It is always such a pleasure for me to host guests on the blog, and to introduce you to atypical, creative, beautiful minds. Today meet Giorgia and Muriel Del Don, two sisters that surely don’t look like anyone. I met them two years ago as we were all working for The Brussels Short Film Festival, everyday their really stylish outfits were definitely bringing a vintage vibe into the festival. I am very admirative of their style, of their audacity but mainly extremely jealous of the amazing tasteful and timeless collection. Few months ago they launched a facebook page under the name of SWISS DESIRE, sharing and selling bits and parts of their wardrobe. Gio et Mo have their very own universe, so who better than them to introduce themselves and talk about their upcoming projects with Swiss Desire.
Swiss Desire is an online vintage shop run by Gio and Mo (us), two Swiss twin sisters, soul mates, business /crime partners, living in Brussels.
With Swiss Desire we would like to share our passion for vintage but also our personal world made of strange creatures, alpine myths and decadent dreams, result of our Swiss origins. The items we propose at Swiss Desire have been collected during our never ending travels and stays in cities as Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Rome but also in the more unexpected Ticino’s valleys, in Switzerland, or in the beautiful Emilia’s region where we found inestimable treasures. Our goal is to share our personal taste in fashion, our melting pot of influences with everyone interested in discovering something new, unexpected and authentic (a big selection of clothes comes from our personal dressing).
The Swiss Desire credo is that you don’t need to have money to have style! The real style is something alchemical, the fact of feeling truly honest with yourself, the expression of what you are through clothes. The fact of playing humorously with fashion, using and abusing of a certain “deuxième degré” is essential for us. When you come from a melting pot of cultures and influences like ours you are quite forced to play with styles and propositions. The city we come from is, honestly, reeeeeally small, surrounded by mountains and lakes, but extremely close (one hour by car) from one of the world fashion’s Mecca: Milan…a paradox that suits us so well! On the one hand the Italian “sartorial” tradition and on the other hand the crazy, handmade/I don’t give a fu*k attitude typical of a small context.
When our friend Eva of The Bubblist (thanks darling!) asked us to write something about Swiss Desire the first idea we had was to improvise an interview like we were in a sort of Belgian Oprah Winfrey show…enjoy!
What style tag would you give to Swiss desire?
Unexpected, folk, trashy/bourgeois, 70s, 80s, sometimes 90s, Swiss, sexy
What makes Swiss Desire different?
All the items at Swiss Desire have a “unique” story: they have been chosen because they represent what we are, our personal look, our own tastes…they have travelled with us; they have been part of our own life.
What 3 things define your look?
Mo: slim, perfecto, platform shoes
Gio: family rings, long blond hair, black blazer
Describe your personal style
Mo: a mix between the androgynous rock attitude of the 80s and the grungy/destroy style of the 90s
Gio: homage to the beautiful women of the 70s with their amazing care for details. Nico and Carla Fracci (Opera La Scala prima ballerina) are definitely my style icons!
…Talking about that, who are your style icons?
Mo: Ian Curtis, Siouxsie Sioux, Loredana Berté (in the 80s), Daria Nicolodi, Linda Womack (Womack&Womack) and Tempestt Bledsoe (as Vanessa Robinson in The Crosby Show)
Gio: (a part from Nico and Carla Fracci) Monica Vitti, Catherine Deneuve, Anne Marie Schawarzenbach and the Siena’s paglio horse riders
What are your influences?
The amazing women of our family, the cold wave, the Italian giallo from the 80s, Nordic myths and traditions, 90s riot grrrls, the scents of nature
Favourite items in your wardrobe
Mo: my Irish wool cape, my mom’s leather trousers and my black perfecto
Gio: My white YSL silk blouse (find in a small vintage shop in Switzerland for a ridiculous prize…so proud of it!), my vintage Valentino yellow and black blouse (life wouldn’t be the same without blouses!) inherited from a German translator living in Geneva, my vintage Burberry blue coat
Favourite items of the Swiss Desire’s page (so far)
The red loafers (80s style) to wear with the leather black perfecto (grrrr!) and the Devernois wool dress combined with the amazing leather thigh boots we bought in Paris (bourgeois sexy)…and don’t forget to take a look to our summer dresses…sun is shining!
What do you love about Brussels?
Its open mind attitude, surrealistic and funny everyday situations (chic/trash), its central position that transform the city in an ideal crossover of ideas (no limits!), its unpretentiousness (don’t care to be cool!) that allows every sort of experimentations
What do you love about Switzerland?
It’s amazing landscape, its cultural diversity, its capacity to deal with 4 different cultures and its magical rural traditions
Top 3 must-view magazines
Sang Bleu, DROME Magazine, Novembre Magazine
3 future programs
To open a small shop in Brussels dedicated to vintage, Swiss design, music and performance (through little “events” taking place there)
To focus more on handmade items (also made by us)
To believe in our dreams
I’m sure you will like their shifted world as much as I do.
Don’t forget to go and LIKE the Swiss Desire Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Swiss-desire/104758399707001?fref=ts
The Bubblist 