Francesca Marotta- A True Fashionista
Francesca Marotta is ready to conquer London
I don’t think she’ll mind me saying this, but Francesca Marotta is not a new face on the fashion scene – she has been working in the industry for almost two decades. However this is the first time she is showcasing at London Fashion Week on Sunday 18th in St Martin’s Lane Hotel.
Her Spring Summer 12 collection is entitled ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’, meaning the searching of a lost time. A huge fan of comics, Francesca’s collection is inspired by powerful women and is reminiscent of the Hitchcock heroines coupled with the superpowers of Marvel characters.
Her interest in fashion started at an early age, watching her Sicilian mother making clothes for her siblings. By the age of 14 she began making clothes for herself, which were radically above and beyond the conservative Belgium town where she was grew up. But this did not deter her creativity- being different just inspired her!
She soon left the confines of the Belgium countryside to fulfill her studies in London, where she settled comfortably amongst the London fashionistas in the early 90s while attending the London College of Fashion.
However studying and Francesca didn’t quite work out, and she didn’t complete her diploma and left college , however it didn’t take her long to gain a position working as a junior designer for a few different labels; But her dream was to work for herself. Eventually her perseverance paid off, and the collections she had been working on independently won several design awards, which gave her the opportunity to show in Japan, Belgium, UK, France and Italy.
This was an exciting learning curve and Francesca gained experience all round the world, but when she got pregnant with her twins, she put her career as a designer on hold to raise the boys. When she resumed work, she found she fell easily into styling over designing and has been working as a successful international fashion stylist for the last five years.
The opportunities she gained as a stylist are apparent in the new collection, and are evident in the collaborations with other high end designers that Francesca has used in her shoots, including luxury jewellery designer Imogen Belfield, and shoe designer to the stars, Gil Carvalho, Marotta who add another dimension to the detailing of her show.
Her collection that is part ready to wear, part haute couture – but all pure luxury. With it, she is sharing her vision and childhood dreams with the fashion world, and this is just the first stop in the feisty Scilian’s sights, as she is planning a business empire to rival Givenchy, with perfumes, home furnishing, menswear and kidswear, all in her grasp; Hold on to your hats, this is sure to be one hell of a ride!