
Monday, 1st September 2008
Nadur girl lands designer job with Valentino
As many as 80 pieces of fabric per dress... The idea is to create movement.
The fur jackets in the winter 2009 collection of top Italian designer Valentino should have the Gozitan touch - Caroline Hili from Nadur has landed a job at the exclusive fashion house in Milan and, together with her boss, is responsible for the label's heart: leather, fur and embroidery.
But for the ambitious and hard-working 24-year-old fashion designer, who has just completed a four-year course at Milan's Marangoni Institute with flying colours, her job at Valentino is simply "a good start and a good place to grow".
Although she is loving the job, her insatiable sights are set on Paris and haute couture - where her passion really lies - and eventually, the creation of her own label.
"I want to create dresses that make you dream; fantasy not reality," says the girl who claims a love for painting, added to a love for fashion, equals a fashion designer.
"I am constantly being congratulated for 'getting there', but I don't feel like I got anywhere. I may say that when I am 80."
The prestigious Valentino post is her launching pad into a sphere that is inhabited by other major fashion houses, including Dior, Givenchy and Balenciaga, which also tickle her fancy.
But despite her future goals, Caroline is not complaining about her placement at Valentino's "main area", which she immediately landed, fresh from her course. She admits it is the better students who are offered the better placements.
Just being in the office with her boss is already a major experience, but she is doing more than that: "I'm not making coffee and photocopies," as one would imagine. Caroline is researching, designing, attending fairs and meeting suppliers. She is currently preparing modules for lacework, as well as toiling on the beading for the various collections of every Valentino line.
After all, "nothing is designed by the big guys; they just give the go-ahead, or request amendments," she points out.
Caroline's success is the result of her perfectionist traits and sky-scraping levels of confidence. It is not surprising that she knew she had her interviewers at Valentino in the bag.
"They are designers, but so am I," she shrugs, waving off any intimidation she could have felt during the meeting.
The fact that her boss was a frequent visitor of Nadur - of all places - was undoubtedly an additional bonus. But Caroline's success at the interview was not just due to the fact that it is a small world, she points out.
An only child, her father reluctantly let his bird leave the nest. "He was depressed when I left - maybe because he knew I was not gone for four years, but forever...
"I don't want a home; I want to live like a gypsy - only in hotels not tents!"
But she remains eternally grateful to her parents. "I want to take care of them well and pay them back for all their support," she says of her future plans.
Caroline ended her course at Marangoni with a fashion show by the 200 graduating students - which she was privileged to be asked to open. And she did so with a bang, creating her "pulcino" outfit at the institute's last-minute request and following their instructions that it had to be a ball, engulfing the model.
Caroline may have been sick, tired and running out of time - everything had been scheduled to the last second - but she took on the challenge, as her teachers knew she always did.
"I did not want to simply follow the 'ball' mandate, so I created one that opened up and had 'birds' flapping around. Despite the lack of time and stress, I even decided to design the shoes, which had lights in their heels."
And the desired "wow" effect was achieved.
Caroline was also the only one asked to create four designs instead of three. She spent many a sleepless night - and her battered fingertips were the proof of it - to create dresses composed of as many as 80 pieces and characterised by "lots of movement...
"They had to be different to be noticed... This was not about liking, or hating the dresses; this was not about beautiful; it was about fabulous."
As to her own style, she cannot really claim to have one. Malta's fashion scene is always a disappointment for the girl who, the other day, hit Valletta with money in her pocket, but still returned home rich, following an aborted shopping spree.
Local fashion sense leaves much to be desired because of the lack of choice, she maintains, adding that what is available in many shops is what you would find in market stalls - only much more expensive.
Having said that, when you understand how much it actually costs to produce an item of clothing, the astronomical prices of designer pieces cannot justify buying them, Caroline feels.
"They are good for the fashion victims!"







RSS
Comments
Synthetic fabrics are made from oil-based and other chemicals and therefore contribute their share to pollution. That aside, it leaves us with animal and vegetal fabrics.
Remember we owe ALL our oxygen to plants, together with a lot of foodstuffs and medicines. Just imagine the price of oxygen if it were to be produced artificially.
If you are animal lovers I am a plant lover (and I know I'm not alone). But then again; I've got to eat. Therefore, whether it is steak or broccoli; it was once alive and it had to be killed in order to be in your order (pun intended).
Bon appepetit.
I was enjoying reading the article, until I arrived at the mention of leather & fur. I am an animal lover and i always thought that if I ever had the chance to fight for animal rights I would do it. I would never design for real fur or real leather, but will do so for synthetic fur or imitation leather. I would never take a job knowing that baby seals are being slaughtered just for their fur, being hit on their head with big bats....just for me, so I gain more success and fame and look good in my boss's eyes.
I do hope that while you do your job, you also fight against this animal cruelty, maybe try to change the boss's mind. Take a stand or grow more awareness. That`s what I would try and do.
You never know, anything can happen.
Studying at Istituto Marangoni is tough though worthwhile - having worked on the opening of their Paris campus for a couple of years I can confirm that. It is great to see that Maltese talent is getting there too!
We do have another student at the campus in London at the moment so another Maltese start could be in the making!
Do keep up the hard work and follow your dreams...
Juliana
Thanks a lot for putting our BELOVED Island’s name on the international fashion scene.
Good luck and keep up the good work.
Karl
A little note, I am a vegeterian and also an animal lover, and I believe that a chicken and a fox both have the right to live. So are we all murderers in the end?
Sometimes if you think about it the animals that we eat are condemmed to live in such tiny spaces and in such a condition that i dont know whats worse.
So we dont say poor bunny, chicken, cow and horse?
How many of you have leather shoes? Leather seats in cars? Leather sofas?
Doesnt mean that fur is murder and leather is not.
Just my point of view.
Apart from all I wanna say that Im a designer, and I design anything. Right now I had this opportunity and I took it. I just consider myself lucky.
Caroline Hili
Killer: "No animal, I'm just gonna kill you for your meat."
Animal: "Phew. Alright then go ahead mate."
murder? hahaha ur funny. I guess ur jealous
You are commended for your sentiments re leather and fur. But do I detect a hint of envy? Good luck Caroline and may your wildest dreams come true!
PS I agree with the guys who say that they hope it's synthetic fur.
Wonderful. This attitude gives me hope for the future of my nation.
I'd like to see you turn down an opportunity like that if you had it!!
I'm against killing animals for their fur but I would turn down an opportunity like that and besides, there's always imitation!!
A wonderful success story but a great lack of social conscience for a job and some fame.
LEATHER & FUR.................PETA would be so proud.