Interview Ave | Fashion Journalist Simone Marchetti
Fashion Journalist Simone Marchetti could easily be called the King of Prints. Day after day, I shot him during Paris Fashion Week because he never disappointed my lens with his impeccable bold style. For Simone, adding color and patterns to his wardrobe is a must. You have to give credit to a man that makes floral pants look masculine. Below, I got to chat with the man behind the powerful prints.
Tell us about yourself.
I'm a fashion journalist for Repubblica.it and La Repubblica, which are the most important website and newspaper of Italy. I live in Milano where I studied Aesthetics at University before becoming a journalist. I love contemporary art, all the types of music form opera to indie, theatre, poetry, fashion of course, good food, big cities, small islands, books and begin constantly informed. When I was in high school, one of my teachers was always reminding me: "Don't ever give in to mediocrity. Try always to fly higher and higher". It has become my motto.
Most men shy away from bold prints but they are consistent in your looks - why is that?
I think boldness is a way out of mediocrity. Fashion is not a matter of bold prints or strange outfits. It never is. Fashion is a matter of mind. It's the ability to represent a thought through a dress. Nothing else matters, not even the common idea of style.
What projects are you currently working on?
I'm working on a new fashion platform with Google and Google+, trying to break the classical rules of fashion information. And I'm studying a new fashion format, a little revolution in the idea of fashion magazines and websites.
What are some of your favorite places to hang out in Italy?
So many. In Milano, the beautiful Orti of Brera, a kind of green, secret garden in the heart of the city. La Scala Opera Theatre, when it's still empty and the orchestra is according the instruments before a show. I adore staying with my love, in the spring/summer weekends, in our house by the sea, in the Zoagli Old Castle Park (the Ligurian Sea), reading, listening to music and cooking for our closest friends. I fall in love with Venice everytime I visit it. I love two islands: Stromboli, one of the Eolian Islands, and Pantelleria, a magic place where I spent an important moment of my life. I like walking in the snow, in the Alpes, because I'm obsessed with white and with its idea of nothingness. But I think my favorite spot in the world is New York: I really don't know why, but I feel myself at home there.
Describe one of your best childhood memories.
I think the moment when I was back from boarding-school. As soon as I get home, my dog ran to me and I took him to the woods, near my parents' home, where we were free to play and relax on the green grass and under the blue sky.
What's on your playlist?
Falstaff, by Giuseppe Verdi, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Tristan und Isolde, by Richard Wagner, conducted by Carlos Kleiber
Fun - Some Nights
The Day Dream Club
The Young Professional
Everything that I find on Burberry Acoustic
If time travel was possible, where and when would you live? Why?
It's very simple: to the future. And that's because I'm obsessed with the idea of progress.
Can you recommend any movies to our readers?
I'm gonna tell you my 5 favorite ones.
8/2 by Federico Fellini
Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau
Barry Lindon by Stanley Kubrik
La Nuit Américaine by François Truffaut
Manhattan or Annie Hall by Woody Allen
What is your number 1 fashion faux pas?
Being afraid of what people could think.
5 style rules you live by:
I don't like, I don't trust fashion rules. With your style, I think you have to be intelligent. Always. Even when you are playing the fool.
