Mara Russo
Università Iuav di Venezia
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BA in Fashion Design and Multimedia Arts, Year 3
21 years old
Catania, Italy
Schools have been among the first institutions to adapt to the new measures of quarantine. How did your school react to the state of emergency? In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of online classes?
Despite the great effort put in place by my university in facing this situation, I keep thinking that cons of online classes are more than the pros. I admit that it was cool to wake up at 8.50 am to start classes at 9 am, still in my pajama and not rushing to take the bus, but the virtual experience can't replace the human touch, the visual experience, especially when it comes to the works in laboratory. Being at my third year helps, because I already developed my language and aesthetic and this is good for the communication between me and my professors. If I have to find a pro, I would say that is exactly this: our labs are really quick, but intense; in the first phase we communicate with a lot of talking, hands on our first experiments that are difficult to explain in a few words. Working remotely forced us to bet everything on our designs and on the strength they have in communicating without words. The concepts have become fundamental, more than their shape.
The Fashion and Design Industries have been aggressively afflicted by the state of quarantine and social distancing. As a consumer, but also as a future insider of those systems, what do you think the worst consequences of this crisis will be?
I think that this situation shed light on many pre-existing problems in every industry, including fashion. Fast fashion was already dead, now it is a necessity. Not depending on the virus, and on the consequent stop of the fashion system, I don't think that in the future people will need to change their closets every month, they will buy just to add new clothes. Images are gaining a much more important value to build our identities. What we need from brands is that they follow a precise line, both in its conceptuality and in its communicability: we need them to be able to represent an idea that consumers will decide to wear. The accessory is an important iconographic element that stays in time, is not volatile, and is not the result of a continuous renewal of the collections. It needs to be strong and resist to the passing of time. The picture we send of ourselves must be recognizable, as much that it doesn't get lost among the others. Beside ethical choices (unfortunately nobody really cares about them), I think that we are all going in this direction.
Your work is built on creativity. While we’re all in quarantine, what is your solution to keep on being creative? Where do you find your inspiration in this moment?
A part of me has always been fatalist. I spent two years of my life doing research o Sicily while I was living in Venice, and right in the last semester of my studying I have been physically blocked in the town of my study. I tried to take advantage of the possibilities offered by Catania, my home-town. I used second-hand fabrics that I found in my grandmother's archive, I used my contacts with many local artistic associations, and I asked my friends to give me their old tracksuits: it would have been impossible to find them if I still was in Venice. I think that the solution to every problem is the ability to adapt, always been active. We need to focus on what we have, not on what we are missing. I lived this quarantine as I took place to an artistic residence and I really think that it has been really good for my work.