Multi-talented and vibrant Katia Gregori prefers not to be limited by any of the roles she excels in. We had the fortune of engaging Katia with the styling of our SS14 campaign shoot through CommonUnCommon.
V: I was running through my mind the various roles you hold and as I visit your website, I also noticed that you are also a journalist? (base on your interview with Jack Ketchum). Can you share with our readers this engaging and full-of surprises-life of yours?
KG: Yes I am also a freelance journalist; the assignments I love most are interviews. Conducting an interview is always fascinating because I get to know more about my interviewee through the gaze of their eyes, and their choice of their words. As with many of my other roles, I hope my interviews elicit emotions and empathy from the readers.
V: Observing you at work during 72 Smalldive’s photo shoot, styling is no doubt a natural flair of yours. When did you decide to have a go at it?
KG: I have to thank my mother, who is an hairstylist, and my architect uncle; both of whom have nurtured me with a strong sense and awareness towards aesthetic and symmetry. My years of experience as a model, and also as muse for many of my designer friends, helped me to continuously refine my sense of style. Of course I have also garnered a strong sense of timing and delivery whilst working with other stylist, when I was a fashion model
V: What runs through head on a styling assignment? And is this any different from your experience with 72 Smalldive photo shoot?
My primary objective is to help the art director and the designer realize their dream / vision through the photos, with my personal touch. In the shoot for 72 Smalldive, I would like it to be a campaign that is realistic and dynamic; where the model feels very much at ease with the set…with minimal glossing over of the images. Fundamentally I wanted the style to be elegant but casual.
V: Off your mind, is there a specific editorial from a specific fashion magazine that leaves/left a very strong visual impression on you…or even inspire you?
There are many!! My collection of Vogue magazines, when I was 14 (which also included some stolen from my uncle!) were highly formative to my style and aesthetic. I can still clearly recall the images vividly from the magazines published in the period of 1991 and 1995. Nonetheless, the current photography trend and new web magazines are highly experimental and I like to use these input in my work and see where that leads me in my projects.
V: With the growth of social (media) commentary on fashion, this already fast paced industry has somewhat been pushed to move at an even higher velocity. How should fashion styling be approached to ensure that it leaves a visual impact amid this overload of images we see every day?
The answer from me is always to balance elegance and harmony visually, and everything else will flow naturally. At times, provocation and the fast pace of fashion were used for only to shock the audience…but often the shock ‘appeal’ would last only for a season.
For our Italian readers, here is Katia Gregori’s biography in Italian. You may find more about Katia via her website
Una cascata di capelli rossi, sorriso accattivante e modi frizzanti, nata in una provincia del nord/est italiano, di cui porta ancora dentro la voglia di lavorare duro, ma che le sta subito “troppo stretta”. Grazie al lavoro di modella e di attrice, scappa presto in giro per il mondo, a esplorare nuove realtà: Francia, Inghilterra, Marocco, Spagna, Grecia, Turchia, Giappone. Australia.
Dopo anni “con la valigia”, e tante esperienze sceglie Milano, per le molteplici possibilità che offre e anche perché il suo grigiore non la spaventa, anzi, la spinge a cercare, da vera “esploratrice metropolitana” Ama scoprire codici e “formule magiche” per entrare in situazioni inaccessibili a chi si ostina ad osservare solo la superficie delle cose.
Un sorriso, uno sguardo empatico,un linguaggio complice e il gioco e’ fatto. Curiosa della natura umana (ha studiato scienze politiche a indirizzo sociologico) vive affascinandosi da ciò che l’uomo può creare, provare o distruggere , e di come le alchimie tra le persone possano essere infinite. Ama passare dalla metropoli alla natura incontaminata, dal Glamour di eventi mondani alla pace di una spiaggia solitaria. Perché secondo lei la vita deve essere un mix perfetto di tutto questo. Pratica Yoga da qualche anno, e dice, le ha cambiato la vita in meglio : relax, fisico tonico, respirazione ritrovata. Non potrebbe mai fare a meno della musica, dei suoi amici sparsi in giro per il mondo, e della sua connessione internet (o almeno di un telefonino). Ha mille interessi che corrispondono ad altrettante professioni: stylist, fashion and entertainment consultant, presentatrice, attrice, modella, redattrice per magazine online,fashion editor, pr. E una sostenitrice del girl power, inteso come unione e coesione delle donne, portatrici di vita e quindi più propense a cercare di risolvere e non di distruggere
Senza nulla togliere all’universo maschile, di cui non potrebbe ne vorrebbe mai fare a meno. Cerca di coniugare l’esteriorità, intesa come espressione d’arte, all’interiorità, valorizzando il vero IO che è in ogniuno di noi
ViTRINE 