by THE NEW YORK TIMES – LIFE/STYLE – Four days before they arrived in New York, shortly after the release of their third album and shortly before Grammy and the next leg of their world tour, its four members Måneskinthe Italian group with a Danish name that gained worldwide recognition after its victory eurovision in 2021, they married in Rome. Each other.
All wore white: singer Damiano David, 24, in tuxedo, waistcoat and hoop earrings; Bassist Victoria De Angelis, 22, in a lace veil, draped top, trousers and opera gloves. drummer Ethan Torchio, 22, in a skirt, lace choker, tulle veil and more gloves. and guitarist Thomas Raggi, 22, in a white hat and long coat. Each held a bouquet of red roses. Kelly machine gun attended, except the cinematographer Baz Luhrmann.
Guido Gazzilli/The New York Times
Alessandro Michele, former creative director of gucci, worked “on behalf of Apollo, Elvis and Jimmy Page” – not to mention global exposure for all involved. (It’s not polyamory, they’re just great friends.) And so the fashion and rock relationship was cemented once again.
In fact, there was no rush to get married (even if Rush! is the name of the new album Måneskin). The two industries have been intertwined for decades, but rarely has a young band used fashion to amplify and expand their message with as much applause and admiration as Måneskin. Since bursting onto the world stage in Rotterdam, Netherlands, it’s been a crossover Jimi Hendrix is Avas and the song Zitti and Buonothe band has become synonymous with a particularly light-hearted rock deity.
This is partly due to its year-round ubiquity: over six and a half billion streams in progress Spotify; they touched it coachellain the Saturday night live and the #StandUpForUkraine campaign. opened a show The Rolling Stones; collaborated with Iggy Pop and with Tom Morelloof RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE; contributed a song to its soundtrack Elvis and performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the band was nominated for three awards, won one, and De Angelis suffered a wardrobe malfunction during his performance that went viral and became something of a ’cause célèbre’.
The band members, who have been playing together since their teens and still talk like kids playing in their basement, spent some time discussing clothes, music and what’s next. (The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.)
Is it any surprise that your clothes have become such a hot topic?
Victoria de Angelis: What we do is very different from the Italian norm or how Italy is often represented. So I think, in a way, it has a big impact, like it or not.
Damiano David: Our clothes are like a billboard that says, “We are here. Look at US.” It’s a way to make ourselves and our message more readable and more effective. We’ve always been of the opinion that to do that, we have to pay attention to everything – not just the music, but also our appearance, the way we use social media and how we play, what we play, where we play .Our attitude.
So you’ve been dressing like this since the beginning?
I AM GOING: I think it helped us develop our personalities as a way to empower ourselves. Especially living in Rome, in the neighborhood where we grew up. Everything is very conservative. In high school, everyone looked at us like we were freaks because we played games and dressed weird. If you go to London or Berlin, nobody cares what you wear. But if, in Rome, a boy walks down the street wearing make-up or something, it looks like people are seeing the devil.
Thomas Raggi: When we first met, Ethan was really hippie, pigtails, tie, socks, sandals.
Ethan Torzio: RAINBOW. I really liked the rainbows.
I AM GOING: I had different stages. I went through a punk and dark goth phase, then I became very hippy and then very camp, very eccentric. Lots of colors and more.
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TR: I discovered this style very late. In the beginning, I was a normal teenager in a sweatshirt and jeans. But in the last couple of years, I’ve gone in the complete opposite direction: 1970s suits and things like that.
DD: Before I played in the band, I played basketball. I liked sports.
I AM GOING: At first, I encouraged the kids to be crazier. I remember the first time they were all together at my house playing and they were like, “Maybe it would be cool to wear eyeliner, but it might be pretty crazy.” And I said: “No! Let’s use it! Who cares?” At first they just needed a push. But then everyone started having a lot of fun with it and we evolved together. It was like we were building this picture in our heads of who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do.
How has this changed over time?
DD: When we played on the street, we had to be visible, make noise, attract people. So I think that’s pretty much where it started.
TR: We would go to vintage stores, buy things and collect as many pieces as possible. Like peacocks showing off to the crowd. I remember finding a nice leather jacket that I still have.
ET: Vintage shops and also the Sunday flea market where you can go there around five in the morning.
I AM GOING: When we entered the The X Factor Italian in 2017, it was a big change. We had access to all these crazy costumes and clothes. That’s when we started to be more daring, with latex, more revealing, even if we had very bad taste back then. Being conservative has always pissed us off a lot. So the message was: “Okay, this is who we are and we don’t care about your criticism.” Then when we started working with Gucci, we reached another level and had the opportunity to create a lot of specific looks. We were really able to unleash our creativity.
What do you look for in your suits?
DD: I like simple shapes. I think, mainly because I have to sing, my chest and belly have to move or I’ll run out of oxygen. The way I dress reflects the kind of person I am, because there are more things I don’t like than things I like. And that’s why my wardrobe only has four colors. This is exactly how I live my life. I like four to ten people and four colors: black, white, brown and army green. Just this.
ET: I really like being naked.
TR: The way I dress is closely related to how I feel. If you play a ballad using all these weird things, it won’t be very comfortable. To write, I have to dress a certain way, because I want different vibes.
I AM GOING: We design our clothes together with it gucci. So actually, we were able to come up with a lot of ideas, with all our references and the bands we love. We wanted to take all these lines of what is considered feminine or masculine and mix them up, gender norms and stereotypes about the body, especially the female body which is much more sexualized. we played inside VMAs, and it was a huge scandal when my chest showed, even though Damiano’s ass was literally exposed and all the boys were shirtless. The best part is when people tell us, “You gave me the courage to dress the way I wanted. Before, I was very shy.”
DD: It’s about freedom. What Gucci did was kind of break the rules: “This collection is for women, so only women can wear it, and so you have to make an outfit” – and blah, blah, blah. We feel like it really ties into what we’re trying to do with our music.
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