“SEA” is a word that can enclose many concepts, many meanings: life, nature, infinite but also power, determination or strength. Actually, “sea” is also the keyword of Alessia Santoro’s idea of fashion. Why is this element of nature so important for the young fashion designer?
Alessia Santoro is a 22 year-old fashion designer from Fano, a city in the region of Marche, Italy, located near the sea and our first UFA 2021 finalist. Read further to know more about her.
Alessia grew up in this magical place and she has many fond memories linked to the sea. Even if she studied Fashion Design at NABA in Milan, she has never forgotten her origin and her inspiration towards the sea. In fact, the importance of water and of everything related to it is at the centre of Alessia’s fashion ideas.
In her creations and in her garments, the designer aims at representing the contradictory soul of the sea: strong and determined but also weak and so often hit by humans’ bad habits. Despite that, the sea has always the strength to create something new, something that can surprise, and so does Alessia. She wants to create garments that envelop the body just as when you enter the water, and that is why the main piece in her collection is the onesie: something that embraces you and that is based on sweet memories such as those of childhood.
Moreover, one of the strongest points in Alessia’s collection are the materials which are always related to the sea, such as recycled fishing nets as well as handmade objects that the designer herself attached to her garments. In Alessia's concept of fashion, sustainability plays an important role because many of her garments have waste fabric products & other different components.
Alessia decided to participate to UFA contest because she believes that with her collection she is daring: both in the choice of the materials and in the main idea behind each piece of the store. As a matter of fact, the concept of handmade is fundamental to the designer: many decorations are attached manually to the garment. Basically the present meets the techniques from the past and the ideas of the future.
The principles followed by Alessia are: handmade, love, passion and patience. Where will the sea current bring Alessia and her works?
Stay tuned on @dareclan_mag as we have very exciting things coming up and also to know more about our other finalists.
Follow Alessia and her journey on instagram.
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