The new faces of fashion: Giógió, the age of innocence

What I didn’t expect though was that the starting point for their capsule collection could turn out to be a traumatic experience. During our meeting, we talked about the world of childhood, the close friendship of two boys, how The pain of memory and loss can be turned into a very sweet and interesting work. Which also wants to be a festival.

Born and raised in Catania, born in 1994, Giovanni Lizzio has behind him studies in Architecture and Interior Design, then in Scenography and Fashion Design and this is very clear all over the world looking at his work, because One gets the impression that it emanates from a very rich inner and cultural world, My conversation with the Sicilian designer has become this interview in which we talk about projects, clown therapy, and how to approach the men’s wardrobe with a decidedly more inclusive and open vision.

What path brought you closer to fashion and when did you decide that this would be your calling?

I obtained two degrees, one in fashion design, but the first was pivotal to my life’s choice: scenography for the theatre. And it was in those years that I began to enjoy the creativity associated with clothes, immersed in the history of fashion and an internship in Taormina, where I met Elisabetta Franchi, Stella Jean and Fausto Puglisi. In that environment I understood what I wanted to do, and it confirmed what I wanted in life when I started designing my own collection.

Can you tell us about the collection? If I am not wrong then there is a beautiful story behind its making.

What beautiful thing does friendship leave us with, by any cosmic logic? A man, himself extremely well mannered, who becomes the ultimate story of a fragile yet intense relationship between two boys with very different destinies. In my men’s collection “Giògiò” there is an authentic strength, personal and inserted in a struggle that is too complicated to win. My capsule is a tribute to a friendship broken by a terrible disease and left as a testimony to the strength and survival achieved through clown therapy, thus forming a bond with those who look at life and see it differently from us, as GióGió has done.

I tried to use a soft color palette where pink, yellow and blue are preferred, and hints of purple; and used clothing recognizable in the medical world, revisited in modeling to make them everyday, but with exaggerated aesthetic elements in both shape and color to recall clown therapy. I tried to create seven motifs that could be a sensory journey for everyone, inserting them into a visual narrative told and painted by children who face their personal battles together in the cancer hospital in Pisa.

Why choose knitwear?

In my opinion, Made in Italy, like many other realities, is now a victim and slave of time: fashion moves so fast that it never stops and you always need something new. This leads us to the addition of fast fashion, no longer a handmade product, but an industrial and fast product. Machines replace humans, and the work of our grandmothers and those before them is no longer vivid. I adore the beauty of knitted stitches, so perfect but imperfect, I remember having an empathy with the weaver who produced all the knitwear, an empathy that factories don’t give.

What is your origin and your amazing field of vision in your work and your approach to fashion?

The colors certainly evoke the atmosphere of Catania, and as in a good Sicilian Caliente the use of yellow is key, along with the blue of the sea and the white of Sicilian stone. Even if there was an actual research and study done on the colors that could be used in a hospital ward: not black because it recalls mourning, not red because it recalls blood, and Similarly. In my core I definitely carry with me the world of the child, today one should not be afraid to show one’s fragility, vulnerabilities and to know adults and children at the same time.

Where do inspirations come from? What do you love beyond fashion?

My fascination for the eighties influenced the birth of GióGió. The whole atmosphere of that decade attracted me, in all its forms: the music, the videos, the trends, wherever you were, you could feel the festive atmosphere. I really like cinema, that’s why I made my fashion film with Giovanni Tomaselli, the director of the famous and contemporary Collapse and Di Martino, who understood all my ideas perfectly. Then I love games, from arcade to the hyper-realistic games of today. From these references you can feel my love for graphics, always very abstract and aesthetic, which leaves room for moodboards to build the concept of a collection. Even if using integrity, many projects are born impulsively, perhaps dictated by what we see on a daily basis.

Which people have been able to inspire you? Who are your fashion heroes and why?

One person who deeply inspired me from the birth of the idea of ​​the collection to the end of the project, then transferred to a portfolio, was Harry Styles, with all his ethereal beauty in collaboration with Gucci, creative with Alessandro Michele As the director, that makes it free to dare, free to say that we are in 2023, but at the same time I am projected towards a past world, towards the old and the beauty of the old, the alpha male. Rejecting the idea of ​​being and making him the elegant male figure in all his forms and genders.

The male figure has changed a lot in recent years. How do we look at men’s fashion design today and how do you feel about the genderless and eco-friendly issues that are talked about so much?

Beauty is subjective, for me a skirt can be beautiful, as can trousers, colored stockings, a cake on the head. Which is greater than the female world or the male world? We are in 2023, we always want freedom of expression and many a time by our decisions we have chained thoughts, attitudes and rights. I am in favor of everything that is gender and environment friendly, even though these are the topics that attract everyone’s attention lately. In my opinion there are other untouched types of reality which I have tried to find from my collection. For example the exploration of emotions and the value of something like clown therapy.

Your beauty idol? And what is elegant to you?

My ideal of beauty is all that we rarely see around us. I love being the black sheep among a white flock and have always wondered: why wasn’t I born with beautiful red hair, freckles and blue eyes, or albino, or vitiligo? And imagine the beauty of these rarities wearing them in Saint Laurent, or Gucci, or Valentino.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far on this journey?

In recent years I have tried to put into practice what my family has always given me: Sacrifice and pursue my goals in the best possible way, never give up, never stop fighting and always believe in myself and my potential. rely. Life is a journey, and we have to get to the top of that mountain. The path may be winding, heavy, dark, but reaching the top you can enjoy the view: life is a climb, but the view is great!

What more can be done in your opinion for young people entering the fashion system?

In my opinion we need to give more work to young people, be less fiscal about experience and maybe create small groups of people who can teach other people and so on, by passing on concepts, techniques and experience Made in a circle. If you don’t have experience, how do you get started? Few jobs for many, and in Italy they like to exchange designers between companies or choose figures from abroad because they think they will give them a cooler and cooler touch. I find it wrong when it is said that new generations do not want to work: we should not do everything together, because for example I wake up in the morning and go to sleep in the evening with great desire to work and rock I do World. Give us more chances.

Future plans and secret dreams?

Willingness to leave my land which does not offer many job opportunities in this field and go in search of new experiences, stories to hear and who knows to tell, move to another city and pursue my goals, ideals and work Chances are the skills are really small, after all you always start with the smaller fish. Dreams in the drawer? To work for someone big like Gucci, Valentino, Saint Laurent and it is such a beautiful and grateful experience that I can continue with my brand in the near future.