Meet Andrea Brocca, part of a new wave of couturiers debuting stunning, otherworldly designs that are available only in limited quantities
The haute couture world is shaking up. In a three-part series, Couture Youthquake, Tatler speaks to demi-couture masterminds about their journeys.
Andrea Brocca doesn’t do things in the usual order. The 26-year-old Italian-Sri Lankan designer only graduated two years ago from Central Saint Martins’ BA Womenswear programme, but he has already been working in the industry for more than a decade. Brocca started interning at Temperley London when he was 13, and dropped out of high school to attend the pre-masters at Paris’s École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. The designer opened his own boutique for private clients in his home town of Dubai when he was 16, and was recognised as the World’s Youngest Couturier by the Guinness World Records.
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He felt that he needed to learn more and develop his skills, however, and decided to return to his brand after some education. “I chose to put it [the boutique] aside to study; I wasn’t necessarily as cultured as I should have been to have this kind of power,” Brocca recalls. Soon after, he worked for Prabal Gurung, Ellery and Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta while at university. When he finally graduated, his couture-quality collection was picked up by Lady Gaga’s styling team.
Several of Brocca’s classmates are also causing a stir in the realm of couture and demi-couture right now—Harris Reed and Sohee Park among them. “I’m not going to define myself as a star,” says Brocca. “But ... potentially five years down the line and if everything goes well with all of us, that’s like an Antwerp Six situation of couture,” referring to the Belgian group of designers who were popular in the 1990s. He has certainly taken the fashion crowd by storm with just two collections—his graduation collection Senanayake (so-called after his mother’s family’s name) and off-schedule debut collection Equilibrium.
The latter is inspired by mathematics: logarithmic spirals, Italian mathematician Fibonacci’s sequence and the “golden ratio”, often found in nature. The collection included gravity-defying leather suits and gowns featuring voluminous shapes, dramatic fishtails and three- dimensional spirals—an idea he came up with when he was 17 and finally brought to life after mastering pattern- cutting skills. Almost like wearable art, all the opulent, sculptural creations can be traced back to his upbringing as a “multicultural kid”.
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