Caprera is a minuscule island off the northern coast of Sardinia. Rocky, windy, sparsely populated, and rather inhospitable, it’s famous not only for its untouched wild beauty, but also for being home to Centro Velico Caprera, one of the oldest Italian sailing schools. The Centro Velico has learning methods as spartan as its surroundings; regardless of who you are or where you come from, its iron discipline applies to everyone.
Antonio Marras, a Sardinian through and through, knows Caprera well, and for resort he wanted to pay a sort of homage to the educational inclusivity of the sailing school. “It’s a place where so many different people meet,” he said. “The common ground is the strong passion they all have for life at sea. I believe fashion is a sort of common ground as well; it’s an amalgam of people from different worlds, who recognize each other through a system of shared meanings.”
The collection played on sailing’s stereotypes, reinterpreted by Marras in his freewheeling style of assemblage. Blue was obviously the color that tied it together, offered in a plethora of shades. The strong winds that sweep Caprera’s landscape and the rippling of waves were rendered through airy, lightweight fabrications and billowy shapes, suggesting movement and fluidity. Stripes, polka dots, and florals were variously patchworked together, denim was trimmed with feathers and embellished with sequins or with lace intarsia, and mannish pantsuits came with floral appliqués at the front, while long flowy dresses were treated to fan-shaped overlays of plissé lace.
Unconcerned by trends, Marras pursues his own creative journeys. Now that his company has a new owner, expansion of his fashion line and of his artistic practice is in the cards. “Fashion travels by land and by sea,” he said. “It travels to learn, and never stops.”
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