MARCO LAGANÀ: SHOES THAT DEFINE A BRAND

Materials that communicate a message of high quality and simplicity of style. This is the recipe of the emerging brand Marco Laganà which takes its name from its founder, “an Italian with the world in the eye and Italy in the heart”; so he likes to call himself. After a period spent abroad, the young designer has decided to bet on himself and his abilities, giving life to his originally born as men’s shoes brand and today becoming a unisex one with spring/summer collection.

Marco Laganà tells us about his journey:

When did you decide to found your eponymous brand?

About a year ago. I was in Paris to do an internship for 200 Euros per month with 650 Euros of home rent, but the city was beautiful and full of energy, I was fine and I met many interesting people. I drew shoes for another emerging brand, Maison Pierre Hardy, and with the owner we kept the entire company’s social communication sector. Everything was perfect except that after about eight months, I felt the need to pack up and go back in the middle of the factories in my area, to begin a project of my own, starting from my Country, Italy.

Aside from the practical way: how much is essential a shoe in defining a look?

In my view, equivalent to sixty-five percent of the look, if not more in some cases. It is the final point on which focuses the eye when observed the style, and the initial creation of the same. I often do not know how to dress so I decid to put on the shoe and that is the starting point for everything; and that’s what we did for the shooting of the new collection. Study the look starting from the shoes.

What is Marco Laganà’s added value?

The added value of Marco Lagana is the language. The simplicity of the lines and the highly refined material, not only for their technical characteristics – such as the Kevlar in the Pop Art Collection – but right in the weight that they use compared to the value of the shoe. The fabric of the spring / summer 2016, is a “poor” fabric compared to the leather used, but it is well chosen, even doubled, because it is part of a language: it communicates and expresses the concept of the whole collection. The design is a fundamental part of the realization of my products. I’m not a fashion designer, much less an artist, I’m a creative man designing a collection as well as an architect designs a house. Everything is part of the brand, it is a word that describes the concept of each collection. With my creations, I want to tell and excite, arouse memories.

How creative and production process are articulate?

I do not have a technical training on the shoe, every day I learn a lot of things. For this reason, the creative and production process must inevitably be born and grow under his arm. Every idea that is brought forth, before they can be developed, it demands that steps from development samples, to ensure that the experience of a lifetime shoes artisans will prevent any excess creativity that is impossible to realize. This does not mean that they always win; as in the creation of sandals OOPS! I FORGOT THE TIP for the spring / summer 2016 in which we have combined different processes from different worlds to reach the goal we had in mind.

What are the difficulties you encountered in bringing about your brand?

First, create the right team is vital to be ready to face the outside world, and it is something which we still “fighting” each day. In addition to this there is the difficulty of communicating with people and convince them that the project has objective value; This for me was the most beautiful passage, although more complicated. Finally, select contractors and direct interlocutors with regard to the dealership, that is also a daily challenge.

Future projects?

Fortunately many. From November I will take part in the exhibition “The New Italian fashion vocabulary” at the Milan Triennale, which will be open until March 2016. It is being finalized a partnership with a beautiful store in Milan with whom I developed a project also artistic which is scheduled for release for the Salone del Mobile. Finally, the output for the January / February of the new autumn-winter unisex for 2016.17, and many other things.

marcolagana.com