Berardi
Antonio Berardi (1968) was an english designer. The son of Sicilian immigrants, he graduated from Saint Martin’s College of London in 1994 and his end-of-studies presentation was so successful that the Liberty and A La Mode department stores quickly purchased this first, unfinished, Collection. The following year he presented a line of his own and in 1996 he signed a contract with the Italian company Givuesse. In 1997 he won the American prize for Best New Designer and then the British Fashion Award for emerging designers. His clothes are sexy and super-feminine.
The new century begins in a collaboration with Exté. The materials used for his personal Collection are mostly from Italy, especially the handmade corsets with Murano glass.
For Summer 2003 he offers a procession of spirited and shamelessly elegant women, the kind of super-feminine and super-sexy woman found in a 19th century brothel. To wear his dresses properly, one needs the right age (very young), a particular physique (perfect), and impudence (in abundance). He favors accessories that have a sense of humor. For Winter 2002-2003 his boots were decorated with trinkets of Wedgewood porcelain. In the previous season, on mini-boots made of snakeskin, fabric and string, he sewed dessert cutlery. Sensuality was obviously a key component of the Winter 2003-2004 Collection: with the allure of film noir, his muse was the heiress Patricia Hearst, the wicked soul of the 1960s and 70s. A female-within-a-woman like the Russian dolls intentionally shown one inside the other: the tiny jacket is sewn onto a tapered jacket, and that one in its turn over a very tight-fitting coat. A dramatic dark rose in glossy silk folded like origami grows between the pleats of fabric, blossoming on small jackets, bursting on trousers let out at the hem. Gibò of Florence manufactures for him. It is a collaboration based on the growth of the brand.
An agreement is signed with Dressing Spa, the designer’s second line. It is to be named 2die4 and is to be the crowning achievement of Berardi’s style, and also offer some seasonal flashes. Easier to be manufactued than the first line, it is aimed girls between 18 and 25 years of age. Prices are to be lower by about one third. The début is set for the Spring-Summer 2004.
Starting from Spring-Summer 2006, the designer is to take the place of Antonio Marras as the creative director of Trend Les Copains of BVM Italian Spa, a company from Bologna that owns the brand Les Copains.