Raffaella Petraccaro takes us into the world of LOKE made of original graphic lines and déco inspirations with parodistic spirit.
Raffaella Petraccaro is student Fashion Designer at the IUAD University of Naples who, along with Luca Di Fusco, another student Fashion Designer at the same university, was selected by Luigi Vecchia, creative director for Daks, as joint winner of this first LOKE virtual tutorial.
We from the LOKE Team met up with her at the Madre – Donnaregina museum of contemporary art in the historic heart of Naples, along the “via dei Musei” a stone’s throw from the Duomo, the National Archaeology Museum and the Academy of Fine Arts in the old San Lorenzo quarter.
Raffaella Petraccaro talked to us about her complex inspirations, her winning the first LOKE tutorial and her creative process, as well as her research methods mixing natural and artificial textures.
This is how it went.
In such a short time your “Green” ethical and aesthetic vision caught the eye of designer Luigi Vecchia and many others: how did you react to being announced the winner and how has your experience in the LOKE virtual game-contest been?
R.P.: I liked Team LOKE’s idea right from the start, even the project guidelines were really stimulating, and for me designing the product itself was a proper “creative outburst” I really enjoyed.
Then winning the contest was so exciting, and especially the comments Luigi Vecchia made about my project. I saw that he totally understood the message I was sending, and his almost paternal, professional critique was very useful for me, being so new to the sector.
What are the characteristic elements of your design? For example, in terms of figure, form and materials?
R.P.: I can summarise my style in three words: hybrid, genderfluid and experimental. Hybrid because I like playing with different styles, mixing natural and artificial textures for example. Genderfluid, not only for the minimal figure but also because I like working on multipurpose clothing: I love the idea of be able to wake up each morning and choose to be a different person to the one I was yesterday.
Experimental, above all in terms of form and materials because I want my clothes to express a tangible concept, a clear idea, like a contemporary art installation where everything is there to alter or stimulate the perception of the observer, who becomes integral part of the work.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
R.P.: My greatest passions, and where I often draw inspiration, are design, the expression of the new mass culture, innovation and the meeting of beauty and utility.
In any case I think inspiration has to come from the outside, from anything; but the basis of everything has to be the capacity to research and observe, and not just what’s beautiful or what I like most.
Every visual image has to be photographed and stored in my “ideas database”; I always carry notepad, pencil and watercolours in my bag (however strange or retro that may seem) because I can’t control the ideas, they come when they want and I have to be ready to capture them!
How would you describe the style you’d like to propose to the fashion market?
R.P.: I’d describe it as a style in step with the times but paradoxically timeless, that serves as a means for expressing the interiority of the wearer, for always feeling “right” in this new, “liquid” modernity.
What are your aims for the short-medium term?
R.P.: I’m aiming to get all the experience I can, possibly even abroad, to build my future step by step.
What is LOKE for you?
R.P.: For me LOKE is a really great experience, capable of valorising the principal characteristics of a creative: expression of self and ideas, and the chance to leave a visible mark on a career. LOKE for me was the perfect means for realising these two elements. I can confidently say that for an emerging designer, taking part in this contest is an experience they absolutely shouldn’t miss.
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