any topic you touch with Riccardo Tisci you always get to talk about women. Probably no one knows them better than he does. They were her world before and are Her Universe now that she firmly (and successfully) drives Burberry. And it is not surprising if the designer dedicates his latest show “Femininity” to his mother Elmerinda, 93 years old (a World War and Covid won, great) and to his eight sisters. A tribute to the strength of his “bold and gentle Warriors” for whom he imagined “armor”, made of classics rethought in forms, materials and tinsel. The sharp cuts to redefine the silhouette and the sudden geometries to recreate lightness: “the woman for me is the most important being on Earth. I have always been with them: I support Marina (Abramovichndr) against violence, I get excited when I see movements like Black Lives Matter, and I am happy with the aesthetic change taking place. You can see, everywhere: today women no longer need to dress as men or to cover themselves all, to be believed strong. They are in the right places, they have gained power and do not have to prove anything. So they are rediscovering femininity, without prejudice: “you must respect me as a human person and for who I am”. All this is beautiful.”
shadow carousel Burberry and the warriors of Tisci: “Strong like my mom and my eight sisters” Burberry and the warriors of Tisci: “Strong like my mom and my eight sisters” Burberry and the warriors of Tisci: “Strong like my mom and my eight sisters” Burberry and the warriors of Tisci: “Strong like my mom and my eight sisters” Burberry and the warriors of Tisci: “Strong like my mom and my eight sisters” Burberry and the warriors of Tisci: “Strong like my mom and my eight sisters”
he Writes in the dedication of the show: “During my life, my mother was a force of nature. As a single parent, he raised me and my eight sisters with incredible determination and pride.” Because Riccardo was born in Taranto in 1974, the last child; his father died when he was little and his mother left Puglia to look for work in the North, in the province of Como: “she always showed me love but with words very late, only when I was old did she say “I love you”: me and my sisters have waited patiently. Today he gets excited about every little thing I do and tells me that I am the diamond of his life. It’s wonderful.”
Riccardo Tisci with mom Elmerinda, 93-year-old
Many of the walls (as they called him) to divide Riccardo from the other, then: “I didn’t have the money to do sports or go on holiday or go out with their classmates”. But now he is on the “winning”side. “Oh, my God, winner,” he shrugs. Well, yes. “It’s too big a concept, and life spares you nothing. I’ve lived here and there, of course. They say power and money change things, but that’s not the case. They can also destroy you. It is better never to stray from the fundamental elements, otherwise you will sink. As a boy I was afraid to express what I had inside: I was different, shy and did not feel up to it. I listened to music and only talked to my sisters. Guardian Angels pushed me: they told me that I was strong and I had to jump. I believed first in them and then in myself. With work, which I love, I found my language. And over time I learned to speak in public, following courses: the first years I even refused prizes for fear of getting on a stage”.
Mahmood in kilts (cool item of the men’s collection) Burberry Sanremo
tells the story (yet) as shy and reserved, but has a lot of friends (“I was able to build my gang: love is a condition of living”); only to work with other designers (and the countryside, with Donatella Versace or the capsules with Vivienne Westwood), and to be cross-dress, and the stars (from the wedding dress to Kim Kardashian at the costumes for Marina Abramovich): “In the Seventies and Eighties we the south, and the poor not had an easy life. I did not make it a tragedy, always positive and serene, but when I was successful I made it a lifestyle: never to exclude or judge people. For me Marina Abramovich or Ranja of Jordan or Kim Kardashian are people. I do not focus on aesthetics but on the heart: they are three very strong women even if different. And I never get influenced: when I started with Lea T I had so many problems and now look, after ten years, who she is and how she is part of society. There are trans girls on the covers of the New York Times or on the catwalks.”
Lady friend from time Tisci in one of the look of the new Burberry collection
And how do you reconcile her to be a deeply catholic with the themes that port forward? “With respect. Even when I talk about sexuality. Religion, whatever, is important, and without offending you can change things. The most beautiful moment of my life was when I donated the golden embroidered mantle to the Cathedral of Taranto as a token of thanks to my parents. Then when I saw the church so crowded with young people I was as excited as ever”.
