«True craftsmanship is what you create yourself from scratch,» interview with Domenico Orefice The designer told us everything about his brand's DNA
The story of Domenico Orefice is written between Naples and Florence, two seemingly different cities that nevertheless share the same dedication to craftsmanship—one to tailoring, the other to leather goods. The designer moved to the banks of the Arno at a very young age, at just fifteen, and after only twenty-four months went on to develop his first leather accessories brand. Since then, Orefice’s passion for fashion design has continued to grow, motivating him to reach ever larger audiences and to shape a stronger aesthetic.
The turning point came during his years of study at the Polimoda institute, where he consolidated his vision and gained technical and creative maturity. With the support of the institute and the desire to bring his designs to more prominent runways, Orefice founded a second brand bearing his own name. Born from the fusion of Made in Italy tailoring and contemporary sportswear, the Domenico Orefice brand initially developed both online and offline, with projects ranging from the Metaverse to more traditional fashion shows. From Dubai Fashion Week to Milan, over the past two years Orefice has captured the attention of buyers and fashion industry insiders, a success that led the brand to be among the finalists of the Camera Moda Fashion Trust Grant 2024.
Today, Domenico Orefice continues to develop his creative project through new technologies, while maintaining a particular focus on the selection of high-quality raw materials - as dictated by the Italian tailoring tradition. He does not turn his back on the sportswear that influenced his early designs, he tells us, but is instead seeking to assert his own aesthetic through new aesthetic codes.
We are currently in a particularly delicate phase for the fashion industry, but Orefice does not appear to fear risk. We had the opportunity to have a brief chat with the designer in Florence, in his atelier.
Moving from design to fashion is not so obvious. When did you realize that the body would become your design space?
Perhaps as a child, precisely because it was my first experience with the body. When I was little, my mother dressed me, obviously, I couldn’t decide for myself. At that age (six or seven), a relationship with the body is formed through a point of view different from your own, namely that of your parents. I truly understood the kind of silhouettes I wanted to work with when I gained weight. I wondered how to present myself, so I began to broaden the shoulders and widen the silhouettes, which is why the brand’s lines often take on hourglass shapes or fall straight down, almost to hide the body.
During that time, I also tried to experiment with my own body on others. When you dress these silhouettes on very slim people, the discovery of the body becomes even sexier. Beneath these oversized garments, you try to imagine the person’s physicality, turning it into a continuous discovery. Even today, though, I don’t believe I’ve fully figured out how I want to use the body, I’m still searching.
In your collections, research always starts from materials. What does it mean to respect a material in an age of overproduction?
We young emerging brands are the ones who can truly change the rules of the game. I always try to use materials that are already in stock, both to avoid creating overly large collections and for ethical reasons.
How important is it for you that innovation is visible? And how does it dialogue with tailoring in your collections?
When I created the brand, I wanted to build a website divided into two parts, one e-commerce and one virtual experience, but I realized that, unfortunately, competitors like Zara exist and focus entirely on fast purchasing. Still, I believe that today an innovative approach is fundamental for everything related to craftsmanship, which is the core of our brand.
Do you think craftsmanship today is more a question of method or scale?
It’s no longer clear who truly practices craftsmanship, but I believe it’s still what you find in the workshop. Our collections are artisanal, we make them with our own hands (myself personally): perhaps this is true craftsmanship, not what you outsource to external companies, but what you design and create yourself from scratch.
How has your approach to design changed compared to the beginning of your studies?
The experience Polimoda gave me during and after my studies was fundamental, above all because of the kind of support it provided. What I still produce today is supported by Polimoda, which has always shown particular care for the future of its alumni. Having a large company behind you that believes in your project is essential, but the relationships you build with the people involved are even more important. There is a company called Gruppo Cinque that has supported us since collection zero, and even today many studies are sponsored by them.
Which adjectives would you use to define your way of working?
I would definitely say sartorial. We do everything, from design to pattern-making, from prototypes to every other step. Then I would say nomadic, in terms of the brand’s vision, understood as a person who is constantly moving and adapting to every new environment and its challenges. As a third adjective, I might choose a verb: to become recognized rather than known, not as Domenico Orefice the person, but as an aesthetic that starts from form and goes on to define the brand.
And what direction is the aesthetic of Domenico Orefice taking today?
The brand has always been a hybrid between sport and tailoring. As it has grown, ideas and products have matured, and consequently the brand’s storytelling has changed as well. While at the beginning I was tied to this philosophy and used technical fabrics such as nylon, we have since embraced a more sartorial vision while maintaining details and silhouettes from the world of sportswear.
