Nadia Maria Marino graduated this year from Central Saint Martins in London with her Master in Fashion Design. Her collection has a 100% sustainable aspect. Ecologically produced fabrics, wool and leather. Everything was designed and made with a no-waste principle. The designer also use only production scraps for the leather/sheepskin pieces. The circle to her concept is completed with the source of inspiration “Sicily”. Technique, colors and materials, link to the southernmost island of Italy and thus to her own roots.
CREDITS:
DESIGNER Nadia Maria Marino
PHOTOGRAPHER Daniele Fummo
STYLIST Paolo Zagoreo
ART DIRECTOR Edward James Lee
HAIR & MAKE-UP Lou Box
MODEL Liv Pickard
HEIM·WEH – german word for /homesickness/
I miss my country. My life there, the air and the color of the ground. I long for the person I was back then, for the woman I was there. Here and now, the colors seem paler, fainter, less expressive – maybe they are. Everything seems to be black and white. I close my eyes and dream myself far away. Away, to a time when I was happy.
To a place where I seemed carefree. I was barely 16 when my parents decided to marry me off. I didn’t know what was happening to me. My body became rigid, my hands ice cold. Despite the 40 degrees in the shade, my whole body began to tremble.
This stranger, sitting on the sofa next to the crochet blanket of my grandmother, blurred before my eyes. In his perfectly fitted suit he looked both elegant and terrifying at the same time. He gave me his hand. Which was big, and his skin felt crudelike leather. The spoken sentences merged into an abstract, indefinable mosaique. All I heard were words like Germany, work, money…
The nylon of my socks began to get itchy and seemed to burn on my feet. I wanted to run, just run away, but somehow the force of gravity seemed too strong at that moment My feet felt wooden, my clothes too
heavy to walk. Was is the wool of my skirt which was unbearably heavy or my heart which turned into a stone? Maybe I was just dreaming and that’s why I couldn’t run? Maybe the whole thing was just a bad nightmare and I would be back playing with my sisters in the garden tomorrow. Blackout.
Where are all my things? Who packed this leather suitcase? Who is this man in this shiny leather shoes? And above all, who is this woman who is going to be his from now on?
I took another deep breath. The air smelled treacherous. It tasted of farewell, of heartbreak, of melancholy. In the blink of an eye, my childhood was gone. And as the tired fly flaps its wings, I grew up even though I was still a child in my heart.
Now I sit here. 50 years later and feel the pain that spreads through me – I still feel nothing but longing. I know it’s nobody’s fault. Until now I feel the soft wool of my grandmother’s blanket among my fingertips. Even now taste the flavor of my father’s wine on my tongue.
I close my eyes and dream myself far away. Away to a universe where I am capable to decide for myself.
To a place where I can choose the life I want to live. Where I am the person who wears the suit… I am stuck between two people, between two worlds, between Germany and Sicily.
Between cold and warm. In the middle of my roots and my sons. Among the crochet tablecloth and my husbands shirt. I dream about a Life where I could have stayed in my hometown and not be a foreigner, a stranger. I am a person who has all 4 seasons at the same time in her heart.
Life is like a wave. The all-important question is how strong you are. If you’re too weak, you’ll be swept away. I was swept away. I haven’t felt solid ground for half a century. Nostalgia puts me in a rigid numbness.
I miss the smell of the dry almonds. I miss the scent of the oranges and lemons in the sun. I miss the blue of the sky. I miss the sand on my skin. I miss the shadow of the cactus and it’s prickly pears. I miss the nights with the taste of red wine in my mouth.
I miss my home. I miss myself.
Words by Nadia Maria Marino
33 MAGAZINE 