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Cristina Cucca

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occupation: designer

Angela, our Milan correspondant, said that Cristina’s love of the clean and linear comes from her experience of living in Berlin, which has been the capital of “rational aesthetics” since Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus. In fact, her love of shapes can be seen in her designs, where she creates conceptually conceived geometric pieces that allow a person’s personality to form the garment, rather than the garment forming them. For Cristina, it’s all about discovery, whether it’s finding fifteen different ways to drape a rectangle or digging through a pile of clothes at a psychiatric hospital, one of her favorite places to hunt (at one point in her video, Cristina points out how this institution uses the exercise of uncovering old clothes as a way of escaping their reality). I love how Cristina rolls up a pencil skirt and belts it, and the way she takes a man’s tie and throws it around her neck. In keeping with her Sardinian heritage, she loves black, but will venture out to white, navy, gray, and brown, always with the underlying minimal line. There are not many moments where I am tempted to leave my layers, Victorian bustles, and chunky rings behind, but after seeing Cristina, now is one of those times.

If you like Cristina, you might also enjoy Lauren Boyle, Fatima Al-Qadiri, or Crayon Lee.


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Giulia Brunello

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occupation: stylist and PR

“Many people say that I look like Lady Gaga, but I don’t think so. I had my hair like this before her. I wear what I want to wear, I don’t have stylists that dress me up as they want me to look. I think I am much more real than she is.” Giulia Brunello

This is our first in a series of features from Milan done by SLU’s own Angela Grossi. Giulia has the kind of attitude I love. Cool and confident without being blocked by pride, she is so totally accessible, enthusiastic, and genuine. Her friends call her Giulia Smith because of her love of British culture, everything from punk to Vivienne Westwood are fetishes and her favorite fashion moment is Elizabethan for its crinolines and bustiers. She isn’t big on vintage, but wears her grandmother’s riding hat with her Ramones t-shirt and killer over-the-knee boots with verve. You can see the huge influence of music and Balmain on her style by her reference to Madonna’s Celebration video and in her studded dresses and leggings. However, despite Giulia’s adoration of Anglo culture, to me, she is still so Italian in her very feminine high-waisted skirts, stilettos, and raw sensuality.


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Morena Russo

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“Everything that has elegance and strength to it [inspires me], like the Italian women of the ’40s and ’50s, Greek mythology, a beautiful painting, the sea, the smell of Sicily, people with culture.” Morena Russo

occupation: manager of Amarcord Vintage and creator of Morena Russo accessories line

Morena says that one of her favorite things about fashion are the people who don’t let fashion rule
their world. Despite living in the heart of fashion, both in New York and Milan, she is known among her friends as “the clean one” and is unphased by trends. She can easily party all night and LOVES to dance, but always dressed in one of her signature “less is more” uniforms. Morena emanates classic with a distinct worldly sensuality, and is always refined in one of her ’40s or ’50’s dresses and girlish pumps. Few things looks better, in my opinion, than an oversized white button-down shirt with french cuffs, and she gives it her passion for history touch with vintage earrings as cuff links. Morena believes that style is beyond what you wear, and she oozes with the traditions and sophistication of her European heritage, where comfort within your own skin is more common than not. She was born and grew up in Sicily, and recalls women being grounded, strong, and elegant as much inside themselves as outside. Her advice, “look in the mirror and take something off.”


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Marcelo Burlon

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occupation: Editor-in-Chief of Rodeo Magazine, Stylist, DJ, and Party Organizer

Fashion makes me feel free and young. Marcelo Burlon

Marcelo is the second of four people that Jeffrey Williams found for us in Milan. We now have Angela Grossi, who lives in Milan, as a permanent ambassador for us there, so there will be many more from Italy to come. Marcelo was born in Patagonia, Argentina and at the age of 8, remembers putting on fashion shows in his backyard. Presently, the “character” that makes-up Marcelo is someone with the passion and energy to launch and edit a magazine, organize PR events for companies like Givenchy, Alexander McQueen, Jil Sander, Prada, and Maison Martin Margiela, style, and dj. Considering how productive Marcelo is, it is not surprising that he is inspired by someone as prolific as Alejandro Jodorowsky, who was an iconic actor, poet, filmmaker, and playwrite (famous for the Mexican Western “El Topo”). As much as Marcelo loves clothes, he sees the potential superficialty that his business can bring, and most endearing is that he can laugh at his own infatuation with it. However, it takes an intellect to express with such ease the depth of vision of a suit in bold primary colors.


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Kukso Koo

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occupation: fashion designer

“Life is beautiful when it’s filled with variety.” Kukso Koo

Kukso is our first in a series of four people that Jeffrey Williams shot for us in Milan. I love Kukso’s passion for the power of the timeless designs of indigenous cultures . To me, iconic cultural references are undeniable truths in fashion and always provide a stamp of individuality, like the simple beauty of line and volume of the kimono and the eternal majesty of the primary colors (“strong pure energy”) in Maasai beaded jewelry. Kukso told Jeffrey that his grandmother’s traditional Korean costumes were a huge inspiration for him. “Pure beauty” is what Kukso is after, and the affect of how he likes to “mix cultures in one pot” – the combination of his ripped jeans, classic tuxedo shoes, ethnic jewelry, and long black hair together is a visual feast.


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