Floral Seamtress
When
the phone rang and on the other end was Guillermo Mariotto, creative director
for Gattinoni Couture my heart began to beat faster but when he asked if I was
free to work with him on a special project my hands literally began to
sweat. He was looking for a florist who
is also a seamstress and that’s why he called me. My professional biography states that I am an
artist, seamstress and florist.
The
collection for Spring/Summer was dedicated to Food which is the theme for Expo
2015 which takes place in Milan. Each
garment in the collection was in some way connected to Food. I was assigned to “Bread”, the element found
on every table in the entire world in some form. Specifically I had dried wheat which had to be
hand sown onto a corset base using fine golden thread.
The Base
The
entire construction required 53 hours of careful stitching in order to complete
the entire garment. The combination of organic material (wheat) and sartorial
skills was an incredible challenge for me but the skills that I honed will
remain with me for the rest of my career.
Attending
the presentation of the collection was the high point of the week that I spent
working in the Gattinoni atelier. It was
held in an elegant restaurant, “Open Colonna” that specializes in recreating
traditional Italian dishes in an unexpected way. It was the perfect location for a fashion
collection with a food theme.
Working for Gattinoni Couture will remain one of the most exciting events of my floral design career.
Florally yours,
Debra
