That’s what Italian designer Tommasco Aquilano told me at Neiman Marcus downtown this morning. He and Roberto Rimondi, the other half of Aquilano.Rimondi are in town for a spring 2013 trunk show. You can scope out all of the runway looks here, but you can’t truly experience the collection until you’ve touched and felt the garments. It’s sight sensory overload with all the prints, colors, and fabric finishes, but the handcrafted Italian tailoring is superb. Aquilano and Rimondi are known for mixing textures, and the latest batch takes it up another level. Jacquard meets checkerboard prints, Picasso patterns mingle with Japanese obi belts, geometrical stitching pairs with boxy, super-structured shapes, and everything comes colorblocked and bright. Sounds like a circus? It’s supposed to. The collection was inspired by Venetian masquerades, Pablo Picasso, Frederico Fellini’s La Strada, and Japanese culture. But back to Dallas women being laid back. According to Aquilano, “Milanese women are straight elegant or straight work. Here, the customer is changing. They think of the piece not all in one way.” (For example, women will take their boxy silk jacket and wear it not only with the satin blue cropped pant and the elaborate, checkered bead and black lacquered diamond skirt, but throw it on with a pair of jeans, too.) So Dallas women = more awesome than Italian women. Okay, that’s not what he said. But on behalf of my fellow Dallasites, I’ll take that as a compliment. And now, a few fun questions for the designing duo:
Runner-up passion?
Aquilano: Cooking
Rimondi: Gardening
Favorite food?
Aquilano: Couldn’t pick one with his love for cooking. Traditional Italian and sushi are on his menu these days, but like fashion, he says the “ingredients” should always be changing.
Rimondi: Bread, desserts, chocolate.
Current book?
Both answered historical biographies top the list. The latest subject on the nightstand: Queen Elizabeth I.
Dream travel destination?
Aquilano: Peru
Rimondi: Egypt
