MEET THE DESIGNER - BARBARA BOLOGNA

She is a mystery to me: Each season I come to see Barbara Bologna’s collection in Paris, I don’t know what to expect. Barbara is an evolving woman: her art, her ideas, her look are changing constantly. There is always this WOW moment when I realize this is she.   

Barbara and Andrea, the love of her life, are still enchanted by each other like 20 years ago. She met him in the small town in Italy, Sarzana, where he was working as a bar tender while attending medical school. The way to her heart was much easier than anyone could really expect, it was cheese and olives. He had the look and a smile of a true gentleman, like a movie star, and he just kept feeding her these olives. “He was normal” she said. On their first date she fell in love. In their house in Italy, they live and breathe art, philosophy, music, and lots of wine.

When she was a child, Barbara Bologna always wanted to be a superwoman with special powers: She wanted to read people’s minds and know all their secrets. I find it so funny, because now, as a grown-up artist and designer, she keeps secrets in her creations:  handwritten messages on the garment, illustrations (from coffins and crosses to doodles of penises). Hidden pockets and buttons. Most of the fabrics are prints of her photography that was processed with a second layer. Each piece has its “secret”, by the different ways of wearing it or the story behind it. Last winter, one of her most iconic faux fur coats had a printed silhouette of a man and a dog. That was Andrea and their dog, their baby.   

She chooses her models based on energy, personality, and vibe. Yes, the look is important, but she can peel the layers to show you the inside of a person. Barbara feels that her designs are made for women that are powerful or fragile, and in many cases both, in the same woman. She thinks that it is very “in” to be seen as a strong woman these days, but the real strength is the ability to be transparent, to show emotions, to be fragile and delicate. To be REAL.

Barbara Bologna collections have an identity, an idea, a mood, and even a designated playlist (that we often play in the boutique). It’s not an afterthought, it’s a well-planned collection. Barbara recently presented her 24-25 Fall Winter Collection in Paris titled "Selvaggina : You Killed Me First" ( Selvaggina means a game, wild animal). It’s about how the human being, today, is increasingly distant from nature, generating an insane vicious circle, where there is no longer any mercy or understanding. It is incomprehensible who the victim is and who is the perpetrator.