WORDS BY CARLOTTA BUOSI

Going backstage at Malibu 1992 SS18 show meant getting face to face with the ghosts of LA’s Chateau Marmont. Alternative types dressed in revisited formal shapes. Dripping candles prints and all proportions dramatically pulling down to the ground: shoulders, waists, sleeves. Dorian Stefano Tarantini - DJ turned Creative Director of Milan’s famous nightclub Plastic, now fashion designer - was leading his ‘90s inspired squad through a comprehensive exercise where fashion and music walked hand-in-hand down the catwalk. We caught him right before the lights went down, just before they came up again to reveal his vision.

How would you describe yourself, today, both as a designer and as an individual?

I am a post-internet designer. I belong to a category of designers and artists which was born after the rise of the Internet. My imaginary recalls everything that happened before the Internet and I try to translate that into the present. My aesthetic is very connected to the ‘90s, before the Internet was born.

What does music means for you today as opposed to what it used to mean when it was you main job? Did your perception toward it change in any way?

Nothing has changed. My creative process is also the same. There’s no difference for me in making music and making fashion. I’ve always been close to a kind of music that’s very connected with visuals, for me the two are separable. This collection, for example, is a unique exercise of sound and music. Each and every one of my shows is a media for me to communicate through both music and clothes.

Music must be of inspiration for you, but what else you look at when designing your collections?

Of course, music always inspires me. This collection is basically thought of for musicians. I look a at the business aspect of it quite a lot too. This collection, for example, plays with the symbolism of capitalism. it’s very rich but worn by very alternative types. I like this anarchic attitude of playing with symbols of power: the logo of a famous hotel, very formal shapes revisited…

You’re a DJ, a designer, you’ve been a Creative Director too. What brings you to constantly jump from one creative discipline to the other? Is it a matter of boredom? Of curiosity? Of both?

I am very reactive to changes. When something around me changes, I automatically feel the need to change myself. If something stimulates me less thank it used to, I move onto something else. From music to fashion to art, it depends on the period.

How would you describe your style?

My style is post-Internet luxury.

Who is your man? Where is he going? How does he get there?

My man is going to the Chateau Marmont, at 6am in the morning, after a night out. Who knows what will happen then.