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ANTONIO GRIMALDI FOR MNE MAGAZIN: Couture dress is a piece of art, not a product
Italian designer Antonio Grimaldi closed the first edition of International fashion festival Porto Montenegro 2018. yesterday night with a collection ,,Punk Queens Couture” for which he had been given a huge round of applause and ,,bravo” from the audience at ,,Synchro” in Porto Montenegro.
After the show, he has spoken to Montenegro magazin about fashion, beauty and the style of Montenegrin women.
How do you like the hospitality of Porto Montenegro and the ,,Regent” hotel?
– Everything is fantastic, it is amazing here. Very international place. I am very glad to be here.
This is not your first time in Montenegro. You have presented your collection at Kotor Fashion Week, also organized by agency ,,Fabrika”. Still, how much does the invitation from Vesna Mandić to be part of the first IFF Porto Montenegro 2018. mean to you?
– Three years ago I was here in Kotor and I was visiting this place, Porto Montenegro, then. They were still working on this and we were dreaming to do something here. This happened. I am very happy that finally we are here in Porto Montenegro.
You have presented menswear for the first time. What inspired you to show it at this point of your career?
– I always created for men and women, but, we never presented menswear as part of the show. I have so many private male clients who wear my clothes. My decision was to show my work that I used to do for a long time.
What is your opinion on Montenegrin women and how they dress?
– I know many elegant ladies from Montenegro. They like fashion, they know what to wear, they are wonderful ladies. This country has very nice, elegant people.
Inspiration for the Fall/Winter 2018-19 Punk Queens Couture collection came from Charles Baudelaire's l’Hymne de la beauté. It was also inspired by timeless beauty. What is timeless beauty to you?
– For me timeless beauty is something that you have inside and it is more important than the one that is outside.
You say: ,,I feel I’m doing something that is not in this time. Couture is something that doesn’t belong to the present.” Where does the couture belong to? Is it timeless like beauty?
– Now everybody wears ,,ready-to-wear”. Many years ago everybody was wearing couture. That is why I think that. It is a work that not everybody can afford as before.
You also say: ,,When we do a dress, it has to have a soul, otherwise it is just a product…”
– Couture dress is like a piece of art and art has a soul. It is not a product. You can buy many things, but there is something more important than that.
Bojana Radonjić
Photo: Boris Šekularac
