Italy Of The Orient

I have been inspired by India in my work. In its most obvious form, this inspiration manifests itself in my use of clear, bright colours and decorative embroidery. We source fabrics and embroidery from India, especially for our evening dresses and Atelier collection. But beyond that, I felt a sense of freedom in India which encouraged me to loosen up, and to embrace the idea of freedom of expression in the way I put the clothes together. Things no longer have to be only formal or casual or sporty. The modern way of styling your outfits enables you to combine elements from different genres.

I hope my designs will sell in India, as we recently opened our first boutique at the JW Marriott hotel in Mumbai. I think Indian women would look great in Versace as they have an innate sense of glamour and elegance. Obviously, it is very important to preserve one's culture and traditions but I firmly believe it is possible to integrate the two sensibilities as they do in many other countries.

India has an air of mystery about it, and some of this no doubt derives from the idea that it is a land of spiritual beliefs. In an increasingly globalising world, perhaps India can symbolise an alternative way of looking at the world. I have become a more spiritual person over the past few years. If you have to struggle with personal troubles, you can develop an ability to stand back from yourself and look at the bigger picture. This ability—to understand why you do the things you do, why you behave and think in a certain way—enables you to break destructive and negative patterns of thought and behaviour and shows you that you do have a choice as to the kind of person you are. I don't know if this can be called spirituality, but it is the closest I have come to such a thing.

When I was in India, I felt there was a great affinity between the Indian people and the Italian people. We are both very passionate, and both very concerned about maintaining family ties and heritage. We are also both peoples who are survivors—whatever history has thrown at us, we have come through, adapting, evolving, developing. On a personal level, I have had to do this over the past few years, and on a national level, Italy is always in a state of flux (politically or economically). India has that sense of flux too—an ebb and flow of ideas, trends, power, politics, culture. That is why it is such an exciting place.