The new normal: this is the definition that best represents, for me, the work of Federico Cina, a young Italian designer with several editorials published in the major heads of fashion journalism – Vogue, Higsnobiety, Elle. New normal because he reinvents the clothes of everyday life – like jackets or shirts – giving them a new perspective and use on our body.
We met him to talk about changing and what fashion can do to our physical.
You have done a lot of jobs! How they inspire you in your work as fashion designer?
I always get inspired by my experiences of everyday life, things that I do not particularly like, because this is my way of protesting.
Where do you usually take inspiration?
The people around us are a source of wealth, I take inspiration from the people around me, every culture and every different habit is essential for my work.
To create a collection, I let myself be inspired by my life. I need to feel on my skin what I want to transmit.
The passion for my work I think is triggered by the desire to always be up to every situation, as a child many times I did’t feel the height of others around me.
I tried to understand what they had, so I always observed people, to understand their weaknesses and the way they hide their insecurities.
Sometimes, or always, the clothes are used to reassure and make us feel stronger, in my case I think my garments are like an armor, because behind each piece there is a story, sometimes a social message, so they must be strong enough to support one’s own story.
In your bio, you say that “the exterior image is the first thing that catches your eye.” Can our aesthetic actually represent our souls? Is there a link to who we are and what we wear?
Surely something in aesthetics also reflects how we are inside.
It is enough to see who wakes up in the morning, angry and not by chance, dresses in a few colors.
But this is just a simple example, everyone outside feels inside in many different ways, playing on aesthetics.
You say you love observing people, so I have a question: have you ever met a person with a strange change on his body? Like a particular surgery one.
I am particularly attracted to cosmetic surgery.
Since I was a child, I was watching television programs on cosmetic surgery.
When I walk I always try to understand who has undergone surgery around me.
What do you think are the most used methods to change our physical aspects now a days?
Surely aesthetic surgery is the most extreme of methods, to change image.
But I know people and even me in the first place, in the past I have faced my body and I have changed it with my will, fatigue and sweat.
According to yourself, how far we can go to change our body?
I did not love anything about myself and I did everything possible to change it.
Sooner or later, we all face something we do not love in our bodies.
You can modify what we do not like surgically, or hide it, confuse it, perhaps with clothing.
The most fascinating cases are those, where the person hates a part of the body and decides to enhance it, like drag queens.
As the Kids Club said, if you have a big nose and do not like it, put some glitter on it.
Photography: Gabriele Rosati
Styling: Simone Botte
Makeup: Vittoria Marzocchi