An Interview with Kent State University Fashion Design Student: Georgia DiRoberto
Written By TFN Creative Director of Design: Olivia Sims
DiRoberto speaks about Italian Versus American Attitudes on Fashion, The Significance Behind Tiny Cappuccinos, and Undergoing Profound Personal Change in a City that is Reluctant to Change while Studying Abroad in Florence, Italy.
LISTEN to Georgia DiRoberto Speak on Specific Topics Mentioned in the Article:
Georgia Voice Recording - Individual
Georgia Voice Recording - Open-Mindfulness
Georgia Voice Recording - Confidence
I remember sitting on the school gymnasium bleachers beside a girl I had just recently met, watching her sketch designs of dresses onto her sketchbook for the duration of gym class. It was during this moment that she not only shared with me her intentions of pursuing fashion design but unintentionally showed me her talent - pouring visuals into a sketchbook that I still recall vividly to this day.
This is one of the earliest memories of my friendship with Georgia DiRoberto, which budded our freshmen year of high school back home in New Jersey, in 2016. She has since become one of the few individuals I can call a genuine friend.
Prior to arriving entirely alone in Florence, DiRoberto was not given any additional information other than the address of where she will be staying. Unaware of who her roommates were going to be and how to navigate the city in general, DiRoberto landed in the location of Italian-speaking Florence with no sense of direction or familiarity - leaving her with no choice but to figure everything out for herself.
After living, studying, and traveling around Florence since August 2022 - I sat down with my dear friend over Zoom, who is six hours ahead of Central Time (CT), to discuss what her life has looked like since relocation. When asked to tell me about your experience thus far studying fashion abroad, DiRoberto shared with me the amazement of living in a city for the first time. While she is easily able to travel anywhere surrounding Florence, she enlightened me about how each city is known for producing specific products. In Florence, DiRoberto swears you can smell leather while walking around going about your day, as Florence is known for its leather work. Leather goods including bags are common finds across the city, and something the Florentine people take pride in. There is a multitude of artisans DiRoberto has witnessed in these cities practicing and being prideful in their craft through a hand-on-hand contract which the state back home lack. She claims you are able to walk into a random store to view individuals practicing their work right in front of you - a concept that the city has been building on for generations.
Alongside the beauty of these people taking pride in what they do, DiRoberto touches upon the challenges she has faced in reference to her studies. “All you want to do is travel,” she says, but her major hinders this from easily being achieved. While her projects require spending countless hours in the studio, DiRoberto expresses the challenge of finding a balance between prioritizing work and travel simultaneously. “If you have a jacket due on Monday…you aren’t leaving the city”.
When asked what does a typical day look like for her, DiRoberto stresses her dedication to school by suggesting a typical day involves her waking up, walking approximately twenty minutes to class, spending time in the studio between classes, and running errands. In the classroom, the language barrier is another noteworthy component that adds to DiRoberto’s experience. She claims they are tough to work through while her professors are already not only not the nicest people - they by no means speak good English. You begin learning a different language in their accent, Italian English, so to speak. DiRoberto shares that she prioritizes being as direct as possible with these professors, in hopes of finding a common ground of understanding, while often leaving the scene with an unsettling feeling of being unsure whether they understood what you are saying. Mentally, it is difficult for design students like herself who endure giant projects, sacrificing 60+ hours into crafting a piece - only for the work to be torn to shreds. “You get used to this dynamic…this is what you have to do”, shares DiRoberto. When asked about the specifics behind what a typical project looks like for her, DiRoberto shares that her projects often consist of making garments, illustration design, technical drawings, mood board creation, and research. She specifically studied knits by designing a knit dress towards the beginning of the semester, then transitioned into her most recent project which required her to create a blazer. When asked how have your peers influenced you, DiRoberto claims that the individuals around her are approximately 90% influential to her when it comes to her area of study. Watching the way people work around you in regard to designing garments and illustrations is a cool dynamic DiRoberto finds to be influential to her own progress and growth. Her peers in class often have their own, different style she refers to as very individual - “it is so much fun to learn from them”.
Outside of the classroom during a normal week, DiRoberto finds a sense of normalcy in the nightlife scene. Being of legal drinking age, she finds herself going out with friends at night often to bars designed specifically for abroad students from the states, such as Lions Fountain. She expresses how this component of her stay in Florence is a great addition that provides a feeling of relief being among those she does not have to actively work on trying to understand.
After being asked what has shocked you about fashion etiquette in Florence and how this affects your everyday life living there, DiRoberto informed me of a typical Florentine approach to daily dress and how there is an expectation to look good. Unlike the states, in Florence, you are not permitted to wear sweatpants as “it feels wrong”, she suggests. There is no such thing as cute athleisure unless you are a tourist, and heels are uncommon due to the city’s structure. Florence is known for being a walking city - or a city where the preferred method of getting around is by foot as there is limited public transportation. The cobblestone groundwork inspires people to turn towards a more practical approach to dress and footwear as sneakers are commonly worn with nicely put-together outfits like pants and skirts. The environment is a big influence on how people dress, as you not only have to dress practically for walking distances but at the same time look presentable to blend in with the locals and beautiful settings - such as the cafes. In relation to this, DiRoberto reflects on her professor dressed nicely yet pairing a long skirt with bright purple Hookas - a memorable sight, but not a surprising one to those from this area. DiRoberto often finds herself wearing linens, jeans, long skirts, and flat shoes, but no matter what, receives funny looks and eyeballs from the people - especially when they hear you speak English. DiRoberto expresses that the locals tend to have a short temper for those who are here briefly while the fashion is taken more seriously as compared to America.
Nevertheless, DiRoberto reflects on her first week in Florence as she vividly recalls seeing a girl wearing a bright pink dress, with cowboy boots. She must be American, DiRoberto thought to herself. Yet, once she was in close proximity to the girl - she was astounded to hear the girl speaking fluent Italian on the phone. While there is this overarching idea of Italians being grounded in their traditional means of dress, DiRoberto raises the factor of fashion being universal and subjective at times - especially as the younger generations are highly and prominently influenced by trends found across social media. It comes to show how influential the presence of social media can be within other areas of the world and how American fashion can be seen trickling into Italy - establishing a huge push American fashion is creating.
Likewise, America can receive a glimpse of Italian fashion, and its values reflected in fashion, through the Italian brand, Brandy Melville. While Brandy Melville is a fashion company that primarily targets teenage girls, this brand can aid in the understanding of Italian versus American fashion as DiRiberto approves that Brandy Melville reflects how most, if not all, boutiques are structured in Italy. The ‘one-size fits all’ uproar that America tore brands like Brandy Melville apart for during recent years - is a common thing across Italian boutiques. This system furthermore reflects the Italian tendency of inclusivity, yet at the same time, appeals to and satisfies the local Italian - as most of these individuals are extremely active due to the city’s layout forcing them to walk everywhere every day. The city does not allow you many options to easily gain weight.
Italy stands firm on the idea of unwelcoming change. The fashion reflects the morals of the city itself in a way, as it is very aged, traditional, inclusive, and finds comfort in the familiar - with a reluctance to change. While this concept is slowly seeing improvement, DiRoberto proclaims that this idea has a lot to do with the influence of the church and religions such as Christianity and Catholicism - valuing the conservative nature of the church through forms of dress. With a lack of diversity in Florence and being firmly rooted in the church system, there is little to no industrialization and a push for change.
Is there something you have experienced studying abroad that you wish Americans would adopt into their daily rituals?
“I love small coffees”
The small coffees are notably cheaper and tailored to offer a sense of convenience to Italians. DiRoberto shares her new-found love for taking lattes and cappuccinos on the go while engaging with her studies. She shares that being able to do takeaway in Florence is a brand-new concept for the people that were put into action as a result of Covid-19. Florentines for the first time ever can now take coffee and food to go. Yet, DiRoberto’s response of loving small coffees was not what I had expected to hear in relation to this question, but after further explanation, it wasn’t just the cute, aesthetic, tiny coffee DiRoberto was referring to. She is actually referencing a larger issue that is often overlooked in American culture - the tendency of overconsumption.
DiRoberto uses the small coffee to address the issue of overconsumption she feels America contributes to, whereas Italy has mastered control over. The food and drink portion size in Italy were noticeably much smaller and cheaper to DiRoberto in comparison to America. She proclaims that this approach to nourishing the body is much better as it does not fuel the desire to consume an unnecessary amount past the point of satiety. Claiming how America has a huge issue with overconsuming everything, DiRoberto connects this idea to the fashion industry itself - where Americans have this constant need to buy buy buy new clothing, Italians would rather invest in quality, classic pieces that will last them for years to come. This immense opposition can be seen through something as little as a coffee as she suggests the Italian way of living is a simpler and straightforward way of living - they understand what they need and do not put energy into what they do not need.
“I am perfectly fine with my little coffee”, DiRoberto happily remarks.
After being asked what have you learned studying abroad that you otherwise would have never learned if you hadn’t, DiRoberto expresses the importance of living and being entirely alone. “You realize how alone you are”, she admits, as living in Florence has brought her face to face with the reality of having to be in charge of yourself, for the sake of yourself. “I didn’t do the group flight with other students studying abroad - I landed, got a taxi, learned how to navigate a country, alone, all while not knowing anything…I didn’t know the systems and had limited access to the internet due to the cement buildings”. DiRoberto stressed the fact that everyone is an individual and does their own thing at the end of the day.
“You have to rely on yourself…you’re the only person watching over your success” DiRoberto shares how it is so very important to discover a purpose, or at the least, a sense of purpose for yourself in order to adjust to being on your own. Without the structure having a purpose offers, you will get lost. By having an eagerness and willingness to learn and adapt to where you currently are in life, DiRoberto stresses taking advantage of where you are. “Do stuff because you can…keep on wanting to do this stuff”. There is an overall appreciation for travel DiRoberto expresses as a result of this experience - it opens your eyes by forcing you to not only learn your likes and dislikes but places and most importantly, yourself.
I then asked DiRoberto if there is anything she’d like for the readers to take away from this interview.
“Be opened minded about literally everything…you can not be close-minded” she boldly recommends - as there is a much stricter way of viewing things in the states. “Not everything you think is right is right…not everything is black and white”, she urges, which is one of the most important thoughts to consider. From her own experience, DiRoberto credits her new-founded open-mindedness, to her experience traveling - as she believes the efforts of getting up, learning from people of different cultures, experiencing, and seeing new things inspire what you are creating. If there is one thing she would like for you, as the reader, to take away from this interview, it is to travel and be open-minded to it - even if it is traveling within the states.
“You are meant to change a million times”.
The Georgia DiRoberto I knew prior to her experience studying in Florence, Italy was a young woman battling bad anxiety and lacking self-confidence. Enduring this experience shifted her views on anxiety entirely, as she says that putting yourself in a position such as this one does not allow much room for anxiety to decipher your life decisions. You simply can’t afford to be anxious in life, and in DiRoberto’s case - receiving dirty looks from and not being able to understand the Italian locals is something she has learned to be content with while she continued to follow her own path. You have to become comfortable with making mistakes, doing everything wrong, and consistently embarrassing yourself because, through it all, you learn and grow so much through it. DiRoberto has discovered an entirely new level of confidence within herself as a result of putting herself out there and simply not caring about anyone else’s perspective of her existence. DiRiberto plans to adopt these lessons into her life moving forward, after Florence, Italy,
“You feel confident in existing in discomfort, and I encourage you to put yourself out there in a new way you’ve never done before”.
After associating herself with her family and a space she’s outgrown, DiRiberto claims to have learned a lot about herself as an individual by separating herself from these attributes of her life. She viewed herself as “an individual who had to grow, and I nurtured that” as she now has the intention of working on herself to experience even more self-development as a result. “I am an individual person, and I want to keep writing her story”, DiRiberto shares. You do not belong anywhere, you are on your own in this life and this is something to work on being okay with. No one else is going to focus on you as much as you. She urges this is so very important to reflect on, not only as a designer but as a person. You are not in competition with anyone other than yourself, comparing yourself to anyone other than yourself is not a productive use of your time. DiRiberto shares that she now spends time comparing past to new work she has produced to gauge her progress, keep track of improvements, and overall keep track of herself - something she had never done before.
“Start looking at yourself as the product…you’re not creating the product, you are the product”.
My nearly two-hour interview with DiRiberto was not only a beautiful way of being informed about her current life and experiences. It was simultaneously, an emotional moment for me as a friend. From my personal perspective - being able to see those you care about deeply grow and make decisions that aid in their benefit of themselves is a beautiful thing to witness. After knowing her for approximately five years, I am endlessly proud of Georgia for not only welcoming and acknowledging this period of growth but actively working on establishing herself for her own sake.
I thank you, my dear friend, Georgia for sharing what you have learned from your experience with me for The Fashion Network’s readers and for educational and inspirational purposes.
Be sure to follow Georgia DiRoberto on Instagram - @georgiadiroberto