The culture and values in Marco Rambaldi's fashion The founder of the brand told nss G-Club about the inspiration and values behind his collections

A dedication of love to women, based on unity and sisterhood: this is the manifesto of the latest SS21 collection by Marco Rambaldi, which lays its foundations on the concepts of freedom, solidarity and love.

In such a difficult time, and in the panorama of the Italian fashion industry, ruled by the big names and traditional fashion houses, to emerge it takes much more than a beautiful collection or well-designed garments, and Marco Rambaldi, designer and founder of the brand, knows it well. To break through the hearts of the audience, authenticity is necessary, and values and meanings need be expressed through fashion. The cultural value of fashion is a precious good. With the SS21 collection Rambaldi shares an ode to Fernanda Pivano, Italian writer and journalist, inspired by her personality, and by the psychedelic graphics of her magazines.

One of the most revolutionary and avant-garde women ever, a true feminist, an intellectual and the absolute symbol of freedom and culture.

To understand more about the many facets of the brand and its founder, nss G-Club talks directly with Marco Rambaldi to discover the inspiration, values and future projects with the brand.

1. Hi Marco, can you tell us more about yourself? What is your background and when did you start approaching fashion? How did your brand started?

I come from the province of Bologna, a city that has influenced me from different points of view. I started getting into fashion when I was a teenager, in that phase where you don't really know who you are, or who you want to be: one day you were feeling punk and the next a cool kid. From there I started experimenting with looks, with clothes, observing what was around me. In high school I studied graphic design, then a year of product design before I realized that my way was fashion design. So I moved to Venice to attend the fashion design Bachelor's degree at the IUAV, where I met Giulia Geromel, my collaborator, and I found her again after many years.

While I was writing my graduation thesis, my mother told me about an article about Next Generation, a call for proposals to create a capsule collection and show in Milan with the support of Camera della Moda: I participated and won it! Then, thanks to Sara Maino (who has always supported me) I made a second capsule that I presented at AltaRoma.

After that I decided to freeze my brand to work in Milan as a designer in the women's creative department of an important brand, to learn more about the system and the profession I was about to get in. After this experience, thanks to the support of Leila Palermo and Andrea Batilla (and obviously, of my family) I started with the brand Marco Rambaldi which was actually born in 2017, out of a need, a great desire to communicate something and to show that I you can do everything, if you really believe in it. Today Giulia Geromel and Filippo Giuliani work with me.

2. In the collections as well as in the communication, the concepts of inclusion and freedom are important. What are the elements or characters that influence your collections?

From the beginning, inclusion and freedom have been the pillars of our work. There is always a reference to the past and to the feminism of the 70s, the rights, revolutions, fights, and the reason is that those years were the real beginning of women's liberation as we know it now.

Then I had the chance to get to know Valèrie Taccarelli and Eva Robin's and we worked on  different projects together: they thought me about their origins and their past, becoming the symbol of all those personalities who allowed us to grow in a more elastic society. They fought to give us a better future, made of freedom, following the legacy of Sylvia Rivera and the Stonewall riots in America.

3. Your SS21 show was one of the few "physical" show of the last Fashion Week in Milan. Does the choice of the location and casting have a particular meaning? 

It was a very spontaneous choice: it was since the first lockdown that I have started this research, still not knowing if there would be the possibility to do an actual show in September.
We are interested in people who have a story to tell. It was important to me that nothing was forced, even the choice of looks was specifically designed for each model.

We wanted a casting that was inclusive and that reflected who we are. Hence, also the choice of parading in the street, in the heart of Porta Venezia, in via Lecco in Milan. A multi-ethnic, multicultural, LGBTQI + neighborhood.
Our brand finds its core in the themes of feminism and the fight against discrimination of all kinds. Don't reject but include and support, this is what we believe in.