The culture and values in Marco Rambaldi's fashion

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.

Every detail in the brand's creations hides a deeper meaning: starting from the choice of colors, like the warm shades of earth and nature of the latest collection, with contrasting details that break up the palette; from the use of fabrics, all of natural origins (with the exception of sequins), the recycled prints, the elimination of polyester, to the silhouettes designed to enhance the woman's body; from rainbow hearts, symbol of the brand, declined on knitted jacquard, to the knitted fabrics assembled to create colorful dresses.

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.

4. How are you feeling in this particular moment, from a creative point of view? What role will fashion and creativity play in the "restart" of Italy and Milan in your opinion?

We are living in a complicated present, with no external stimuli to be experienced. We have no way to move, to travel and we are focused on the present because there is an uncertain future. It is a time of chaos. We live in a period in which everything is synthesized, value is given to a few things, to those we deem right. There is no more room for the unnecessary.

The positive thing about all this, I think, is the commitment to buying less but better, favoring small and medium-sized Italian businesses, made in Italy, craftsmanship and handmade. In short, everything we believe in, and the small Italian artisans with whom we work.

There will be a great desire to experiment, to get back into the game, of physical contact, to socialize and to rediscover ourselves. Fashion and creativity will play an essential role, as they are culture. I am very sorry that in Italy fashion is considered something superfluous, something that you can always do without. With these assumptions, we need to plan the rebirth, making sure that this complicated moment can be useful for human thinking. Without coming out as victims but making a mea culpa for having damaged the planet we live on for centuries.

5. Knitwear is always present in your collections. How important is the choice of techniques and fabrics?

Working with knitwear always surprises and excites me so much, starting from a thread and seeing if the final product comes to life as I imagined it. Naturally, fabrics are essentials, both for a matter of quality and for a matter of communicative content.

The jacquards and inlays on the knitwear amuse me a lot. Crochet and embroidery. The prints painted by hand and then brought to the fabric. The stitching on the suits as if they were wrong embroidery. The collage and patchwork we developed in the latest SS21 by reusing the fabrics from our archive.

6. Do you think that in the last few years there has been a rediscovery of Made in Italy and greater attention to conscious shopping, especially by young people?

I think so, the new generations are more aware, as they pay particular attention to health and to what they eat, the same they do for the clothes they want to wear. And if you do not have the opportunity to buy a brand, it is better to try to recreate the image of the look you have in mind through second-hand. Long live vintage and down with fast fashion!

7. What are your plans and goals for the future with the brand?

Certainly one is fortifying and expanding our world. But also expand our community, to be able to collaborate with artists, photographers, video makers, directors, graphic designers, etc., in order to create a continuous exchange. With the Quarantine Diaries created during the first lockdown with Anna Carraro, who follows the styling of the brand, we have had the opportunity to experiment a lot in this sense.