gabriella cortese + antik batik

Gabriella Cortese, the founder and creative head of Antik Batik, has a traveling soul. Italian by birth and Parisian by adoption, she has crisscrossed the globe. Born in Turin, she enjoyed there a well-behaved childhood. Classic dancing, pleated skirts and white socks. Her Hungarian grandmother taught her how to embroider while her mother appeared to her as the model of eternal elegance.

antik batik spring 2010 - embellished print in gorgeous colors

At eighteen, as an art student in search of freedom, Gabriella discovered Paris and its wild nightlife. Then, like the artists who went off to study humanities in the 19th century, she departed for Tibet, in the footsteps of Alexandra David Neel, and on the silk road following the last of the psychedelic dandies.

Alexandra David Neel

A traveler nostalgic for the times of cabin trunks, Gabriella's designs invite us to go back in time. From Art Nouveau she  borrows its decorative extravagance and stylized floral patterns. Geometric  prints inspired by the Russian avant-garde charge her creations with history.

antik batik spring 2010 - the perfect mix of high-low in a simple peasant top with gold sequined clusters at the neck

"I've a desire to create the fashion of a voyager who plunges into his past and rediscovers treasures in an old trunk, pieces that evoke the souvenirs of childhood and the parties of the annees folles." The explosion of colors of the summer collections evoke the bohemian elegance of aristocrats such as Talitha Getty in Tangiers and Marisa Berenson in Ibiza towards the end of the sixties.

Talitha GettyMarisa Berenson

"In times of crises, we turn towards what is ethical, we return to things that are true, with roots. We have a desire for handmade, authenticity and humanity. Hand and human make a difference."