The Bite Magazine Issue 17

stereotypes by “renovating the classic ‘leather jacket’ notion”, and pushing the boundaries of the material by experi- menting with different treatments and design techniques. “I wanted to make things out of leather that weren’t so obvious,” she told Vogue . “So that when you look at it, you don’t have the impres- sion that it’s leather.” This is entirely true as when you do look at their pieces of garments, you could easily mistake the material for moleskin or something else entirely. “It’s a process that is very artisan, and very few people in the world know how to do it in a quality way,” Mar- ianna added, who is very careful about selecting the material to draping the patterns. Every item is meticulously hand-cut and sewn and by using their “dream born of a passion for leather, a journey undertaken exploring the depth of the material”, Marianna believes when design- ing a collection you can’t just compare materials and colours; the clothes are a container in which the sensations con- veyed by a picture, emotion, memory or experience combined with invisible layers to create the story and atmos- phere behind the collection. She brings her own experiences with old-fashioned film photography, designing costumes and performing for the physical theatre shows of the Anglo-Italian Elan Frantoio Company into her work. Her designs are feminine but edgy (managing to combine masculine elements without becoming androgynous), minimalist in essence but filled with elaborate details and with a style aptly described as being ‘touched by a slightly dark romanticism’. DROMe’s AW16 collection of evening and daywear takes some of its inspira- tion from the images taken by the late Deborah Turberville.The clothes have an element of fantasy about them without appearing like costumes (which I found interesting considering her background in theatre), and an uncommon form of contemporary elegance that is undenia- ble but difficult to describe. The colour scheme is inspired by the natural hues and tones of mists, twilights and dawns - ranging from white through to pastel pinks, blue and beige, then brighter (but still soft) reds, greens and blues and the occasional use of navy blue and black. This mix of shades and subtle yet prev- alent use of leather made me envision some kind of fairy biker gang, riding the roads in style with no agenda. My two favourite prints, the metallic pinstripe and the hand-painted psychedelic waves of purple, blue and white in the “Moon- dream” design, enhanced this image for me, and the other two definitely didn’t detract from it. I loved the many differ- ent styles of collars, especially the highly structured over-sized shirt collars, and the cut-out shoulders featured on some tops and dresses. Outerwear options consisted of over- sized trench coats and bomber jackets, with sleeves that are too long and too large but remaining feminine through subtle details. Accesso- ries come in the form of ruched leather neckties and headbands, a variety of flat and heeled shoes and two styles of sunglasses: the more rectangular ‘80s inspired ‘Skyfall’, and vintage ‘70s style ‘cat-eyes’. Although Marianna’s strong style vision comes through bite fashion