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Rocco Barocco is Neapolitan by birth, his mother
from Pozzuoli, his father from Naples, and his origins in this ancient
capital is a constant source of delight and pride. He was raised in
Ischia, went to school in Procida and lived in a villa in Capri right
in front of the island’s reefs. He has a mocking, fatalistic nature, it
is impossible for him to take things seriously, and he detests people
with too high of an opinion of themselves. Willing to do anything for a
laugh he always has a ready quip.
As a youth, he worked for
Filippo, the best-known boutique on the island of Ischia and became
besotted with vacationing stars, from Gianna Maria Canale to Miriam
Blu, from Maria Callas to Anna Magnani, all of whom had high praise for
the sketches in his notebook. The sacred fire of fashion was burning in
his soul and he left his beloved Ischia for the capital. That was in
the summer of 1966. Fashion shows were still being held in Palazzo
Pitti in Florence but Rome was the capital of Fashion: Schubert,
Forquet, Cappucci, Fagiani, Irene Galitzine, and the Fontana sisters
all lived and worked in the Eternal City. He started working at the
atelier of Monsier Gilles and that is where he created Barocco. The
adventure had begun. Ever since the name of Rocco Barocco appeared in
the world of fashion, the designer’s shows that offered an image of
woman not always in line with the times. He attempts to break away from
the clichés of the day and the prevailing slogans. Though never
dogmatic, he continuously studies ways of proposing a real form of
eternal femininity, with painstaking care and a consistency far from
superficial.
This is clearly visible when his collection is
based on a primary idea, when some lucky keen insight is the key to
understanding his creations: when, for instance, he is directly
inspired by art or one of his many travels. His first customers
included Countess Claretta Agusta. She was followed by other women from
Rome’s rich, discriminating aristocratic class and numerous actresses:
Laura Antonelli, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, Ursula Andress,
Sandra Milo, Dalila Di Lazzaro, and Marisa Laurito. Liza Mannelli
became a friend as well as a customer and soon acted as fashion
ambassador of Rocco Barocco creations in the United States.
Rocco
Barocco has always had a distinctive ideal of what a woman should be.
She is a woman who embodies and glorifies seduction. The Rocco Barocco
woman knows how to be sexy with a touch of humor, a woman who enjoys
turning on her charm and loves the harmony of her forms: lovely
shoulders, a marked waistline, a bosom in proportion with the rest of
her body.
Licensing has allowed him to develop a highly
successful clothing business but the center of this universe is a man
who stubbornly sticks to the details of his craft. From that point of
view, the years have not passed, nor will they ever. The human
dimension of the mature man and successful designer remains that of an
enthralled by making solitary sketches wherever he is, in reality or in
dreams. |
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