Avant-garde but tied to the origins, exaggerated but unequivocally classy, iconic but constantly evolving, Fausto Puglisi is the disruptive symbol of contemporary Italian fashion. Born in Sicily, but American by adoption, you will remember Fausto Puglisi for being the excellent designer behind the “one of a kind” looks of some of the world’s greatest artists, just to name a few: Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue. The anti-conventional and sophisticated style of his creations has given life to a perfectly successful union between what is heritage and pure innovation, reaching the goal, perhaps unattainable for many, of putting one’s truest self at the service of a product for everyone. His creations that, leafing through them like a book, tell a beautiful story made of tailoring, ideals, courageous positions and a great hunger to make a world that is still too modern to modernize. We had a chat with Fausto to read at least a few pages of this book, enjoy our interview:
TBS: Before launching your brand, you spent several years in America and today your style is the result of a combination of Italian heritage and American culture, how did you manage to mix these two aspects and what of the one and the other is present in your creations?
FAUSTO PUGLISI: I believe that Italian fashion, at least until recently, has always been recognized as the ultimate in glamor. From Gianni Versace to Gianfranco Ferrè, from Giorgio Armani himself to Dolce and Gabbana, everything was aimed at iconizing the woman and making her absolutely Glamor and beautiful, then times have changed. The American style is Hollywood, and the United States in general, even the most rural places that inspire me a lot like Arizona, are aimed at exasperating and making everything extreme for better or for worse. American excess has always fascinated me, I always say as a great art historian said, that art is not for good people, for the right-thinking ones. I continue to think that fashion is an artistic message, from which one then draws on to make one’s own interpretation, it is essential that fashion continues to be entertainment and evasion. Italy remains the well-made, tailoring and culture, the United States remains madness.
TBS: After collaborating on the Spiga 2 project with Dolce & Gabbana, you decided to launch your own brand, was there something that made you realize that the right time had come?
FAUSTO PUGLISI: When I lived in the States I worked above all for special projects dedicated to celebrities and artists, when they showed me the Dolce & Gabbana project, to which I will be forever grateful, I understood that those products could be desired by ordinary women and therefore sold … And it was a boom. Anna Dello Russo said: “I want to indigest this Puglisi!” At that moment I realized that my products could generate a business and it was a very strong start, a bomb that exploded.
TBS: How would you define your style and how, if it happened, has it changed since the beginning of your career?
FAUSTO PUGLISI: We all change in the course of our lives: we change according to cinema, experiences, politics and what happens in the world; if you have a conscience it is normal to change your way of thinking and propose your own creations. For example, I chose not to show in Milan recently, because I chose to do it at Barneys in New York and during the Winter Music Conference in Miami at The Webster. It was great because I chose to go directly to where my customers are, without subjecting to obsolete and useless rules. My style today is fierce, it’s a balanced mix of excess and purity, high and low. Today we must be immediate, ferocious and fearless.
TBS: During your professional career, your creations have been worn by world icons such as Madonna and Nicki Minaj but also by iconic faces of the sector such as Anna Dello Russo. How much has this contributed to the success of your brand? Do you think that influencers today have the same power?
FAUSTO PUGLISI: I live on icons, especially for my Sicilian origins and I love to think that an ordinary person through garments can become part of that unattainable desire that icons represent. The news of my dress worn by Achille Lauro came out, I was very happy because unknowingly that dress no longer became that of a season, I’ve had enough with the seasons they no longer make sense, but it became an icon worn by three completely different characters: the queen of today’s supermodels, cool, young and sister of Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Jennifer Lopez absolute mega star and Achille Lauro, the new generation of Italian artists that I respect very much.. As for the influencers, I’ll tell you an anecdote. I remember Chiara Ferragni at the beginning, she wore my first dress, a lemon yellow Beyoncé dress that I call Gladiator, she was a cute kid at the time and wore my dress in a unique way. I have always believed a lot in Chiara and now that they all emulate what she does, because it is a very human feeling to cling to the winner’s chariot, we must remember that it is she who has understood what the new codes of communication are, her codes represent a different need and reality, they are the message of a beautiful person who has understood how to bring fashion to the very young, and there’s only one chance with these codes: either you have or you don’t.
TBS: By now fashion seems to have reached saturation, after streetwear what will be the next step? Sustainability?
FAUSTO PUGLISI: Fashion today is everything and nothing and no one can give, as Anna Wintour said, an answer to what the imminent future will be. In this I am very focused on myself, generally I follow my instinct and try to understand what I want to do, I try to give my proposals. I am very honest, I am a designer who will hardly be able to make a dress with banana leaves, I am very objective, sincere and real. I believe that with love, however, I can make, as I have done and will continue to do, clothes with pure, Italian fabrics that last forever. Clothes that have a cost, because there is a workforce that requires dedication and great attention, are also sustainability, because those garments will last forever.
TBS: What news should we expect for the next SS 2021?
FAUSTO PUGLISI: Two people made me realize at the beginning of my career that I should continue and these people are two Anna: Anna Dello Russo and Anna Wintour. The first discovered me and the second supported me and my message globally. My next SS 2021 will be a return to the past but with total changes and… you will see them! I’m just waiting for the right moment, this in my opinion is not, the world is too divided and closed now.