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This week at the V&A Academy, during my Italian fashion course, we talked about 80s Italian fashion.
And when the name Valentino Garavani came up, something inside me softened.
Because for me, Valentino isn’t just fashion history.
He’s memory. He’s dreaming. He’s my mum sitting next to me on the sofa.
Watching Fashion Like It Was Cinema
When I was little, my mum and I used to watch the fashion evenings on the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti.
If you’re Italian, you know exactly what I mean.
The Spanish Steps transformed into a runway.
Lights glowing against Roman stone.
Models walking down like modern goddesses.
It felt like cinema. Like theater. Like magic.
I didn’t understand tailoring or couture.
But I understood sparkle.
I understood drama.
I understood that fashion could make you feel qualcosa… something bigger than yourself.
And Valentino — with that iconic red — made it feel eternal.
Fashion Was Never Just Clothes
Growing up in Italy, colour was normal. Boldness was normal. Elegance was normal.
Then life happens.
There was a period in my life when I wore mostly grey and black. When I was trying to disappear a little. When joy felt… far.
But those memories of the Scalinata never left me.
That sense of spectacle.
That belief that women deserve to feel luminous.
Doing this course at the V&A has reminded me how much those early impressions shaped me. Italian fashion in the 80s wasn’t shy. It wasn’t apologetic. It celebrated women.
And maybe that’s what I’m still chasing when I sit at my studio table on a Friday morning.
The Spark I Try to Put Into My Jewellery
When I design my colourful statement jewellery, I sometimes think about that little girl watching the runway with wide eyes.
The shimmer of fabric.
The confidence of the walk.
The way a woman can enter a space and own it.
I’m not making couture gowns.
But I am trying to bottle that feeling.
That tiny spark that says:
“I am here.”
“I take up space.”
“La vita è colore.”
When a woman in her 40s or 50s puts on bold earrings and suddenly stands taller — that’s my runway moment.
That’s my Scalinata.
And if a pair of bright red or cobalt blue earrings can give you even a whisper of that Valentino sparkle… allora, I’ve done my job.
Fashion, for me, has never been about trends.
It’s about memory.
It’s about identity.
It’s about confidence that grows stronger with age, not quieter.
Maybe that’s why I’m still so in love with it.
Ricorda che la vita è bella,
Sara x
