Luca Giannola, a skilful fashion sculptor and expert in draping, fuses careful craftsmanship with the creativity and spirit of haute couture. This craft technique involves the direct creation of garments on the mannequin or on the body.
His story originates from his fascinating experiences in his aunts’ workshops in Benevento, before culminating on the renowned catwalks of international Fashion Weeks.
Immersed in his family roots and his distinctive style, Luca’s journey is a personal journey rooted in his family origins, especially the valuable lessons learnt from his aunts and his seamstress mother. Growing up in this fascinating world, fashion became an integral part of his DNA, even influencing his choice to attend art school, where he studied sculpture in depth.
After a period spent in Milan studying fashion design and gaining experience as an assistant stylist and coordinator of fashion creation centres, Luca felt a growing affinity with the fashion environment. His identity as a ‘designer’ found its authentic expression in Bologna.
It was in Bologna that his style took its final shape. Collaborating with a well-known couturier for wedding dresses and creating his first ‘draping’ works, Luca brought his student-sculptor spirit back to life. This technique represented an artistic awakening and a return to his creative roots. With his extraordinary mastery, Luca opened up new perspectives in the field of fashion, transforming clothing into a true art form. His unique fusion of fabrics, shapes and colours creates an unprecedented visual symphony.
His innovative and distinctive style has captured the interest of fashionistas, stylists and critics, allowing him to establish himself in the fashion industry.
Today, Luca Giannola calls himself a ‘sculptor of clothes’. His unique vision and the clarity of his creative identity have made him a respected figure at Fashion Weeks, where he passionately organises his fashion shows in Milan and Paris.
The theme of genderfluid finds its way into his creations, highlighting his desire to explore new perspectives and challenges in contemporary fashion. Luca Giannola is an example of how building a clear and authentic identity can open unexpected doors and create meaningful connections in the fashion world.
His approach to Body Positivity
Luca Giannola, a renowned teacher of fashion history and design at Istituto Rubbiani and Scuola Moda Cesena, revolutionised the educational approach by introducing his own technique of fabric modelling. His vision manifested itself during lessons with young female students, in an often-delicate period of adolescence. Through creative experimentation, he engaged in exploring authentic female silhouettes, involving aspiring female designers in the creative process. These initiatives tackled sensitive issues, such as eating disorders, with the aim of promoting a healthier perception of one’s body.
Giannola’s approach, in addition to conveying skills in dress design, promotes a culture of awareness and respect for the diversity of body shapes. His commitment has also gained recognition in the medical and scientific fields, leading him to collaborate with Ananke, a support network for those facing complex nutrition-related situations.
Expanding his influence also to foster homes, Giannola has organised light and creative sessions focusing on textiles and draping. Her initiative of a fashion photo session with female students celebrated the authentic and natural beauty of women’s bodies. An educational approach that transcends fashion and contributes to the formation of conscious and confident individuals.
In the context of Fashion Week, specifically at the Salon des Miroirs in the heart of Paris, I had the honour of meeting Luca to learn more about a unique artist.
- Hello Luca, thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this interview. Your family environment, in particular your aunts and your mother, a seamstress, contributed a great deal to your training. How did the lessons you learned and the local creative environment influence your artistic vision, becoming an integral part of your DNA?
Hello Pierluigi, first of all thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this interview. I think the good fortune of being born into a family of creative people, in particular my aunts and my mother, was a fundamental base on which I was able to plant and cultivate everything I learned by ‘playing’ in the first place. Indeed, what my aunts did, I recreated in my own way on my sisters’ dolls, and as I grew up, I discovered that it was nothing more than moulding.
- What are the details and distinctive elements of the unique fusion of fabrics, shapes and colours in your creations that have attracted the attention of fashion lovers, designers and critics?
I believe that every fashion enthusiast, or fashion insider, is struck by different factors. There are those who are fascinated by the comfort of clothes despite their complex structure, those who are fascinated by the fusion of fabrics that are sometimes opposed to each other, even if they work well together, and those who are fascinated by the ‘handmade’ at a time when we sometimes risk forgetting its importance and beauty.
- How have you incorporated the theme of gender fluidity into your designs and how is this reflected in your desire to explore new perspectives in contemporary fashion?
My interaction with the fluid genre is really a very small part at the moment. It was a challenge that allowed me to coordinate a line with young designers, which made me realise that I could give space to such a current and fascinating theme, even in my capsules, because sculptural garments can sometimes cut across canonical fashion silhouettes, and some of them can be worn regardless of gender, but I still have a lot of work to do on this theme.
- You’ve tackled sensitive subjects such as eating disorders. How have you helped to promote a healthier perception of the body among budding young designers, the Body Positivity concept?
I’ve always tried to bring who I am to all my projects, so I also bring my sensibility. With certain groups of students, we worked carefully on body designs that referred to shapes other than the fashion stereotypes. We drew for each silhouette with a play of shapes and colours, creating balance and harmony, often identifying with the very shapes of these bodies. It was very satisfying work.
- So, casting goes beyond fashion, it celebrates the authentic and natural beauty of women’s bodies. Do you think it has a place in a medical-scientific context?
When I tackle a delicate subject, which is not just about fashion but also about the emotional aspect, I try to be as cautious as possible by confronting people who have specific tools on certain issues. Comparison is necessary and I maintain that it is important to be able to develop a link (if possible) between fashion and the medical-scientific field.
- How has the experience of Fashion Week enriched you and how do you think the perception and reception of this technique by stylists and designers in a futuristic vision could be?
I feel lucky because thanks to Alwaysupportalent, which as you know supports many designers, I had a space during the Fashion Week events, showcasing not only my capsules, but also my personality, my way of being, and in my own way, I was able to give a message.
As I often say, draping is not something we invented today, but a natural technique that has been used since ancient civilisations. I believe that every designer, while preserving and developing their own identity, can remember how important it is, how necessary it is for clothes to fit the body and not the other way round.
