Interview with Lucio Di Rosa, the celebrity publicist
A showroom-atelier and much more. In the heart of Milan, inside the Palazzo Meli Lupi di Soragna building, LDR22 was inaugurated in December, the Milanese headquarters of the agency after the Los Angeles headquarters, which is more a home than an office. A meeting place for professionals, celebrities and brands who come together under the curatorship of a long-experienced professional: Lucio Di Rosa. His mentor? Donatella Versace.
In the restored spaces of the eighteenth-century Palazzo Meli Lupi in Soragna, a few steps from the fashion district, LDR22 opened on 13 December. Over 600 square meters, where you can breathe in scented essences and feed your eyes with beauty: from architecture to furnishings. Among dark wood paneling, works of art, wallpapers and furniture customised by Fornasetti , you will be able to discover the collections of emerging international brands and more consolidated brands. Here Lucio Di Rosa, who has worked for twenty years in the VIP, celebrity pr and matchmaker departments of brands such as Giorgio Armani , Versace , Elie Saab and Dolce&Gabbana , will welcome his clients into the showroom, to plan events, work on product communication strategies and corporate, art direction of campaigns and placing with celebrities with a focus on emerging and talented brands, selected by Lucio himself. The stars are part of Lucio's life and with some of them he has created relationships of friendship and trust, one of the words that has the most importance in Di Rosa's work ethic. The idea of transforming the agency into a boutique agency that is in the image and likeness of its owner, who used to invite celebrities and clients into his homes at the end of a fashion show or event. « For me this space is home, so it was born in West Hollywood from a suggestion by Sharon Stone . In fact my customers there simply say “Let's go to Lucio's”. I would like to recreate this feeling of familiarity, feeling at ease, as in the case of some stylists who I invited to my place, they put aside their rivalries to enjoy the atmosphere that is created", explains Di Rosa.
L'OFFICIEL: How do you work with young brands and how do you help them in a world saturated with proposals?
Lucio Di Rosa: I usually choose a brand personally, in the sense that I deal with scouting, or they come to me. When you work with a small brand you obviously have to scale down everything you want to ask of the brand, not only at the economic level but also at the product level: it may happen that the brand has only one collection or only 8-9 clothes and you have to work in advance reduced while still guaranteeing a super result. With the smaller brands you have to try to work on their flagship model, for example in the case of Tallermarmo the feathers, for them they are a must in the clothes of their collections. We need to target the characters that the brand likes and that I know works for them, there must be trust because with a little product and a little budget you can't get anywhere. Every time I have a brand in front of me I first have to understand if the product has potential and then whether to position it in Milan or Los Angeles, if they want to have the product displayed. We certainly need to be aligned because often we don't have clear ideas, we don't know what we want, I have a strategy and they have another vision and if the two things don't meet we don't work well. I study a lot beforehand, I check what it could become the brand and above all where I want to take it and I always ask the customer what they would like from the first meeting. This is the first step to take. Many customers don't realise their potential, what's out there and what the brand can give. It must also be said that if there is understanding, everything is simpler. When you have such a close relationship with a designer like Donatella for 14 years, one glance is enough to understand that you know that idea works and you don't need to talk about it, this thing is priceless, but it builds over time.
LOI: Who are your mentors, those who taught you what you know today?
LDR: We can say that my mentor is Donatella Versace. I joined Versace in 2005 and was there until 2019. I joined and took care of the editorial photo shoots, for me she was an icon. And when you find her in front of you with the cigarette you feel shocked. The first time I saw her she said, “Are you the new one?” And after introducing herself she tells me “starting tomorrow you are going to via Gesù, the first exam is the Oscars. If it goes well we're all happy, if it goes badly don't bother coming back." Never done an Oscar in my life, even at Armani I was in charge of editorials. Above all, Donatella made me understand to never say no because it is the key to bringing home the result. You have to have a long-term vision: at the Oscars you're aiming for ten women and maybe you don't dress any of them, or you dress them all. You always have to bring your clothes back to the last one because the longer you leave the dress, the more defects they find. Once the celebrities were made up and ready, I arrived with the dress and the only person from the team to welcome me was the publicist who told me that everything would go wrong because it was my fault for arriving late. And then you always have to have a plan B, have extra clothes for last minute twists.
LOI: What are the most important and funniest work experiences you remember?
LDR: I would say all successful experiences, I've been very lucky. All custom-made Versace and Dolce & Gabbana clothes have always been worn. To be on the safe side, I always made two dresses to avoid all chances of error: I send photos, samples and videos, but it's one thing to see 20 centimeters of fabric and another to see a whole dress. The reality was that both dresses were always liked and the celebrity had difficulty choosing one. The funniest episode is definitely with Lady Gaga for the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto in 2011. We go to Toronto and we had prepared a fully embroidered jumpsuit for her, even the stage was completely lined with Verace scarves and the dancers wore Versace clothes. The tailor had finished work at 5 in the morning and arrived directly from the tailor's shop to the airport with the suit. I was already there, and I see him arrive without a bag with the dress saying that he had already checked in and sent everything, something I never do. Once I had 93 dresses in my suitcases and the seamstresses were so worried that I decided to tell them, I told them they were tailoring materials. Out of the corner of my eye I see the suitcase on the conveyor belt leaving, so we set off to London and then to Toronto. We arrive in London very tired with the tailor's hand bag with the studs and metal mesh inside, they close the door and tell us that the suitcases aren't there. I had a heart attack. We arrive in Toronto and in the evening I return to the airport and I call the airlines but no one answers me. At Alitalia I find a person to whom I give the paper where I had written everything down, she reads it and comes back all smiling saying that she was a huge fan of Lady Gaga and that she would help me (she is now one of my dearest friends). He tells me that the suitcase would arrive the next day at 12 so the next day I go to the airport already at 8 and at 11.30 he takes me inside the plane, I enter the container, I see the suitcase, I jump on it but the customs officer stops us , opens the suitcase asking us what it was. I told him it was for Lady Gaga and he told me I would have to pay customs but after convincing him he let me out at 5pm and when I got backstage no one had noticed anything. 24 hours of hell.
LO: If this was a fun time, what were the hardest moments?
LDR: Once Donatella was following the wife of former president Renzi with Franca Sozzani (then editor of Vogue Italia) for the Obamas' last American state dinner. In the meantime, I had had a rose gold metal mesh dress made especially for Michelle Obama with Modimex, a company in Florence. I hadn't said anything to Donatella who was more focused on the Italian first lady and I had no idea that Michelle's request was for the same dinner. I sent the Versace tailor to New York to do the fitting to avoid any problems. In the meantime I go to Florence to follow Renzi's wife and after trying on the dress I notice that she hadn't looked at herself in the mirror, this is very strange in fact I tell Donatella that in my opinion she would have worn another dress. The next day I discovered from Obama's staff that the dress we were preparing for her was for the dinner, there I was shocked because the risk was that both of them could wear Versace. I decide to keep quiet, the Renzis arrive in Washington and in the meantime from Italy I saw photos of Michelle and Renzi's wife taking a walk. I was troubled by the thought that they were talking about their looks for dinner. It would have been a real embarrassment. At 10:30 in the evening a call comes from one of Renzi's staff (initially I thought it was a joke from a friend) who informs me there was no guarantee that Renzi's wife was wearing the dress, in case they wanted to know what to declare and how many hours had been worked to create the look. Disaster is around the corner, but intuition says no. At 1 am the photos of the state dinner were released, Renzi's wife was not dressed in Versace but rather Ermanno Scervino. Donatella on the line from Los Angeles on the set of the advertising campaign calls me very angry, until she realizes during the phone call that it was Michelle in Versace. As soon as she saw the photo she started cheering on the call and I also felt the joy of the people on the set. It was an incredible dress and it looked great on her.
LO: In addition to Sharon Stone who pushed you to launch the LDR22 project, there is also Angelina Jolie. How has the relationship been built over the years?
LDR: Always with the trust gained over the years. Everything with Angelina Jolie started at the time of Versace, I remember that the seamstresses and I went to Australia, she was filming the film “Unbroken” and we made her a grey dress. As soon as she saw it she ruled it out because for her it was lavender. We did it again and to her it was still lavender but luckily I had brought the previous dress so she could see the difference. She agreed with me, because she realised that on set she was looking at the clothes under a neon light that distorted the colours. Another episode is linked to the Oscars, where she wears a gold metallic mesh dress, but her stylist tells her it's too "gold". So they tell me that Angelina wants to wear black and would like the dress we had previously proposed to her, the point is that it wasn't ready because it hadn't been selected. The tailor managed to prepare it in one night and Angelina Jolie wore it with an incredible amount of pins. Donatella, however, wasn't very happy with the dress because it didn't resemble a Versace dress, yet Angelina made history with that dress, especially for posing in front of the photographers with her leg extended forward to highlight the deep slit and sensuality of the silhouette.
How do you work in contact with big celebrities? Do you form relationships that go beyond working ones?
LDR: I always say that whoever does this job today is different from what I did when I started, there are three thousand requests from the outside, everyone is talking everywhere. When I worked the emails were connected to the computer in the office so once you were out you couldn't see them. I remember that I took the car and at 1 in the morning I went to the office to see the emails and check everything, the colour, fabric and embroidery charts were made, I sent sketches to every part of the world, the snow blocking the materials, everything more difficult. Rather than emails there were faxes, or you took the plane and went directly to talk to people. Those personal relationships you create are relationships you carry with you forever. Today it is much more complex: the relationships of the past no longer exist. I notice that stylists nowadays consider me a bit old or like the figure present in the early 2000s, it was another type of job. It's not easy today with all the media input, a lot of culture is needed because people who have appointments for fittings ask you for references to looks from the 30s, 40s, 50s and you have to be prepared. Angelina Jolie, for example, asks for inspiration from the 40s and 50s and the answers must be given immediately, because if they see that you hesitate you're finished.
LO: How do you manage to propose new designers?
LDR: Because there is professional respect. We start from the assumption that if they are in the showroom in Los Angeles or Milan it is because they have already been filtered, checked and chosen by me. In twenty years of work you establish relationships of trust and people know that if I have this brand it is because it is valid. Des Phammes is a brand that I took and brought to the United States even though everyone said no and now they're talking about Anne Hathaway wearing it. In the space of a month she dressed Anne twice, Lupita Nyong'o, Gwen Stefani twice, including once to sing for President Biden. It's a product that works and that's why I persisted and took it overseas. I did the same thing with Mach & Mach, a Georgian duo that started thanks to the success of their footwear. In their case it was a broader job, because we deal with PR but also with content and social media. The brand produces in Italy but no one knows it: I therefore had a video made entirely about the factory, the processing of the shoes and the craftsmanship. Now it is doing a great repositioning job to give the idea of a 360° company, which goes far beyond the shoe with the bow, in 2024 they will see a great explosion with a line of clothes and accessories. You need a lot of psychology, you can't have attitude, you have to do your job with humility.
LO: Do you also do matchmaking for stars? If a star tells you that she needs a stylist or hair stylist, can you recommend the right professional?
LDR: It happens in the case of stylists more than hair stylists. Sometimes the opposite also happens, i.e. stylists who ask me to work with a particular celebrity, I only work if there are no relationships consolidated by damage, but if the request comes from both parties and there is compatibility why not.
LO: Your future goals? Do you still have dreams to come true?
LDR: I would like to include lifestyle art in these showrooms, the part that I enjoy the most. The art has been inserted, these houses or showrooms, as we like to call them, however always reflect the way I live. If you come to my house it's like this, it's a world that belongs to me. The lifestyle part is very important for me, I would also like to expand into this component which is part of hospitality and is in my DNA. Fashion, design, art in itself are all part of the art of beauty, of hospitality.
