The combination of fashion and engineering may seem strange, but it is not at all. On the contrary, one has intersected with the other, intriguing and intriguing me more and more, to the point of pushing me to study both things over the years, mixing and amalgamating them (being an interior designer as well as an engineer) and pushing me more and more to start a real methodical study on both the foundations and aspects of these two forms of creation.
This path has given life to my philosophy of the MGC brand that collects the study, observation and sensations stimulated by the surrounding environment, addressing our very rich tradition in numerous and varied fields, pushing itself to an elaboration also in a modern key of the same, from fabrics to the type of workmanship that has encouraged me irrepressibly to communicate to others the beauty, art, architecture and also the wonders of my land, representing and launching, sometimes, social signals. The mix of different studies, of different yet complementary jobs, even painting, have given life to the MGC brand that has received various awards and requests from the public, encouraging me to grow and enter the fashion market by making available my collections as well as personalized creations and unique pieces. Since I was a child, I developed a passion for this sector, which led me to create the MGC brand, which, after several experiences, fashion shows and events in Sicily, debuted in Milan during the International Fashion Expo in September 2019 with a pret-a-porter collection that found space in the showroom in Milan in via Montenapoleone and currently in Spazio Next, Desenzano sul Garda.
– What are the elements that you find most fascinating in the sector? I define myself as a “creative” who has nourished herself and continues to do so by drawing inspiration from everything that surrounds me, especially in the field of art, which with its masterpieces and wonders that only it is capable of offering, has been able to stimulate creativity as seen for years in my collections and fashion shows. To this, I have added travels to different continents. From here a contamination of cultures, traditions, colors, designs and architectures very different from my land, but which have positively influenced my ideas. The past experiences have led me to build pieces of collections day after day, until I reached my own fashion philosophy signed Maria Giovanna Costa which has as its fundamental points tradition, innovation and communication aspiring to reinvent reality with the femininity and perfectionism that distinguishes her, of reciprocity between beauty and renewal reflecting the “Contemporary Society”.
Fashion, like any art form, tends to express something. I try to express beauty, which is the image of a new vision in the fashion world that loves and values art. I am very fascinated by fabrics, which is why I dedicated myself to the design of high fashion fabrics and the graphic design of fabrics for the casual and sports lines of the MGC brand. The use of new technologies such as 3D printed elements and embroidery made with the 3D pen, graphics designed by myself inspired by my land, architecture and art and elements and techniques recovered from tradition create a real identity of the brand that cannot be imitated, a unique style, an outfit inspired by art and architecture, which communicates and values the craftsmanship and history of my territory.
– What is your distinctive style?
Design, art, craftsmanship, innovation, communication, interact to create my style in fascinating outfits, with the right mix of aesthetics and quality made in Italy, typical of an all-Italian elegance. The fabrics and models of my creations, soft and with excellent wearability, are aimed at a very wide range of the public, from teenagers but also to a more mature age, thanks also to the differentiation of styles and creative motifs. The MGC brand tends towards a global and contemporary style that arises from the need to always keep up with the times and with the continuous change of fashion and to make the pieces of the collection unique garments. The entire philosophy of the brand brings together the functionality of design with contemporary aesthetics, managing to build its success starting from the textures of the fabrics designed that tell a story and then arriving above all at high fashion garments that use tradition, innovation and communication sometimes with the recycling and experimentation of techniques and materials. Although oriented towards design, it has an easy fashion approach, responding to the needs of a transversal clientele and future generations. My style is a continuous research, experimentation and contamination of positive energies, like a beating heart of Beauty between elegance and streetstyle, between masculine and feminine, which goes beyond the boundaries enhancing a creative and high cultural level made in Italy production but also an urban-glamorous and dynamic style.
For you, what is the distinguishing element of Made in Italy?
The remarkable quality of construction, the attention to detail that makes up the texture of the fabrics, the imagination of the design and shapes, the durability of the garment are the essential elements for me that contribute to guaranteeing Made in Italy. Italian products have historically been associated with quality, high specialization and differentiation, elegance and provenance from famous traditional Italian industrial sectors and all this guaranteed Italian craftsmanship and therefore quality, genius and imagination typical of our Italian culture. One of the goals I want to achieve with the brand is to inspire admiration, trust and desire, perfectly satisfied by the skill of the craftsmen, seamstresses, model makers, painters, embroiderers, who forge iconic works whose typically Italian magic cannot be reproduced. “Handmade” is the result of continuous creative and technological research, which starts from tradition to arrive at an astonishing innovation. The result is unique and inimitable garments and products. In Italy we are fortunate to possess boundless beauties of art and architecture and the ability to create just as many with simplicity, creativity and the art of reinventing ourselves. In addition to the quality and safety of the materials used, the clothing made by Italian brands are renowned for the style and trends they dictate in the world of fashion, synonymous with luxury.
– What does fashion mean to you? One more reason to give vent to your character and style?
Fashion is emotion and wonder. Being a “creative” who, as already mentioned, has nourished herself and continues to do so today, on everything that surrounds her, fashion represents my emotions, my admiration for art and artists and sometimes the need to launch social messages that contain a contamination of meanings and at the same time contribute to giving a very precise identity to my brand. The two identities, engineer and artist, meet and merge in the new idea of fashion that I have, creating a DIVERGENT STYLE as I have defined it on several occasions. I take inspiration from experiences around the world and combine them with the characteristics of my studies, contaminating them with the tradition of the Sicilian territory in which I live. For me, fashion represents a sort of construction site in progress, in which fundamental pillars such as tradition, innovation, art, craftsmanship, architecture, design, communication come to life. Fashion thus becomes a constantly evolving cultural industry in which apparently different worlds meet, giving rise to many wonderful opportunities in various fields, such as the ecological, cultural and social ones.
What's around the corner? Goals and future.
The need to separate haute couture from pret-a-porter later created different lines of the brand, each with its own identity that range from the world of fashion to the world of Design thanks to an enormous cultural background and experimented techniques. In recent years the collections have paraded on the best catwalks such as in Milan, Paris and photoshoots have been made with international photographers in Portocervo, Montecarlo, Venice, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and in important buildings such as Palazzo Turati, Palazzo Visconti, the apostolic cathedral of Paris. The image of the brand has been very present in important events also as an official sponsor of international beauty contests and with the creation of costumes and outfits for music videos, as evidenced by the countless articles on the brand whose main purpose is the creation of jobs and support for social and inclusion issues. As a future project I have the production and marketing of the brands: "Maria Giovanna Costa" for HIGH FASHION and "MGC" for the PRET-A-PORTER sector with the slogan "ART ON". The idea is to introduce a new way of conceiving style. Alongside the more 'classic and free creativity' that is well expressed in HIGH FASHION, based on research into materials, derived from the ancient tradition of Sicily and new exclusive technologies, with these two brands I present a new concept that combines the world of figurative ART, sculpture and architecture with the style of dressing even in everyday life, from dresses to shoes, to accessories. A revolutionary new proposal in the world of fashion, which will give work to many artisans who are custodians of the Italian sartorial tradition. The Made in Italy fashion market has been constantly growing in recent years in the world and what I wanted to create is a brand that combines the functionality of design with contemporary aesthetics, managing to build its own success starting from the graphics of the fabrics that I designed and that tell a story, arriving above all at customizable high fashion garments of great artistic value, in fact many fabrics are hand-painted by me. The brand, although oriented towards design, has an easy fashion approach, responding to the needs of a transversal clientele and future generations. The aim is to create a creative 'Made in Italy' production, of a high cultural level but also an urban and dynamic style. In recent years, there have been numerous initiatives of great cultural value, including the collaboration with mezzo-soprano Anastasia Boldyreva during the concert held at the Teatro Bellini in Catania on the occasion of the beatification of the late judge Rosario Livatino, and this year's participation in the Venice Film Festival, where a sculpture dress dedicated to the 80th Venice Film Festival was presented to present the brand's future projects in the Red Carpet room of the Excelsior Lido Venice. Among these, the main objective is certainly the development of real branding strategies that are the beating heart of marketing activities and aim to create and spread the company's identity. For years I have focused on improving the resources of the production sector and those technologies aimed at optimizing the company's style and production, now the focus will be on dealing with the forms of communication that channel energy to spread the brand's notoriety. In short, thanks to a specific structure, I will try to make the brand recognizable on the market and to publicize the set of corporate values that are the basis of the brand. With an excellent branding strategy, I will try to enhance the brand image, which becomes an intangible and decisive element: the company promises the public a series of values and emotions while the customer has a certain expectation towards the owners of the brand, thanks also to the network of partners, collaborations with projects such as Project Runway and Spazio Next, and the appropriate structure that is being created. Thanks to this corporate philosophy, the MGC brand will be able to carve out that market niche that will allow it to continue to grow, because to truly be owners of a brand means being primarily entrepreneurs. I will aim for its originality, breaking the mold in order to create branding strategies that overturn the canons of commonplaces, making the brand and its values truly unique and irreplaceable, thus giving it a corporate image that is sponsored through various forms of communication characterized by internal coherence and future artistic collaborations in different sectors.
