Keeping the real woman in mind

Icarius de Menezes, a creative director for Italian fashion house Lancetti, likes to design for those who desire to be beautiful in the most simple and natural way

At 29, Icarius de Menezes is a creative director for Italian fashion house Lancetti. His half-Greek and half-Brazilian parentage gives him the physical appeal of a model, but he prefers to be the one dressing them up.

De Menezes was in Dubai towards the end of last year to launch his Spring/Summer Woman’s collection for 2005, available at Saks Fifth Avenue in BurJuman, Dubai. In an interview with Tabloid he talks about his growth as a creative designer, the challenges of taking over from Pino Lancetti, and Giselle Bundchen.

You were a student of medicine before you took up designing as a full-time career. How did that shift happen?
That’s true! I was studying medicine at the university for six months as I come from a family of doctors. While at university I also used to take classes in the school of fine arts and my father didn’t even know, but I was always sketching as a child.

My mother is a former Miss Brazil, so her beauty and elegance as a woman always served as a great source of inspiration for me to make sure that I wanted to be surrounded by beauty. I found fashion an outlet that combined beauty, creativity and sketching so it was a natural progression for me.

Wasn’t the fact that you had no connections in the industry an obstacle in your early days as a designer?
Not really. I think I was fortunate to plan the progression quite well. I worked as an assistant to the fashion editor of Brazil’s Vogue while I was studying fashion design.

Staging my first fashion show also helped as it got people to notice that there was some talent within me and that’s when I was headhunted by a gentleman in Paris, who invited me to develop my label Icarius in Europe.

I presented my first international collection in 2000 in Paris.

What would you describe as the turning point in your career?
Definitely it’s the international fashion design competition that was organised by Enka in Milan. That was unforgettable as the jury was chaired by Franca Sozzani [editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue] and included Jean Paul Gaultier, Donna Karan, Yoji Yamamoto, among others. To be judged by them as one of the five new emerging designers on the international fashion scene was an incredible feeling.

Why did you agree to join Lancetti, when you had the choice of joining more established fashion houses?
When Lancetti [Pino, the founder] proposed that I join his company, I was quite excited as we have a similar approach to fashion. Lancetti may not have as rich a history as other fashion labels, but he is respected for his work.

It’s a very famous brand in Italy and I liked the idea of a challenge to increase its popularity in the international scene.

How much freedom do you have as a creative director considering you’re not from the family?
A lot. I have to say that in my last two years with Lancetti, I am having a great time as the whole team is very young. Our approach to fashion and working is quite experimental as we don’t work around strict and rigid rules.

What Brazilian influences have you brought into the European fashion scene?
The colour. In Brazil, as I’m sure most people know, we love colour and prints. As a culture we are very loyal to carnivals and big festivals, so you can definitely see a lot of colour and bold prints in most of my collections especially the latest ones.

I generally design with the real woman in mind and when I say real woman, I mean a woman who desires to be beautiful in the most simple, natural and attractive way possible.

How is your latest collection suited to the woman in Dubai?
I find women in Dubai are very style-conscious and like to look good. They are quite sophisticated so there are a lot of long dresses that are suited to the elegance and class of a woman living here.

How would you describe your latest collection?
It’s a mix of folk, colours, culture, emotions and prints that to me represent the healthy mixing of cultures without losing their individual identity.

I’ve used a lot of embroideries, braids and fabrics are mostly chiffons, jerseys, cottons and silks, while the colours are whites, flesh pinks, water green and fluorescent orange.

And finally, who’s your muse?
It changes with every collection. I’ve worked with Giselle Bundchen. In fact she was in my first ever fashion show in Brazil before I worked in Europe and she’s just wonderful. Giselle is a designer’s dream.

But for this collection it’s another Brazilian model called Leticia Birkheuer.