Haute Couture

Designer Maria Moschiano is part of a group of Venezuelan professionals who are in the vanguard of fashion. She has become a necessary “fashion reference” whose accessibility can be evidenced through her Twitter account: @Moschianomoda.

For the creator of Maria Moschiano Couture, giving style related pointers and tips is one of her main tasks. Twitter —with no more than 140 characters— is vital as an efficient means to communicate them. Thus her technical and artistic approach becomes highly interactive and educational. "The use of social media allows people to write comments, questions and concerns and we give them feedback regarding how to always be chic", says the businesswoman.

-“If you are tall and you enjoy something exotic, you can wear oversized accessories. They will look great”.

-“If you wear a pattern or striped piece, combine it with another neutral, single-color piece. Don’t exaggerate!"

Such are the written pointers given by this “cloth and thread communicator”, as she identifies herself.

In fact, Maria Moschiano's intention is revealed by this approach of bringing fashion from catwalks and frivolous international showcases "down" to the common individual.

For this reason, at her atelier, located at Bello Monte in Caracas, you will find fine ready-to-wear collections for women whose measurements are far from the classical 90-60-90 cms highly esteemed by beauty pageants.

“I work for real clients whose physical details and traits are enhanced by my unique and particular designs. When showing trends on catwalks, I make dresses at a different scale, this is when I use fashion models, professionals who know how to showcase my designs as a mannequin does”. Then, she explains: “The challenge of a designer is to work with the client's body such as he/she is for real and then create the best and most adequate design”.

On Good Style

In order to prove this language as universal, Moschiano followed her intuition and created the concept of "Life Style, a Practical Fashion Guide" to enclose advice on style, make-up, hair, and several key aspects that a woman should keep in mind. Besides including a set of tips available to any one through internet, the manual became a seminar called Style and Life, facilitated by her jointly with a group of professionals. This program aims at training executive men and women in aspects of style with a core invitation to the participants: Get rid of what will never come back again and include what is trending and classic.

Through this Guide, “we want the strong, independent woman to feel involved in fashion and to apply its principles … what is important is to master the concept and our self knowledge, and to cease viewing fashion as a distant or unattainable thing or thinking that it only belongs in magazines”.

As an entrepreneur, Moschiano took off in the world of couture ten years ago, when she launched her first evening gown collection. However, from an early age she has been tied to the clothing industry through her father, italian-born Luigi Moschiano, a renowned tailor in Caracas. On the other hand, her brother, fellow designer Jose Luis Moschiano, introduced her to the concept of styling a design for what it means to each particular client.

“I specially learned from Jose Luis that things are born from method, organization and good planning of what you wish to express in order to fully satisfy t he client’s aspirations”. This knowledge has been a core value which she applies in her everyday activities.

She defines her work as vanguard, glamour and purity of lines. “My designs keep a classic touch that I craft through movement and fluidity of textures”.

Her collections stand out from those produced by other designers due primarily to her tailoring skills, high quality confection, and the care given to each piece: 100% couture, 100% handmade. She uses natural fibers such as silks, organdie, embroidered tulles, french satin, among others. But even more, when the need poses a challenge, she mixes materials and embroiders in Swarovski crystals.

Each handmade detail has motivated Maria Moschiano to show her dresses on international catwalks (Spain, Poland, Uruguay, USA, Lebanon and Italy) making her one of most recognized Venezuelan designers. Based on these achievements, Moschiano reminds the Venezuelan woman to keep in her wardrobe pieces that should never fail to make her look "always beautiful, always chic”. Her essentials list:

- A black tailored suit to be used either by day or by night depending on the accessorizing, on the shoes or a different hair-style. It should be made of gabardine and classic tailored lines.
-A pair of jeans, a must for casual, hippie or trendy styles. It can be matched with elaborate blouses embroidered in chiffon or tulle.
-A white T-shirt or blouse preferably in linen or 100% cotton that can be combined with jeans or even, in the case of the blouse, with black trousers.
-Dresses with wide flowy skirts for big occasions, but also for daytime events. She suggests these could be made of silk chiffon or raw silk and, according to individual taste and style, could be full or 3/4 length. Ideally, they should be black for the evening and patterned or animal print for the day.
-Earth-toned, white or neutral linen ensembles combined with glamorous ethnic accesories such as artisanal made mother-of-pearl, seed or bronze bangles.
-A perfect jacket made of leather, jean or corduroy. Texture may vary, as long as it is well cut and enhances the figure.
-Shawl or pashminas may take different shapes, poncho style or rectangular, cotton or chiffon, for whenever a reception requires adequate covering.
-Shoes: bright color sandals and black stilettos. For the weekend or more relaxed events, she recommends classic canvas slip-on flats or wedge sandals.
-Purses and bags: oversized in brown or black, and an envelope clutch for more formal occasions.
-Belts: any color is in as long as it complements the rest of the outfit.