And the Winner is…interview with FAUSTO VICIDOMINI

The young designer graduated at Accademia della Moda won the first Fashion Contest created by TFP TALENTS, the new Platform for emerging designers. And we rewarded him with a special interview to discover his personal story, creativity and inspirations.

Fausto Vicidomini is the winner of the first Fashion Contest organized by the new Platform TFP TALENTS for emerging designers and brands, of which The Fashion Propellant is part. Every month the Platform proposes a fashion competition opened to the new talents of fashion design who want to be part of the TFP TALENTS Community.

Fausto, partecipating with other 13 new names of fashion and accessories design, won the prize (this interview) for the completeness and effectiveness of his menswear graduate collection.

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Interviewing him for this article, I discovered a very interesting and particular story. FAUSTO VICIDOMINI is a 28 years old emerging designer coming from Nocera Inferiore, who passed great part of his life in Mercato San Severino, a small town near Salerno and recently graduated at the famous fashion school ACCADEMIA DELLA MODA. He comes from a family that has little to do with fashion. His parents work in the field of foodstuffs and curative agricolture, while his sister is a linguist currently working in Moscow a a foreign language school.

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And Fausto was before considered the “black sheep” of the family, because he never loved to study and was a real troublemaker, prefering having fun instead of going to the high school. But everything changed one night in which, during an outdoor party, he had a serious accident, risking the paralysis. His personal experience in the field of fashion design started just that night. This is his story.

Before attending the famous fashion school Accademia della Moda, you had another type of personal path. Speaking about your persoanl story, you define yourself as a “black sheep“. Can you explain us why?

I was the only one making trouble in my family, disappointing my parents. Compared to my relatives, I was the only drifter, the only one without a target or a plan. They gave me many possibilities, but I did’n take advantage from them because I didn’t realize their importance. I was living my life from day to day, without thinking about the future and without listening my parents’ advices.

The love for life and passion for fashion awakened in you after a bad accident. How did you change from that moment?

In that moment I felt lost, I didn’t know who I was. Being in solitude for a long time, because I could not move from my bed, got me thinking how much is important to think about the future and to believe in what we want, dedicating time to ourselves. So to find again myself, I searched in my past and I found that Fausto who, as my sister uses to say, when was a child loved to build design objects using strange things. And also who, in the period in which I worked in a small fashion boutique, wanted to make something inherent to fashion. From these memories I began to search my own street. I went back to start again stronger than before.

The first periods at Accademia della Moda were hard for you. What were the main difficulties you had?

Well, having had a previous terrible scholastic path, I had difficulties in planning the studies and, not coming from a fashion school, I felt like a fish out of water. I enrolled at Accademia della Moda without knowing what patternmaking was and I felt demoralized when during the exams my classmates presented extraordinary creations and I wasn’t able to keep up with them.

And how did you overcome these difficulties?

I haven’t given up, taking everything, the best and the worst with the counsciousness I would be able to improve. I made the Erasmus and I had the occasion to interact with other people out of my fashion academy, understanding that I was not so bad, but that I only needed some more time. My Fashion Design Professor Anna Spoti always said to me “you can see the horse’s quality only at the end of the race”. This sentence gave me the strenght to continue.

You partecipated to the last edition of Fashion Graduate Italia and then to the fashion exhibition “Eyes on Me” by Milano Unica. What are the best satisfactions you had from these two important events?

I knew a lot of people, professionals of this sector who, apart the classic compliments, said to me other things, increasing my self-confidence and confirming that I did well to rexist and never give-up.

Speaking about your collection…What was your inspiration?

My graduate collection is inspired by the world of Street Art and of Underground subculture, in particular that of the hyper-colored and illusive murales created by the artist “1010“.

One of the fundamental features of your final collection is embroidery. Can you explain what is the “Tufting” technique and how did you apply it to your outfits?

The “Tufting” is an ancient Chinese technique, completely handmade, with which still today they produce carpets. It’s similar to cross-stitch, but differently from this, you can do it with wool yarns of any thickness, through the use of a particular needle that can create small tufts. In fact the name comes from the English term “tuft“. Before I embroidered these tufts on simple canvas and then I applied them on the coats, while for the trousers I worked directly on the fabric.

Your accessories and details are very interesting too, made using 3-D printing. How is your relationship with technology and innovation?

Before being a fashion designer I feel a creative. They are worlds that fascinating me and through my creativity I try to take the opportunity to better know them and to mix techniques for creating something unique and surprising.

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Can you tell us something about your personal design process?

I started with the type of style I wanted to represent, so from the research of trends and textile. Then I created a chromatic scale followed by geometric shapes. For every outfit I matched a geometrical shape and a correspondant color and from these elements I took out the collection. Then I matched the artworks basing on the colors of every single outfit, creating combinations of many shades that could be well matched. Followed by the design of the buckles, of the “Tufting” technique and the study of 3-D printing.

Which kind of designer are you? What are your best skills in terms both personal and practical?

I’m a versatile designer, able to adapt to every situation. And If I don’t know one thing, I learn it. My best skills are adaptability, capacity of being surprising and to have a multifaceted character. Plus points that are also technical.

What plans you have for the future? Would you like to launch your own brand?

My next projects for the near future are those of firstly learn English and other languages, not less than five, to have the possibility to know and interact with many people on Earth, both in terms personal and for working. Then, in a not so far future, to create my own brand not only of clothing but that can invading other fields. I’d like to bring it at the top as much as possible, but to do it I fell the need of training more.

What did you think of partecipating and winnning a fashion contest like this, in which the level of the partecipant designers was high?

I partecipated without thinking to the win, I did it because I was happy to partecipate to a new initiative giving the possibility to grow to a new project. The winning made me smile and gave me a further confirmation of my efforts and resilience developed in those years of academic career.

Thank you Fausto for sharing with us your personal and creative experience and many ocmpliments for the winning!

And you, my dear readers, dont’ miss the next fashion contests created by our new Platform TFP TALENTS!

For informations about the Platform for young and emerging fashion designers and brands you can visit the website www.tfptalents.com and for knowing the next fashion contests and other interesting initiatives you can write to info@tfptalents.com