I want to tell you how Gelé came about...
Do you remember in school when you were asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
When this question came up in essays, there were very different answers: doctors, lawyers, bank clerks…I wanted to be a fashion designer.
I still remember the feeling when I saw myself fail the paper because I was told that fashion design is not a “real job”. The teacher’s negative comment and the resulting mockery of my classmates made me feel out of place. This could have been a reason to stop imagining my future in fashion or… as it did, become the reason to try harder.
After all, Henry Ford used to say: “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
The desire to express myself has grown with me over the years. Ever since I was a little girl, I used to design clothes with coloured pencils, dreaming of working for important brands and one day seeing a diva wearing one of my creations.
And that dream came true when, while working for Gucci, I saw a post of Beyoncé wearing a dress designed by me. Yet despite the gratification for this occasion, things do not always turn out as we wish…
The job of a fashion designer doesn’t have a fixed schedule and you are always required to be an unlimited source of ideas, colours, creativity, and emotions, even when there are very difficult times in your personal life, and you only see grey around you.I remember that I would often come home late form work, have dinner in bed and wake up to know that the next day would be no different from the previous one… like a hamster in its wheel.
I would hide my true happiness behind the importance of the brand I was working for. I started to feel rejected and was stressed by so much work and by the complexity of the relationships in this working field. I was constantly on the verge of giving up.
My experience was growing as I worked for other important international brands, but none the less I was unsure and hesitant. I was in constant doubt of whether I was doing enough or if I was capable enough. Maybe someone else could do better..
Turning Point
The turning point came when I realised that I could get out of all this on my own; the limits I had built for myself were only imaginary and not real.
So, in spite of all the advice I received, I decided to listen to myself and took action. I quit my job as a designer, and after having demolished my “comfort zone”, I started working for another important brand, which, unintentionally, gave me the final push that led me to Gelé.
This last experience, in which I had placed all my best expectations, offered a good salary and a clear job position. Regardless of this, I was still unhappy and struggling with myself.
In that windowless environment, I was out of breath, I felt imprisoned… my creativity had died out in a skyless cage.
I started to work on those constant negative thoughts that kept me confined and I realised that I could get out of all this and with my own strength…I just had to believe in it!
After resigning, despite the great fear of the unknown that awaited, I took a “double leap in the void” and I embarked on a path that I never thought I would take.
My Transformation
After a 13-year long journey, in which I always had to interpret and comply with the style of the different fashion houses, neglecting my own, I discovered that the real strength of my inspiration lies in the belief in myself.
One day, while I was cycling through the streets of Rome, I felt a wonderful sense of freedom. The mere thought of my own brand rekindled in me the colours and passion of that little girl who many years ago was daydreaming and smiling.
This is how my transformation was born, this is how the revolution was born…this is how Gelé was born
I have learned that nothing is impossible and that if you have the will, the determination, and the strength to follow your dreams…everything is achievable, you just must believe and never stop dreaming!
After all, as L. A. Whitehead said:
“Great dreamers’ dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended.” Go to the Concept
