Belfiori Couture – A rendez-vous between Greece and Tulle

Belfiori Couture, the alias of Beniamino Belfiori, adopted in Milan thanks to its Greek origin, which is very strong and visible in all its creation. He is proposed as ‘wannabe couturier without dressmakers’. We are talking about a new brand, entirely hand-made, that challenges the Haute Couture icons.

Tell us about your background, not school, but what made you “an aspiring couturier”.

Since I was little I had a passion for clothes and jewelry (I have drawings from when I was 5 years old). I studied Fashion Design and then I thought I would find a job in the field related to my studies.
After so many disappointments, I had decided to surrender, but I come from a family that never lets itself be destroyed.
By the end of March, I had already made a mini collection that is far from the current aesthetics of my new creations, but, you know, it was a way to get back in the game. I always loved custom-made orders and I always proposed to do them. A true couturier must know how to make the garment from scratch, and, for me, it is important to always try new lines and materials.

What is the reason you see this unwarranted use of tulle in your creations? Is Giambattista Valli a reference point for you? If so, in what way. If not, who inspires you? What are three adjectives that identify your know-how?

The use of tulle started from my first collection when I was still in the Academy.Back then, it was just a way to veil the body.
As you well know, it is one of the most feminine and also most commonly used materials in couture.
One of my first orders this year was a dress in ultra-curled peach tulle and, from there, I realized that it would be a new way for me to use the material. Valli, I believe, is currently inspiring and must be inspiring for so many of us because it is one of the few Italian designers abroad with a strong identity. My greatest style idol will remain forever Galliano.
I love the use of transparencies. It’s romantic but also representative of ferocious heroines and volumes without limit (reviewing any parades I still cry in the final). The adjectives that identify my know-how are: opulent, voluminous, romantic.

I felt a dream world, or something fairy like from your creations. How would you describe it?

It’s true! I’m an incurable dreamer (which has often led me to so many disappointments). In every collection, I want to tell a story about my heroin that so often is living my problems and tries to solve them. Through each stitched garment I try to shape my ideas. I don’t believe in fairies or princesses waiting for the prince. I believe in women who have the courage to express their emotions and to appear as they please. This is the prototype of a woman I got from my mother and I want to transmit through every creation.

Fashionista or artistic? How would you define your style Couture?

It’s too soon to describe my style. Artistic can only be a few pieces of an entire collection. Artistic for me was McQueen who dared without thinking about the limits and aesthetic taste of people . Fashionista, I believe yes in certain garments. I often prefer a leader to have meaning only for me.

You have arrived at the Venice film festival, what are your long-term goals (maybe, not just professional)?

Difficult question to answer. A year ago it would have seemed impossible to dress one of my greatest muses, Nima. The festival was a challenge for me. Feeling the pressure of a thousand eyes on a boss you worked on morning and night without stopping to put the best of yourself forward. Right now, I would like to continue my creations/orders but also always return to being part of a creative team. But I’ll tell you that now I prefer not to plan and leave everything to fate. So I live better!

Leave us with a motto that identifies you.

So many people close to me know that there are so many of my “pearls of wisdom”! But what expresses me absolutely in the most recent period of my life is “Go hard or Go home”! A lot of people told me that certain things were impossible, that the timing was too difficult, that I’m too young for certain jobs, and that I don’t have the skills. Did I listen to them? At the beginning, yes! But then I asked myself, what do they really know about me? What everyone has to do is to test themselves, not to sleep, to sew all night so in the end they can say:“I’ve put all I have into it”!