3/10/09

Nicoletta Santoro




Nicoletta Santoro, stylist on the COMING SOON film "The Man with the Suitcase"


Nicoletta Santoro talks quietly and cleverly. She carefully observes everything. She might be petite, but her aura is large.

She belongs to a very small niche in the high fashion world, and she almost always has. She currently lives in New York, but she was born in Milan, where her family was very close to the owner of the Italian Condé Nast. When the editor of Italian Vogue, Manuela Pavesi, who is now a major part of Prada, went on maternity leave, Nicoletta was offered an internship. That is how she made her first steps in fashion as an assistant, before becoming a major senior editor at the young age of 27.

At the same time, she was studying antique languages at Università Cattolica in Milan. Since she promised her parents she would get her degree, despite her growing interest in fashion, she continued to study, attending evening classes to become a journalist.

When you observe Nicoletta working, you immediately notice that she is deeply in love with her job. She takes it seriously, and speaks of it with passion. She says, with a smile, in perfect English, but enhanced by a lovely Italian accent: “Being a stylist is like being a director: you choose your models, your team, your hair and make-up stylists, your photographer. You are the coordinator. I love being on set. You are always surprised because there will always be a difference between what is in your mind and what the reality actually is”.

Working on a film was a very interesting experience for her. This was Nicoletta’s second time to work as the stylist on the Coming Soon films. “I am not a director anymore. In that case, I obey!”, she said laughing. In that case precisely, she obeys her husband, Max Vadukul, the director of the first three Coming Soon films. When you see the two work together, advising and supporting each other with their own competences, you immediately agree with her when she says that it is a “wonderful collaboration”, adding that “the story is a complement of choreography, movements, clothes. The Coming Soon clothes are amazing in action. This is a wonderful marriage, everything is working in perfect harmony.”

Harmony. This word suits Nicoletta very well, and seems to be consistent with other aspects of her life, and particularly fashion. Her favorite designers are Prada and Lanvin because, “I like to be myself and I like those designers because they enhance my personality, my spirit, my style. You do not become what you wear”. This is fashion wisdom.

Her thoughts on travel? “Before my marriage, I traveled a lot. I love India, Nepal, Kashmir, Kenya, Bhurma, Tibet. Now, I accommodate with the Caribbean. I buy at markets, I am an explorer”.  She laughs, almost like a child, and her whole body follows her mouth, again in harmony.

 

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