Anna Dello Russo, an international icon in the fashion world from October is officially the Fashion Brand Ambassador and Scientific Director of the Marangoni Institute international leader in the high private formation within fashion, art and design. Anna is a volcano of energy and she is described by Helmut Newton “a fashion maniac”, for eighteen years she worked as a fashion style editor of Vogue Italy and then as a director of Man Vogue and then to arrive at Vogue Japan and became the creative director for Vogue Japan. In 2010 she launched her perfume Beyond which is in the shape of a shoe and the year after she presented a feminine accessory collection for H&M bags, sunglasses and bijoux. From 2017 she is a style consultant for a famous chain of hotels the Rosewood Hotels and Resorts.
Gabriella Chirappa: Anna a volcano of energy, how and when do d you decide to accept this new assignment and a new challenge?
Anna Dello Russo: Look it arrived by chance,this year was an investment of great energy for me,because I got out a bit from the” corporate “even more with the book,to create a movement of communication and especially my different positioning not only as a fashion journalist but as a person who wants to live her experience with others,we can define it as a passage in a relay,I put myself in the game from the beginning, I have been working on this for two years,and this year is decisive.
Gabriella Chirappa: When did you feel the necessity to change certain things?
Anna Dello Russo: I understood when I started organizing events that this would be my new editorial, firstly I did editorials with the models and now my new editorial are the events where there is a creative direction more vast, more involvement of people, where there is a team and where I can say more. It was something organic just like the Book, and an urgent need for change.
Gabriella Chirappa:When did the proposal arrive from Marangoni and what was your reaction?
Anna Dello Russo: When the proposal of Marangoni arrived,I tell you I did not even think I just say “Yes”, even though for a while I have said no to everything, because I want to leave time for my creative productions. This is a big commitment and implies a lot of responsibility, so I said yes because it has arrived at the right time.
Gabriella Chirappa: Anna your educational background?
Anna Dello Russo:Well you should know that I have a degree in Literature and history of art,so in my Carma there is that of a Teacher,then I took on another journey and I became a professional journalist,but today maybe I will return to my Carma The Teacher my way, but I also want to be a showgirl, everyone should understand that I have this predisposition (Smile), I am a missed dancer.
Gabriella Chirappa:So Anna you would like to revolutionise the classic method of teaching, right?
Anna Dello Russo: Yes, I believe that there is nothing better than saying things seriously by playing, just like children, making a playground. I want to create a new way of teaching,I hope they will give me time to do it and not getting fired tomorrow(Joking), I am convinced that if I have the time necessary to build and to do well my work, we will do some playgrounds. Just like Yoga, where nothing is said you have to do internships and workshops, it is choral and empirical, in my opinion, this is the right way to approach the fashion,there is not a way to lecture and neither am I destinated to do that but I have “many things to say”, therefore through a game I hope to say things, transfer them and hope to be a good example.
Gabriella Chirappa: In your life, you have reached extraordinary accomplishments with success, how did you do it?
Anna Dello Russo: With lots and lots of fatigue, nothing is left randomly and nothing is random, I am very disciplined, I have always been a nerd, all my steps live to 360 degrees, I take it to the max, but it is in my nature, since I have been small.
Gabriella Chirappa: Anna have you always loved to conquer even since childhood?
Anna Dello Russo: Yes since childhood, my father started to worry when they gave out medals at school because I wanted the Gold one.
Gabriella Chirappa: Anna you born in Bari, therefore Apulian, what was your educational background?
Anna Dello Russo:Yes I was born in Bari,there I went to High School, therefore a humanistic course,then the University faculty of Bari and then came to Milan,I studied Latin, Greek, and metric,these are the three elements that gave me the force to understand many things,all this to say,that one has to work a lot ,the formation is fundamental and has to be kept in constant practice, like an athletic body,it is not enough only doing pushups and then…….stop, let’s go sleep. One must practice constantly every day.
Gabriella Chirappa: Anna your new method of academics is it the new formation of the future?
Anna Dello Russo: I hope so, I am going to try, in the meantime, I will experiment, then I will let you know at the end of the year.
Gabriella Chirappa: In all of your trips what struck you in a particular way?
Anna Dello Russo: Fear of the Unknown, which I got over, are you familiar with ‘Lost in Translation’, I was in Japan,I had a strange sensation when you find yourself alone in a foreign place and with foreign people.In all of this I found myself doing a photoshoot with an Englishman,a Sottishman and five assistants and you don’t even know how to ask for a safety pin…the fear not to make it,the weather is bad and say where the f……am I.Its just like the film “Lost in Translation”,the journeys teach you on how not to be afraid the whole world is country,therefore you will find the right solution everywhere if you have been in the world you won’t be afraid to confront new situations, it is a training that teaches yourself on how not to be afraid and to have a great cultural opening.
Gabriella Chirappa: Today many Italian Griffe are sold to foreign buyers, do you think ‘The Made in Italy’ is in danger?
Anna Dello Russo:Are you kidding me, absolutely no,’The Made in Italy’ is fantastic and if we were in China in Asia and in any other place they would cover us with red roses all over, we are loved in every part of the world but also here we must take constant care of our products, ‘take care’ every day precisely because it is a great treasure,it needs lots of care.
Gabriella Chirappa: An encounter that has remained in your heart?
Anna Dello Russo: Sincerely I think to have been very fortunate, for all the encounters I have had, I could write one hundred pages, I have had amazing mentors, to start from Franca Sozzani who I worked with for 18years, a bigger school for my work I could not have, it changed my life.
I had extraordinary encounters that have changed my life, if you take the right path thanks to Karma, everything changes, you meet people who help you and inspire you and change your life. And this is what I want to do with the youth on being a point of inspiration in a way that can remain in their heads. Like the time I went to school,I had a great history of art teacher, believe me, she made us tremble,she asked us to memorise the Sistine Chapel the teachers name is Tatulli, when she entered we were all immobilized, however today I still remember all about the Sistine Chapel, as an indelible memory.
Gabriella Chirappa: Anna Currently there is talk about great changes in general, what can you tell me about it?
Anna Dello Russo: Exactly, I think we are living a moment historical apocalyptic, an example to bring is the Street Artist Banksy, which does not end to surprise us. One of His paintings “Balloon Girl” was self-destructed after being sold. This makes you understand the moment we are living in, there is a void and all must be redone, there is urgency for creation.
Gabriella Chirappa: A message to be divulged, therefore “Urgency for Creation”?
Anna Dello Russo: Absolutely Chapeau to “Urgency for Creation”.
Gabriella Chirappa: Thank you to Anna Dello Russo for this splendid interview and see you soon. Chapeau
Anna Dello Russo: Thanks to you and very soon.
By Gabriella Chirappa