Emilio Bonadio is a young fashion designer born and raised in Brazil. He moved to Italy to realise his dream in fashion and graduated from NABA, in Milan. Everyday is a challenge for Emilio to communicate his language of fashion, something special. Emilio has won the Italian Fashion Talent Awards in 2019.
We had the chance to have a conversation with Emilio to know his artistic work.
"There's always a second thought behind my garments, an idea hidden under a beautiful surface, an enigma to decipher. "
Hello Emilio, tell us about yourself.
I would describe my personality as the the typical Aquarius person, I appreciate spending time alone, with a lot of creative projects in my mind, always thinking about the future. I love to solve problems, and I'm really a hard working man. But as a creator I would say I am a young artist who has chosen fashion as a language to communicate my vision of life.
I'm certainly a maximalist designer interested to any manifestation of natural beauty, I like contrasting colours, daring angles, bold volumes, with a lot of influence of multi-ethnic cultures, history of art and ancient costumes.
I would say I am a young artist who has chosen fashion as a language to communicate my vision of life.
How would you describe your art and what do you like to be inspired by?
I like to think of my creations as artworks from renaissance or symbolism periods, inspired by art, nature and political content. They're very easy to like, because of the use of classical beauty, but maybe not so easy to understand. You see a pink long dress I've designed, you like it, but you might not understand before I explain that, that dress is the representation of a spirit that protects Amazon rainforest, or even, you could like my flower patterns and not get at the first sight that I've chosen poisonous ones to describe my ideal woman, beautiful and dangerous and I did so, we could have the opportunity to talk about female empowerment for example. There's always a second thought behind my garments, an idea hidden under a beautiful surface, an enigma to decipher.
That's why I want them to be pretty to use beauty as a hook, you see them, you like it, we start talking about the alligator prints and then we are suddenly discussing of how important for Earth is to guaranty the supremacy of the Native Americans population in the rainforest lands. You might say "I love this pink dress" but if you can decipher the code too you'll see is much more than that, its surely a political dress, and this effect is something just art can allow us to do.
I want people to feel confident in my clothes, help them to perform the best version of themselves and to identify their lives with my beliefs.
Fashion and fantastic animals, what have they in common?
I know exactly from where this question comes, and that's why I like it. We all have dreams of how a better life should be, and some of these dreams are timeless just like the interest humanity has on imaginary creatures . From ancient Greek myths till modern times movies, we all dream about freedom, power, courage and wisdom, and so we have used these animals as a metaphor to these values. As I was telling you, when I'm designing clothes I like to transmit a message, and when I add these elements to my designs and prints I want people to feel fearless, powerful and confident.
What are the emotions you want to transmit?
I try to be in contact with art, architecture and nature as much as possible because those are the things that inspire me the most. Once I'm fully charged with the good energies those elements transmit me, I like to dedicate some time to create, and then with my works, I want to inspire others as well. I want people to feel confident in my clothes, help them to perform the best version of themselves and to identify their lives with my beliefs. In the end this good energy and positive emotions always come from those initial sources: art, architecture and nature.
How is the choice of materials oriented?
Thank you for this question. I'm on a personal quest right now, and it consists in reducing the most I can the use of animal or oil based fibers. I respect nature and I'm trying and improving the most I can to use just natural vegetal fibers or man made fibers with vegetal origins. I avoid polyester the most I can, and when I develop unique custom dresses I like to collect vintage (and high-end quality) Italian traditional fabrics on flea markets. Something similar I try to do when I create something with PETG (plastic), I just use leftovers from other designers and keep all the trials and wastes to reuse as much as possible for the next projects. It's a choice we independent designers can allow ourselves to make, and it must to be used as an advantage in our favour, it brings quality and value to our works.
What is Emilio special that others do not have?
One thing I love about myself is being a multicultural person. My father has Venetian origins and my mother has Nigerian, Native American, Jewish and German roots that all mixed in my DNA added to the fact I was born and raised in São Paulo, the largest metropolis of American continent made me grow in an environment that respects all cultures, genders and ways of life. It was a privilege to grow up in a place were I always had the freedom to express myself and my personality.
What are your future project?
You know, when you're a creative person you have a lot of plans for the future, but my golden plan to the near future is to hold my own exhibition with all my Garments so far. I'm really interested in telling the story behind them and the ideological content they represent. There's a lot of research and symbology behind my clothes and an exhibition would be the perfect occasion to explain one by one of them, and then maybe, I wish, to inspire other people too.
Follow Emilio's work on his Instagram account.
Interview & Article by
Vivian di Lorenzo
Images from
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