Participating in New York Fashion Week last fall sent the young Italian-Liège stylist Flaviano Sangiorgi's career into orbit. With a great number of projects already planned to expand his brand “Asulae”, he continues to express his creativity through his collections of pastel-coloured luxury streetwear.
By Jacqueline Remits, published on the Revue W+B n*162.
An experience that the young stylist will never forget! At only 25, taking part in a New York Fashion Week show is not an opportunity given to all those trying to enter the industry. The organization spotted him on social media, after he posted models wearing his fall-winter collection.
As part of this Fashion Week edition, the organizers put together a show dedicated to young stylists recruited from around the world. “I was one of the six world selections outside America, including two Europeans”, he begins.
“They discovered me on social media where I had shown photos of some pieces from my fall-winter collection. It was my second major collection and they particularly liked one model. In New York, I walked fifteen models to present a collection of about thirty pieces that I had to make in a month, with the help of my mom who is a seamstress.
It was a lot for the first time! A real challenge. I dreamed, of course, of doing a Fashion Week show, but I wish that for a first, it had been lighter, less far. I would have preferred to start in Europe, in Copenhagen, for example, as my clothes work well for Nordic countries, or in Brussels.”
Start more calmly. “In New York, it wasn’t easy, but I learned a lot.” Not only was this first experience rewarding, but he came out of it with a first order placed by a New York store.
Inspired by Sicily
With his brand Asulae, Flaviano Sangiorgi creates luxury clothing, a mix of streetwear and haute couture. He finds his inspiration in the nature found in his home region. His style comes from his own history.
A child of southern Italy, he grew up under the sun. «I was born in a small village in the centre of Sicily, 1,000 inhabitants at 600 meters altitude, not very close to the sea, at the foot of the mountains, 40 minutes from the beach».
With tailors as grandparents, a seamstress mother, and a mechanic father, all self-employed, the bug of sewing and entrepreneurship runs through his veins. “They may have unknowingly passed on to me the fact that they only rely on themselves own their own businesses. Mom worked alone. My father was his own boss.” He didn’t realize it then.
“As a child, I was surrounded by sewing machines, patterns, and needles, but I was not attracted to fashion. I was only interested in football at the time.” When his parents separated, at the age of 14, he arrived in Belgium with his mother, an Italian born in Belgium where she still had family, brothers, and sisters.
The teenager began studying mechanics at the Saint-Laurent Institute in Liège «My idea was to take over my father’s garage in Sicily. I wanted to go back to my village and play on the street with other teenagers. After a year and a half, I realized that being a mechanic was not for me.”
As a young man he loved languages and learned French quickly, so he turned to tourism studies. “I liked being a reception agent, a facilitator. But I always wanted to be independent, and I get bored very quickly.” After a few months of working a student job, he still didn’t know which higher education to pursue.
Then comes lockdown and his creative vein is ignited. That’s where it all started. "I was bored, so I started sewing. I wanted to make a T-shirt, my mom told me it would be difficult, but I started anyways and liked it!” At the age of 19, he decided to train at HelMo Mode in Liège. «A technical clothing production school rather than fashion design».
Three years of a bachelor's in textile, fashion technique, and garment making that he finishes in five, but that’s not important, something clicked. “One morning I woke up wanting to create a brand. 'Is it feasible for me, or not?' I asked myself. 'It will be hard, but it is possible.' I followed my intuition and, convinced that I had found my way, I started.'
One brand and already three collections
His creativity boosted by the tight confinements, he launched his brand Asulae (azul, blue in Spanish, and terra, land in Latin), in tribute to his Mediterranean origins. With it, he reinvents training wear, inspired by the sun of his homeland.
“I found that what existed, and that we wear to play sports or stay at home, was dull and grey. I wanted to create a comfortable garment that can be worn both inside and out, by making it more stylized, by working on the cut, by carefully choosing the fabric and the colours so that it could be worn to a restaurant, for example.” A minimalistic, streetwear and unisex style. He released his first collection, Decontrack.
"The texture is thicker, for a soft fall. For the summer, I use linen. Once I showed it on socials, and it was over.” Quickly, he creates a summer collection, nonchalantly. This encouraged him to launch a third collection, La Rinascita, inspired by ancient Greece.
To train in business, the young stylist enters VentureLab, an entrepreneurial support structure at the Grand Poste in Liège, as a student entrepreneur. “I have been helped and supported in the areas I was not familiar with, like implementing a financial plan. It’s important to surround yourself with the right people. I really like meeting other young entrepreneurs.
I also take advantage of the coworking space to work on the computer, while my sewing workshop is at home.” A first store in Liège placed an order. “My mother helps me with sewing, my grandmother makes the crocheted flowers for my collections”.
Since returning from New York, Flaviano Sangiorgi has created a website and started an online store. “I am also approaching stores. With a saleswoman I hired, we are establishing a fashion strategy and I try to raise my brand awareness on social media.”
He can count on the invaluable help of the Awex office in New York to find him customer stores. The new collection, shown in New York, was put together during the presale. Starting a company and finding investors are now part of his short-term goals.
The young stylist is not lacking in ambition. “I would like to develop my brand in luxury ready-to-wear and haute couture and become a great brand on the same scale as Jacquemus, or even Dior or Chanel.
Having a world-renowned house that brings together the team, shop, workshop, studio, and offices in one place is my goal. Creating several collections a year, walking down the street, and seeing my clothes worn by people, that’s my dream!”
Image by © Thành Joris and © Robin Detilleux
