The brand initially launched with individual items. It wasn't until a party that Giulia met Mariavittoria Soldi, the current designer of the company. "We actually knew each other
already since school," says Spiller. "She was in the class next to mine. So we started
talking and drinking and I asked her to come work with me." Thus, a new partnership began, and in 2011, 830 Sign debuted its
first ready to wear collection, man and woman, inheriting the
manufacturing experience from the past generation.
Mariavittoria is responsible for the great designs, but both women choose the fabrics together: "Since I also do the sales we choose together the items and you can
totally see that the collection is exactly a mix of us," Giulia says. All pieces are made in
Italy, working with important Italian and Japanese suppliers on fabrics.
Streamlining trends with a modern take on classics, the identity of the
brand evolves with the consumer. Always inspired by arts, architecture and anatomy, the collections
appeal to versatile and avant-garde minds who truly understand their own sense
of style. The ultimate goal for 830 Sign is to design unique yet wearable, modern yet
timeless pieces. Easy, chic, youthful but understated with a premium hand and
attention to detail is the brand's ethos.
For Autumn/Winter 2012-13, 830 Sign's collection is inspired by contemporary art and youth culture.
Signature prints and fabrications, it's all about movement, fragmentation,
fading. Movement as a way to follow this evolving
era, where everything around us is constantly changing, thus bringing renewal
and growth.
Confident yet charming and relaxed, the 830 Sign
woman favors a blend of texture and materials to layer into her outfit. Mixing
denim, silk and wool in contrasting colours with ease. Navy, powdery grey, bold
peacock blue and bright accent of paprika define 830 Sign palette. Abstract
prints and pixelated costume inspired developed jacquards race across silky
blouses and knitwear highlighting the collection’s sophistication.
Styles include simply chic blouses, pleated tops
and baggy trousers in both flowy and austere silhouettes, with an accent on
waist and shoulders, thus evoking a subtle quote of the 80's shapes, tailored
with a sense of refined ease. Supple but structured coats in double weight
wool conjure up a decidedly urban flair.
The overall attitude for 830 Sign this autumn/winter
season is modern and feminine with spontaneous charm for looks that embody
sense of wearable luxury that has become the brand signature.
It has to be said that Giulia is one of the sweetest people I've met and interviewed, and from all the emailing back and forth you can totally tell that she not only cares about her brand, but also that her whole heart is set on it. Both Giulia, with her entrepreneurial spirit, as well as Mariavittoria, the creative brains behind the designs, answered our questions and behold the results:
Fashion-Pixel: What
is your personal style when it comes to dressing?
Mariavittoria Soldi: I
like to define my style as “unconventional minimal,” clean but with a touch
of my own personality.
Giulia Spiller: Everyday? Like every morning when I wake up and I'm
already late and I have to run to the office? Well like Mariavittoria
“unconventional minimal,” but with a different point of view. To me minimal
means jeans, T-shirt, and shoes of every kind as long as they don’t have high heels.
F-P: What
is your favourite colour?
MS: Cold
charcoal.
GS: A a color to wear? Each shade of BLACK!
F-P: Which
designer do you admire?
MS: In this
moment, I’m really into Coco Chanel. I love the way she managed to be always
elegant with ease, nearly comfortable. “Chic” is the right word.
GS: She was born in ‘83 too... Only 100 years before me
(so that’s a sign)... Dynamic, casual, boyish look... CHANEL.
F-P: Do
you have a piece of jewellery that means a lot to you? What is it? If you want,
tell us why is it so important to you?
MS: I
wear almost everyday a bracelet that I love because it’s the perfect synthesis
of my vision of fashion: clean, simple and functional, but interesting at the
same time. It’s made of two half circles, kept together by a simple little
chain, which prevents you from losing it in case it opens. I find it genius. My
boyfriend bought it for me in a small creepy shop in Cologne, Germany, and this
makes it even more special. It’s the cheapest and most beautiful present I
received from him, thus, showing that precious things don’t necessarily need to
be expensive.
GS: It’s a sort of wedding ring with little tiny
diamonds, but instead of having my Mr. X future husband name carved in, there
is written “NONNO” (grandpa)... He was really sick and he knew that that was
his last present. He gave it to me for Christmas and I always wear it!!
F-P: What
are you going to buy next for your wardrobe? Where from?
MS: I’m
in love with a pair of lace-up shoes,
from Yohji Yamamoto. I think it’s definitely going to be my next buy.
GS: Unfortunately the next buy will be a pair of high
heels, because I have to go to a wedding... But high heels are either stunning or
comfortable, so I’ll buy another beautiful pair of high heels that I’ll wear
until we start dancing.
F-P: What
is your favourite outfit?
MS: Actually
I don’t have a “favourite outfit”, it always depends on my personal mood in
that period of my life. Right
in these last days I feel perfect in a vintage checked cotton trouser by Kenzo,
white cotton T-shirt and a light cashmere sweater on top. It’s the right
compromise to welcome summer in these last days of Spring.
GS: Favourite outfit... If I could I would live on an
exotic island, so I would wear a bikini, a wrap, my sunscreen, sand, sun, and being barefoot.
F-P: Do
you usually buy clothes from your trips abroad?
MS: Not
necessarily, it happens only if I find something really special.
GS: Yes, and I usually look for that versatile item that
I can wear for different occasions.
F-P: What
piece would you place in a fashion museum?
MS: You
mean something that I bought? If yes, an
asymmetrical sleeveless mint dress from Maison Martin Margiela. In the front
it’s long to the floor, in the back just under the knee; Three
friends of mine put it on, and it was stunning on each of them. The fit, the
fabric, the colour, every little detail make it special and perfect.
GS: Do you mean something that belongs to me? Well then
my Dr. Martens for sure... I have them since I was 11. They are destroyed but
I’m still wearing them.
F-P: What
is a key item that all wardrobes should have?
MS: A fine
gauge silk turtleneck sweater.
GS: Something that you can compare to the morning
lotion? A pair of jeans.
F-P: Would
you like to live in another era?
MS: Sometimes
I would like to slip back to the 20’s. In terms of fashion, I think it was the
most elegant era for both man and woman.
GS: Not really, but sometimes I wish I could move to
another planet.
F-P: What
inspires you?
MS: Most
of my inspiration comes from nature. Each texture, colour, shape you can
imagine, is already around us, you only need to find it out and translate it in
your own way. Beside
that, also architecture, music, photography, art and design are very inspiring
for my job, but in a different way; they somehow represent the results of
someone else thought, so you don’t start
from something “pure”. In this case I do a sort of “going back to the roots”
process: I approach an artist only if his own work is the expression of the
same inspiration I’m into that moment, and I go back to the start, to
understand why he chose that particular way to express his concept. It’s
amazing how many different results you can achieve, starting from the same idea.
GS: LIFE.
F-P: What
is your favourite material to use?
MS: I find
polyester one of the most versatile material existing; Japanese suppliers are
very good with that, you see fabrics so different form each other, you can’t
imagine they come from the same starting composition.
GS: I leave this one to Mariavittoria.
F-P: What
is your fashion fetish?
MS: Fashion
books are actually my fetish.
GS: I don’t really have a fashion obsession or fetish..
Does that mean that I’m not fashion?!? If yes... OH YES!!
F-P: What
is your latest fashion obsession?
MS: Vintage
pieces from Issey Miyake. It’s not easy to find them, but once I have one in my
hand it takes at least half an hour to study the pattern… amazing!
F-P: How
do you determine what is chic?
MS: Chic
is the perfect balance between pure (in terms of design), rich (in terms of
material and workmanship), unaffected.
GS: Chic is that little something that makes the
difference that either you have it or not... And if you don’t have it, you
don’t! Period! You can’t buy it!!
F-P: Is
there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
MS: My
personal rule when I dress up: always wear something that makes people look up
to you, not stare at you.
GS: We are talking about fashion... Unfortunately we
won’t save the world... So don’t follow any rule!
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