, embodying the use of clothing as a declaration of identity. Both a critique of the scarcity of female figures in statuary and a tribute to women who have defied social conventions, the models in their outfits invite reflection on the urgency to expand the historical narrative to include protagonists of historical fundamental events that were never celebrated, while pronouncing personal intentions or desires in the form of phrases, aphorisms, and monologues by illustrious women, real or imaginary, like Laurie Anderson, Ana Mendieta, and Georgia O’Keeffe, the African American poet and activist Maya Angelou.
Durazzi Milano and the Rough: The choice of natural raw materials
In parallel with a system that has evolved the concept of beauty, it is also time to seek a type of processing that embraces its material origin more rather than transforming it and making it less rough.
The search for raw materials chosen by Durazzi Milano extends to exploring different contexts: from the art world to old archives, three-dimensional fabrics that reveal their porosity. Leather, reminiscent of the equestrian world – an inspiration inherent in the brand’s DNA – is rough because it is associated with the sleek and fetish style philosophy; the wools from Biella, following English design, are rougher and are treated with felting processes that enhance the fabric’s flaws, creating the typical feel of natural raw materials. Even in the use of jacquard, Durazzi Milano uses the reverse side because it creates interest.
«If I find peculiarity in error, it can enter the final design stage. As an aesthetic, we seek contrast, juxtaposition: the reflective finish that contrasts with the matte, like patent leather paired with canvas. The wool we use for menswear, associated with the typical daytime sporty style, is not just a combination but a reflection of contemporary taste.» Sustainability is also central to Durazzi Milano’s values, whose short supply chain production embraces the territories of Northern and Central Italy, with personal management of relationships with those who spin the fabric and produce the garments.
«When I become attached to a raw material, I incorporate it into my collections. It happened with clay used in the Spring/Summer 2024 collection: I started working with it and firing it, and I used it for the presentation in an art gallery in Brera where the models climbed mountains of fresh clay adorned with hoof prints. The inspiration given by the clay was also present as a raw material on the fabrics through molds in the prints of the garments. For the next season, which we will present in September, the inspiration will be transparency: solid and dangerous materials like glass and ice.»
Durazzi Milano, the New Headquarters in Porta Venezia is a cultural centre
«A few months ago, we inaugurated our new headquarters designed and planned by me in Porta Venezia, Milan. It is a cultural centre, a place that I needed as I am constantly seeking a creative exchange to draw inspiration from. Life in Milan is closely tied to speed, and I needed to encapsulate the brand’s aesthetic in a defined space, an open space on a street of artisans that recalls our minimalist and industrial aesthetic at the same time. I created windows that open onto a glimpse of nature, to evoke the desire to escape». The idea is that the headquarters, in addition to being a business space, becomes a cultural centre for events that attracts people and creates moments of sharing, granting space to artists who wants to exhibit their works, or to listen to music and curate exhibitions.
Martina Tondo
