Antonio Marras Presents His New Spring Summer 2024 Collection
Luxferity, 25.09.2023
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Antonio Marras, a Spring Summer 2024 movie,
Based on “A summer with Joe, Liz & Richard”
“Everything I learned I learned from the movies.”
- Audrey Hepburn -
“I’m just a storyteller, and cinema happens to be my medium. I like it because it recreates life in movement, enlarges it, enhances it, distils it. For me, it’s far closer to the miraculous creation of life than, say, a painting or music or even literature. It’s not just an art form; it’s actually a new form of life, with its own rhythms, cadences, perspectives and transparencies. It’s my way of telling a story.”
- Federico Fellini -
I use fashion to tell stories, and I learned it by going to the cinema.
Cinema, an endless source of stories, dreams, moods, characters, costumes, sets, narratives of exceptional existences or extraordinary normalcy.
Cinema is an indispensable companion in life. And even more so for me, given the work I found myself doing. I, a cinema omnivore, spent my adolescence sitting between Selva and Miramare Cinemas in Alghero, watching and re-watching films in a loop that still remain a part of my life. The characters are like family, the supporting cast like relatives; their stories are my stories, and I have experienced their events as well. What I have become is also the result of what I have seen in the cinema. It’s intimate and collective, a shared moment of introspection, like no other form of entertainment. When the lights dim and the music starts with the opening credits, it’s as if we are boarding a spaceship that takes us elsewhere, and nothing else matters.
“I deeply believe in that visual language which essentially is cinema, and I even go so far as to say that a film should be understood by the audience even if they do not know the original language. I consider cinema to be a much more powerful form of expression than theatre… and even television, because it is a collective reaction. The big screen plays a crucial role in this phenomenon. When people watch a film in the cinema, they are more focused.” - J. Losey
When, in 1967, Joseph Losey’s film crew landed in Alghero in search of an ideal set, I was six years old, but I remember it vividly. And over time, the film, the start, the events, the local extras, the gossip, the attempted kidnappings, the mega yacht Kalizma of the star couple, with dogs, children, chefs, captains and sailors in tow, the Bulgari jewels of the Diva, the outfits specially made by Atelier Tiziano with – it seems- a young Karl Lagerfeld, headpieces by Alexander from Paris, food flown in directly from London every day, the abundance of alcohol, the quarrels between the two protagonists, the 186-meter cliff of Capo Caccia, and the stratospheric white villa perched on the tumultuous sea, constantly crashing against the rocks amid the wind, had all taken on an aura of myth.
I recently stumbled upon Sergio Naitza’s docu-film, ‘A summer with Joe, Liz & Richard’, which reconstructs the legendary production of a film destined to become, for better or worse, a great cult. And so, immersed myself in that hot summer where the boundary between reality and fiction, between truth and falsehood, between reconstructed and existing, between acted and revealed, between imaginary and reality, was but a faint breath of wind.
The film BOOM! titled ‘La Scogliera Dei Desideri’ in Italian, adapted from Tennessee Williams’ stage script ‘The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore,’ starring Hollywood icons Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, catapulted Hollywood into the heart of an untouched, pristine, and wild country.
As if by magic, from Mount Lee, Hollywood lands near my home, on the edges of the Empire, in the purest and most pristine land in the world. Hollywood on the cliffs of Capo Caccia, Alghero, Sardinia.
How could one not be fascinated by it?
I thought that first and foremost, there had to be a Diva, a real Diva, with a capital ‘D,’ one who isn’t created or improvised, a Diva who could expertly portray a world in the vein of Hollywood Babylon, where anything is possible, where a desire is a command, where the unimaginable becomes routine - you just have to think it, write it, and film it. Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson appears, wanders, and hovers. Charm, talent, performance, a Diva between art and life.
“Cinema is neither art, nor a technique, it is a mystery” - J. L. Godard
The runway set arranged like various film studios, where actors, actresses, workers, stars, production secretary, costume designer, editing secretary, personal assistant, seamstress, director, producer, set coordinator, clapperboard operator, sound technician, extras, models and aspiring actors take turns.
Amidst ethereal and elusive kaftans, couture dresses, robes, finely tailored suits cinched at the waist, oversized masculine looks, dusters, pencil skirts, sheath dresses, and dramatic, divine evening gowns. Crisp clothes in the colours of macarons. Chantilly lace, Valenciennes, macramé, inlays, embroidery, beads, sequins all in ruffles, pleated and flocked tulle, houndstooth, gingham, Prince of Wales check, polka dots, and stripes, pinstripes, and damask. And cotton. Bouquet of roses, waves, watercolour prints, and faded patterns.
Ecru, sand mother of pearl, dust, and black, so much black, and lilac, yellow, pink, and blue sky. Intarsia and three-dimensional knitwear, leather, suits, and jerseys. Everything together, a dance of camera movements, cutting and sewing of shots and scenes, and the art of improvisation.
Cinema is not a profession for the faint hearted.
Antonio Marras
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