Zoë Bleu, the star of Dracula – Lost Love in the exclusive shots for Vogue Italia: «On the set of the film I designed these dresses»

There are aspects of myself that I want to express, but which have no words, yet there is something that I want to reflect from the inside, and that comes from what I am drawing. When I created my own brand, it’s called “Kaka Couture”, I thought fashion was, like, “shit”, and honestly there are a lot of people in the industry who treat each other badly. However, I have seen that some people like to wear my creations, I make fun of them, but maybe I’m just a little provocative in that sense. Sometimes people take themselves too seriously in fashion, but it should be fun, a work of art, it should be about self-expression, the colors you feel inside, your dreams. I mean, that’s how I understand my way of dressing: it’s like a dream, but in color. In this I am very romantic, personal.

Do you feel a little alien to those around you?

People say I live in a fantasy world, probably so, but it makes me happy, it makes me feel connected to something, to an imaginary world, invisible, and which seems much grander than what I can see. Many of the things I do, many of the clothes I design and wear, the colors, are very inspired by nature and the elements, water in particular. In my collections you will see many blues, greens, shades that recall the sea, I love designers who are inspired by this, from Iris van Herpen, or Alexander McQueen in his imaginary inspiration coming from birds, in this regard I created a necklace that is present in the photo shoot for Vogue Italia. McQueen was inspired by it: it’s an 18th century bird of paradise head, found in an antique shop, and which I transformed into a choker here. That doesn’t mean I condone killing animals, it’s hundreds of years old, it honors nature, it just shows what I’m passionate about. I designed all the clothes worn for this shoot during the filming of Dracula, while I was doing the make-up, taking inspiration from the characters of Mina and Elisabetta.

What is it you don’t like about fashion?

I find it boring, it lacks a soul, a dream, a story. I like telling stories, even in the way I dress, it can say a lot about a person, that’s why we love costumes in films too. There is so much that a dress can give to a character, it’s like a second skin, it can offer an insight into a person, a detail. In the past, women used fashion as a way to express their inner world, because they did not have the right and luxury to express themselves the way they do today. Dressing up was a means of showing and expressing something more personal and intimate, which perhaps they were not allowed to share with words or gestures, because they were repressed by society. However there is so much symbolism that can be added to the design of a dress, from there you can tell a little story, give a clue about something that is happening inside you, or a secret you have, I love that it can be a language in itself.