INTERVIEW #158 EMMA VESTEVERDE

Name: Emma Maiorino

Occupation: Fashion designer and fashion sustainability expert

Based in: Italy/Germany for the moment

Website: https://maiorinoemma.wixsite.com/emma-maiorino

Instagram: @emma.vesteverde

Hi Emma! Welcome to A Sustainable Closet! Can you please tell us more about yourself and your relationship with clothes?

Hi, thank you very much for having me here. My name is Emma Maiorino, I am 27 and I am an Italian fashion designer and fashion sustainability expert. To briefly tell you something about me I can say that I am completely into aesthetics, I am rigorous, and definitely a creative mind. My relationship with clothes? That is probably the first affection I developed right after my parents! The artisanal clothing culture was already in my family, I inherited the taste for beautiful garments and good materials from my mum, and at the age of four, I was already picking the clothes that I wanted to wear and one of my favourite games later on was making dolls clothes out of worn-out socks. Today they are my second skin, something that I take care of as if they were living beings, my way of feeling all right in the morning when I walk out the door.

Have you always been interested in clothes or when did you get into fashion?

As mentioned before the passion goes way back into my past, but fashion became a real option only by the end of high school. I was into clothing and every physical aspect of it, but I was definitely not aware of what the fashion industry was, nor the fashion system. I had to catch up during university, and I did, but I am still more about the product and creativity, than trends and style. This is most likely  why I found myself way more confident with accessories than clothes.

How come you became interested in sustainable fashion?

I must say that I had already been raised quite conscious about consumerism and the value of nature, but the turning point came during the Covid lockdown, mostly through social media. I had the chance to open my eyes on some sustainability topics and then go deeper into the subject when I learned of the Rana Plaza disaster. At that point I couldn’t stand it anymore: the fashion dream was broken… until I found my way into the slow and ethical fashion panorama.

How would you describe your personal style?

This is a very difficult question. Probably two cups of Italian fashion, one cup of French style, and a spoon of Japanese…does it make any sense? Colours (a lot of green) and comfort (chunky shoes) are usually a must. Besides that I really like to change: on Monday I could be very feminine, on Wednesday masculine and oversized, and on Saturday night with a clubber vibe. It basically depends on how I feel that day and what I am about to do. 

Being a designer, how do you incorporate sustainability in your job?

Well, first of all, I am trying to collaborate with more responsible brands, and second, even if I am working with a regular brand, I try to push for more sustainable options, like I am doing right now. I can’t really disclose anything, but what I am doing for a current project is pushing for recycled materials, and from the design perspective I intentionally went for a multifunctional, versatile and mono-material design, instead of following whatever micro trend. I believe that uniqueness is mostly what makes a long-lasting design. And of course, I do everything I can to spread the word and awareness: through my Instagram account @emma.vesteverde, through school lectures, through friends, family and so on. 

What do you think should be included in fashion degrees and education to make the new generations of designers and the future of fashion more sustainable?

I must say that I am already happy to see that the sustainability topic is slowly being included in universities. I believe that there is a strong need to show the reality of the fashion industry to design students. Before learning design, they need to understand what they have to design for and against. Then comes the good knowledge of materials and circular design, because switching materials, but designing a non-recyclable product, hasn’t brought any big improvement. 

Anything else you want to share?

Reuse, Repair, Recycle! And if you don’t know how, just ask.