Karolina Blasiak interviewed Barbara Borsotto, owner , with his sister Monica, of DAPHNE for Rosemont Art Advisory monthly newsletter. If you want to receive our newsletter, please contact her: k.blasiak@rosemont-mc.com
DAPHNÉ, a San Remo Haute Couture Fashion atelier does not stop and reinvent itself in the face of the Coronavirus emergency, DAPHNÉ deeply linked to its territory has made herself available to Ligurian health and hospital community and contributed to the shortage of protection systems for health workers, making available masks made free of charge. DAPHNÉ immediately responded to the lack of masks to stem the phenomenon of outsourcing and keep Italian productivity at the forefront active, with a solidarity system that aims to solve more problems; we can all adapt to change, maintaining an ethics, by virtue of necessity, to overcome this period of profound crisis and help us to help, until Italy will rise stronger than before.
Rosemont Art Advisory interviewed the charismatic owner and creative director Barbara Borsotto and is grateful for her endless energy and creativity.
Please tell us when did you found Daphne, San Remo Fashion Atelier?
DAPHNÉ San Remo is one of the most prestigious Haute Couture workshops on the Riviera and the Côte d'Azur, founded by my mother in the 1950’s, has become famous for its creations inspired by the flowers, colors and landscapes of the Mediterranean coast in a blend of tradition, couture and modern creativity, resulting from unique collections of their kind. Clean lines and refined fabrics, the DAPHNÉ collections bear witness today more than ever to pure Italian style, quality and values such as culture, history and roots are the main source of inspiration. A company that has made the beauties of its lands a value, with the ability to incorporate a great aesthetic dimension in the material and the product. Today, the company is in the second generation, with the aim of combining tradition artisanal "Made in Italy" with innovation, to adapt the products of excellence. An evolution where quality comes before quantity and craftsmanship over mass production and above all a durable and timeless product is created. The use of fabric techniques associated with classic haute couture processes, allowing the donor to be a unique and inimitable uniqueness.
Your haute couture house is more than creating bespoke fashion. You manage a Fashion Museum which illustrates the dialogue between fashion, history and culture and the appreciation of heritage. You are one of the rarest haute couture houses that opens the doors in your private museum. When did you start the activity of the museum and what is the history?
The DAPHNÉ Museum of Fashion and Perfume was founded in the year 2000 and is located in San Remo via Matteotti, a house which, in the 19th century, belonged to the Dukes of Galliera. A unique museum in Italy which brings together collections of ancient and contemporary clothing collected thanks to the passion and meticulous research of the house Daphne for sewing, the backbone of the Borsotto family, now in the second generation, which preserves the know-how of Ligurian Handicrafts. Next to clothing are collections of accessories, perfume bottles and original documents, belonging to noble women and princesses, who have frequented the Riviera over the past two centuries. The DAPHNÉ Museum tells the history of Fashion, and represents a mosaic evocative of Ligurian traditions, historical memory of a productive reality of excellence, rooted in the life of the territory and factor of identity.
Who is your favorite artist and what is your favorite perfume?
Our favorite artist is nature, who with his abilities creates extraordinary things, from flowers with their perfumes to living beings each with his own peculiarities, the territory and nature are always an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the creations of scarves and perfumes. for us from Daphne. If we had to choose an artist, we would certainly choose Leonardo da Vinci to whom we dedicated a "La Scapigliata" scarf but also Monet because he spent a lot of time on the Riviera and it was there that he started to create serials, we made scarves dedicated to Monet for the Musée Marmottan in Paris.
Also Mondrian is an interesting artist who inspired the House for a scarf made for the exhibition "Mondrian figuratif", and then there are contemporary painters whom we like very much for example Davide Puma with whom we established a true dialogue between the Fashion and art.
Please tell us the story of the Rose Grace Kelly scarf? It’s such an iconic and important scarf for Monaco ...
The Rose Grace wished in 1984 by Prince Rainier III in memory of SAS Grace of Monaco, inspired the Maison Daphné 35 years ago in the creation of an iconic scarf, therefore the same Prince Rainier III granted permission to add the name of the Princess on silk. Today at 90 years old with her birth, the fashion house of San Remo has reprinted one of the most prestigious pieces in her collection, the Rosa Princesse Grace de Monaco scarf created in hommage to HSH Princess Grace, who’s big loves were flowers , art and craft work who attended the San Remo Atelier several times. The first model of the new foulard - in silk cross, printed and finished by hand - it was given to HRH Prince Albert II in Monaco on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs - AFCEM - at Monte Carlo Beach.
Thank you.
For more information about Daphne San Remo and the Museum please go to https://www.daphne.it/ or contact Karolina Blasiak directly at k.blasiak@rosemont-mc.com.
As seen in Daphne San Remo Press Release:
Emergency and solidarity, the DAPHNÉ Maison continues support for the Liguria Region in collaboration with the AIDDA Liguria delegation Association, DAPHNÉ San Remo has donated the masks to the shelters.
Sustainability, innovation and the renewed push to Safety Fashion make it the attention that DAPHNÉ Maison places in its own is even more topical creations and in the way of doing business. The moment we are going through is difficult, but offers the opportunity to enhance ethical entrepreneurship, the one it gives always distinguishes artisan companies and small and medium-sized enterprises.
DAPHNÉ San Remo has reconverted its business in recent weeks producing for free more than 700 masks intended for doctors and
health workers; the last lots were delivered to the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Chiossone nursing home in Genoa.
The anti-violence centers of Genoa to which they have not been forgotten delivered masks in collaboration with the Aidda Association, to
presence of Tiziana Lazzari President of Aidda Liguria and of the regional councilors Sonia Viale and Ilaria Cavo.
Special thanks go to Governor Giovanni Toti who has appreciated the quality of our Made in Liguria product and the gesture of solidarity.
Given the protracted emergency situation, Daphne San Remo Fashion House is making masks in 100% sustainable and breathable cotton, with antibacterial and water-repellent characteristics, reusable up to 40 washes: one ecological and sustainable response respecting the environment.