gabriella di falco

Gabriella Di Falco was born in Sicily, Italy in 1974. Her eye for fashion started in her early days as she watched her mother Lella, a professional dressmaker, design for private customers and was constantly by her side when customers came over for purchases.Gabriella attended an accounting school for 5 years in Sicily and earned a diploma. Not feeling that profession as her future, at the age of 20 she packed a suitcase and left to London to study English for a few months and ended up staying over 6 years. After the third month, she applied for K.I.A.D Kent Institute of Art and Design (a fashion university in Kent, just outside of London) and was accepted. Realising soon there after, that all she wanted to do was to be in the fashion world and be a fashion designer. Struggling with English as a foreign language, her studies seemed an impossible task at times but she used her love for her dream as fuel and guide and finally obtained a degree in “fashion technology”.She worked for Karen Millen and Dorothy Perkins, two English designers, and also as a personal shopper for private customers. In june 2003 she decided to return to Sicily where she participated in the “Young Fashion Designer Competition” and won first prize for “Best Collection”. Not too long after, once again, she received first prize for “Best Trendy collection” at a fashion competition organized by the famous Sicilian fashion designer Marella Ferrera.In her relentless search for further involvement within the Fashion Industry and dealing with the fact that fashion was not a big occurrence in Sicily, Gabriella had the idea of opening a fashion agency called “Vanity management” with a friend.Her agency took off and she organized many fashion shows in places such as the underground station, pool tops and other unusual places. Diving deeper into the “unusual”, Gabriella became well known in Sicily after designing an “unusual” wedding dress: a big, lace, black wedding dress—which alongside her mother, and now forming what she considered “the perfect team”, she began selling as a new collection.In January 2004 Gabriella received an offer from a fashion company based in Prato, next to Florence, as fashion designer which she accepted. After relocating to Florence, she began to commute on a regular basis to places showing her collection and constantly meeting buyers. She also worked as personal shopper for private American customers and helped with the styling of famous Italian singer, Irene Grandi, during her concerts and other on-stage appearances.With all the ground and experience gained, Gabriella Di Falco, decided to make her own line DI FALCO clothing and now has two in total: Prêt à Porter and Haute Couture. The production for the Prêt à Porter is in Florence, Italy, while the Haute Couture collection is still managed by her mother in Sicily where she sews and embroiders all of Gabriella’s designs and they are hand painted by professional painter Francesca Sarda. She travel a lot all over the world for her business and she enjoyed that a lot.Together with the traditional art of embroidery, Gabriella di Falco’s designs bring together the contemporary with the traditional and she designs for women who like to be admired for their intellectual, feminility and sensuality.