Introducing Simone Botte with an exclusive interview by Mira Postolache. Simon is the creative director of Simon Cracker, the truly inclusive and eco-sustainable brand made in Italy. Creative direction by Mina Bolognesi. Photography by Cristiano Evangelisti.
www.instagram.com/simone.botte
www.instagram.com/simoncracker
www.simoncrackermilano.com
Hello Simone, welcome to KALTBLUT., being born + raised in a small town in Italy, share with us a few highlights about your journey and when was your first approach to fashion.
Perhaps it is in small towns that the need for escape is born and grows, which grows and takes shape for everyone in a different way.
When I was still in middle school, I went to flea markets with my mother and tried to dress exactly how I wanted, even though I didn’t have a perfect body or too sober tastes.
I was a child who loved colours so my classmates often called me “clown” but for me, it was normal to be able to decide what to wear and not the fashion or trends.
In high school I was already assembling garments together with glue because I didn’t know how to sew and I made them wider, to feel safe inside them.
We love your vision regarding modern sensibility around body acceptance. How aware are you of the fact that you are considered to be a cool designer making art pieces screaming ‘ LOVE YOUR BODY’?
With myself I always have a war going on, my body changes so many times in a short time and I pass through opposite phases, periods where I cover myself with clothes, wrap myself up and want to feel protected by fabrics and others where I feel strong and free by getting naked, as in this beautiful shooting where the photographer Cristiano and the art director Mina made me feel at ease with my belly in view and hands touching me in the points that usually make me most uncomfortable. It was a good exercise for the mind and body, and I thank you all.
What is the general message behind your brand ‘SIMON CRACKER’ and how do you expect people without a ‘voice’ to react?
Filippo and I send many messages and it is natural for us to have all our friends on the catwalk because they really already wear our clothes and we know for sure that they are at ease on our catwalk and as it should be everyone has their own body and own characteristics.
We do not identify ourselves as body-positive brands because it would be like lining up with others who use the same tag because it is a trend, we have always done it so we have never changed in the way we do, think and cast by listening to the stories of people and not looking them up and down.
Some who feel they have no voice write to me and lately I have received many messages from boys and girls who have told me their stories, others have asked me to mention some of their episodes while in some cases they are just looking for advice on how to deal with uncomfortable situations in the workplace, especially for those who work in fashion.
I’m not a body-positive guru unfortunately and I can advise how to get better by shielding yourself from all those who want to hurt you with offences and judgments, but after all, I have a long way to go and I still have to understand if there is someone who accepts himself 100%, but sure you can get close to that level.
Gonna e camicia A.N.G.E.L.O. Pantaloni Carrera
Spilla zip Simon Cracker
Tell us more about your inspiration sources for the Fall-Winter 23/24 collection and your tribute to Vivienne Westwood. Who managed the casting and how important are the models for your brand’s identity?
Simon Cracker is formed by Filippo Biraghi and me and we manage it from the creative office to the shipment of orders, so we do the casting too.
Street casting? Not really, because first of all the guys from our crew, photographers, artists and creatives who walk around us and who we love for how they wear our collections in everyday life because they are real, ideal for explaining our philosophy, who we are, what we do and what differentiates us from other brands to those who don’t know us yet.
The fw23-24 collection talks about the importance of knowing how to say no, and the tribute to Vivienne Westwood was a must for us, because we learned about this news a few days before our show, and Filippo had the idea of thanking her so, in Cracker style and without too many special effects, a simple thank you.
It was a simple coincidence that we had already organized for months to collaborate on some collection items with the British artist, graphic artist and anarchist Jamie Reid’s gallery, known mainly for taking care of the image of the punk band Sex Pistols.
The best things are usually created when people follow their own vision rather than just pursuing success or money for its own sake. How challenging is the business part for you as an up-cycling designer based in Italy?
If I did this job for the money, I would have had to change jobs in season four.
This brand is much more, as well as being the only way I know to express my emotions, demonstrate, and fight my battles together with all those who think like me.
How would you define the term “long-lasting” in fashion? How do you face challenges in such a complex industry?
Long lasting in fashion…A project remains over time if it changes the rules, if it overturns, destroys and deforms what has happened up to now, we are going against everything and everyone, if someone tells us no, we try to make them change their mind and sooner or later someone will look beyond the strange clothes and will read that there is a strong message behind it.
How do you explore the need for innovation and revolutionary changes through the used fabrics when it comes to being worn by different personalities? We know that your garments are inspired by the youth’s freedom of expression, body acceptance, and diversity and such things are clearly seen in your garments. How can you create such strong garments in a positive way?
The materials of the collections are what we manage to save from bankrupt companies and shops, or textile industrial waste, so every season from our warehouses we choose what to use, how to destroy it and recreate it to give a new shape to the whole based on our themes and messages, as with broken and salvaged clothing.
We are still perfecting our idea of NO SIZE, it is a long journey but we will reach it more and more.
I will never forget my discomfort when I entered a clothing store and I had to say that I needed the larger size or all the shop assistants replied that there were no clothes available for me.
How has your education had an impact on your career? What advice would you give to the students today?
My training is from a completely different side, I wanted to be and I studied to become an advertising graphic designer.
But then working and accumulating work experience in fashion companies and as an assistant in newsrooms, I began to see more and more clearly what I would have done differently in that system that wasted so much and produced so much garbage polluting the world.
What’s your favourite project that you’ve worked on during your career?
Now I have in mind because it happened a few days ago, our Simon Cracker + Boyloft event in Brescia where for the first time we set up a pop-up store made with all waste materials, and the items on sale were finished by the cracker crew in a showcase in order to show everyone how a Simon Cracker garment is born.
Name a few creatives you would like to collaborate with.
In this era of collaborations, everyone with everyone collaborating with everyone, I think the most beautiful collaborations arise naturally and by pure chance.
Cravatta e bracciali Lopposto
A letter to your future self. What would you write?
Dear “Simone from the future”, I hope you are not yet a penniless punk and that someone has noticed what we are doing with so much effort, it is not just the madness of a creative mind, what we are planning beyond the shows and articles in newspapers and fashion, it is a new way of making clothing starting from what is thrown away and seems useless, it is worked on and transformed into something new.
www.instagram.com/simone.botte
www.instagram.com/simoncracker
www.simoncrackermilano.com
Interview by Mira Postolache mirawanderlust.com
www.instagram.com/mirawanderlust
Art direction by Mina Bolognesi www.instagram.com/minabolognesi
Photography by Cristiano Evangelisti www.instagram.com/cristianoevangelisti
Thanks, Lopposto Forlì
