Fashion designers across the world know that wedding fashion is something that is taken very seriously all over the world. We met with Piazza Lucini to discuss his views on what should be worn on the big day.
Fashionista: Piazza, you have been as fashion designer for over thirty years now and have produced some of the most memorable outfits to come out of Rome in a long time; I actually wore one of your dresses at my own wedding! Tell us, how did you get into designing?
Lucini: Oh, thank you so much! It is fabulous to hear that you enjoy my work. Well, when I was young I was always cutting up my mom’s clothes and she tried to put that to good use by getting me to sew them back together! Anyway, I never put them back together exactly as they should be and some of the results were idiosyncratic to say the least! I discovered that I had a real talent when I was very young and I knew from that point on that I wanted to be a fashion designer. After I left school, I was fortunate to get an internship working at a major Milano fashion house and they allowed me to learn the trade there, under the tutelage of Mario Solano, who has now, sadly, passed on.
F: Yes, Mario was a great loss to the fashion world; but I see a lot of his ideas in your own work. Was he a big inspiration for you?
L: Oh, absolutely. He was the one who first gave me a chance and I am eternally grateful to him for that. He had a real obsession with women’s shoes and would spend months finalizing his designs before submitting them. This often caused him a lot of problems with the fashion house, but for him, the creative process was almost of paramount importance and could not be rushed.
On Mario Solano’s passing and how big of an inspiration he was to him.
F: What do you think is important when choosing a wedding outfit?
L: Well, designer bridal shoes are an absolute must, darling. Weddings are not the time to be saving money, save the coupons for the supermarket and spend, spend, spend on the wedding day! Of course not all designer bridal shoes are expensive, but it is important to find the most fabulous pair that you can afford. Recently many of my closest friends have been getting married so I have been doing a lot of shopping with them, helping them to pit out exactly the right pair. It really is a pleasure for me actually, plus I get to see what the other fashion designers are producing with their women’s shoes.
F: I see, before we go, can I ask you about where you are employed at the moment? I know that there were some problems at Norcacia.
L: Aaah, yes. Myself and Noracia are no longer, how you say?, together! There were ‘creative differences’ so we have decided to go in separate directions. They are a great brand, but I just want to try my own thing for a while and see how that goes. I’ve got some big ideas and am planning to set up my own label and produce under the name Piazzabulous, do you like it? Ha ha. Anyway, we plan to launch by the end of the year and I am hoping that we will be able to find a retailer, as we are not quite ready to open up our own shops in the major fashion capitals, not just yet anyway, but hopefully by the end of next year we will have opened up our flagship store in New York; that is my dream really.
