Massimo Giorgetti is proof that building a very successful career in what you are really meant to do doesn’t have to mean taking the conventional route. The 38-year-old self-taught designer behind the super successful Milan-based label MSGM — and the latest creative director of Pucci — started off studying accounting until the pull of fashion proved too strong. It led him to the shop floor of a clothing boutique, which grounded him in a very hands-on understanding of what customers actually want to wear. Soon his love of, and natural talent for design was more than apparent, and that, combined with Massimo’s entrepreneurial spirit lead to him partnering with the Paoloni Group in 2008 and creating MSGM. The label took off, quickly becoming a global success that is showing no signs of slowing down.
Massimo is always unapologetically bold in his approach — to business and to design — and believes that enjoying what he does is essential to the brand’s success. So when the whim to create a capsule collection took him he went for it, and MSGM p.m. was born, quickly. Massimo is not one to drag things out. Speaking on the phone from New York, he explains, “I decided in a short time to do the capsule — in two weeks, and we created the collection in four weeks.” Staying true to his own ethos of getting a kick out of work, he let the process be a playful one. “I really had fun! I really had a good time working on this collection,” he says. “Sometimes designers, including myself, we think too long and too much about each collection, so I can say I didn’t think too hard on this one, it was very fun and organic.”
The designer’s natural good vibes can be attributed to his upbringing in Rimini, on Italy’s blissful Adriatic Coast. “Where I’m from is really all about positivity. Every time I go back to Rimini and Riccione — I live in Milano now — it’s really different, the people are happy, positive, they enjoy life,” Massimo says. “I love my origins because there it’s about simplicity and joy, there’s an attitude of ease — people there really love to have fun, to eat, to drink. We love everything!”
It was memories of nights spent in the bars and clubs of his home town that gave Massimo the soundtrack to the capsule collection. Music has always been central to his design process, and for MSGM p.m. it was particularly so. “Of course music is the first important aspect — it really helps me to relax and free my mind, and for this collection I thought a lot of my nights out when I was 20 years old, when I lived in Rimini,” he says. “I remember amazing nights there listening to Basement Jaxx, the Chemical Brothers — particularly the song ‘Hey Boy Hey Girl,’ that’s the mood.
Over the past six years of collections the MSGM girl has clearly undergone an evolution, but this new capsule was an opportunity for Massimo to return to the roots of the brand. “The first collections were about very short dresses and skirts, and I think there’s a real attitude that goes with that,” he says. “The latest collections have been more masculine, and I didn’t want to change the progression of MSGM because I love the evolution, so I decided to bring back this kind of attitude in a capsule that’s more afternoon and evening focused — but not at all red carpet.”
Where is the MSGM p.m. girl spending her time? “She’s at the theatre, she could go to a restaurant, to a club — enjoy a good cocktail. I love the Duke Hotel — she might be there. But equally she’s going to hang out at her friend’s house. She’s confident, carefree.” Cheers to that.
Credits
Text Clementine de Pressigny