Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marianna Valente. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Marianna, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

There is an unexplainable feeling of content, satisfaction and gratitude that mold into one, perhaps “happy” doesn’t fit the entire description, but my response would be YES, I am happy, fulfilled, at being able to express myself through my art. Perhaps creatives are not always understood and they may not be to everyones liking or appeal, however there is also the great chance of attracting some that surprisingly discover their own appeal through you, if that makes sense. There is a biblical saying that I feel can regard to this same topic–the gist of it is this: to love not to be loved in return, but for the sake of loving. Art can be the same because it is through our own art we aim to provide light or beauty or emotion to those who may read upon it, or to simply be what it will for those as they see it. Sometimes it may not appeal at all and that could be okay too because we as artists have shared beauty or emotion and set it forth into the world. Somewhere it is lingering and making itself heard, leaving our own prints and creating a chain of emotion whatever that may be.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born in the northern Chicago suburbs of Italian parents and basically grew up between the States and southern Italy. As a young girl I would scribble on anything flat laid in front of me; through recent years my mom would still find sketched folded papers in her handbags. Throughout my adolescence I looked forward to our family summer trips in our southern Italian hometown and extracted inspiration that I kept tucked away for future projects. I later moved to Milan at the age of 18 to attend the prominent Fashion Institute Marangoni. I matured my fashion career with Piazza Sempione then under LVMH and proceeded with multiple other design collaborations in NYC and Miami. In Piazza Sempione I truly matured my design work and status, starting as assistant and ending with having my own assistants, working with important fashion buyers, and living the whole process from creative to post production.

Dreams in an Armoire was founded in 2019. Currently based in Miami but frequent between southern Italy and Milan for resources, scouting, development, and production. All pieces are exclusively made in Italy of specially selected Italian textiles and showcased via thematic capsules. I aim to keep each capsule of few silhouettes and widen the selection on fabric choices or vice versa, in this way avoiding excessive fashion overload. The fabrics are very important for me; you can say they are for me the medium to my art.

I dedicate each stand-out collection to my ‘dreams’ as much as to my clients’. My focus is on a collaborative partnership, a bond if you will, with each individual client or buyer, whether it be one appointment or a series of many. I seek to beautify the Dreams client through fashion luxury, indulging them with curated prints and bespoke fabric combinations, upon custom-made request even. As a result, in the wearing, each piece may bring life to its own ever personal source of inspiration and emotion or to an extraordinary fusion thereof. Inspiration, in my thoughts, can be a masterful chain reaction of each others’ and in this way, the Beauty of and for Life, Love, and Creation is served!

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

Fashion is definitely a tough and even controversial industry for many reasons. I for one, never sought to follow all the trends though in school we were even taught to analyze them. I am not saying this is not important, but beyond the trends and the styles the market wants us to believe are the definition of fashion, I have always suspected there was much more to it. For me, beauty is fashion and fashion is beauty. It does not have to be any certain cut or detail, but it does have to provide that tingling feeling of allure and self-confidence; it does have to be a mirror to our souls, our dreams and our personality. Then of course there is comfort and fit, but beauty should be the foundation, whatever that is for you. I strive to keep this at the basis of the Dreams in an Armoire brand. I don’t feel I need to tell anyone how they should dress, but I seek to make someone feel confident enough to want to ‘fancy’ themselves to a quality piece, an eloquent detail, a unique color block or print. Within that stand-out piece will be my story, my inspiration, my nostalgia, but the riveting finale is the fusion of your story and mine!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I was always a sensitive soul. Emotions hit me in different ways and the hardest ones may have seemingly closed me up even more so than I was already in my younger years. However at the same time, other mechanisms started ticking and those harsh emotions became fuel to my engine. One of the most difficult times for me, I had an overlap of negative situations back to back. I lost my (second) grandmother at this time and couldn’t forgive myself for not being present. I left a well paid job in my field, took a lengthy pause in my Italian hometown and later moved to another state. In search of a clearer vision and to be again inspired, I slowly understood that there was a better way to mourn my grandmothers’ passing. I knew all along she would have despised of me sulking and giving up my path. So I got back on my journey of design and beauty; I began again. I realized I could create my own dedication to her and my other grandmother, the 2 women that had inspired me in the first place when as a girl I sat next to them as they sewed and mended. Dreams in an Armoire is just that, a dedication to the beauty I saw in them and to their colorful tales. Their stories are short from luxurious, but I learned from them that luxury is also what we make of it. I wanted to recreate just that for all who could appreciate the essence. I wanted to recreate that beauty that everyday as a young girl kept my eyes shining and wide and make a new kind of beautiful-my own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dreamsinanarmoire.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreamsinanarmoire/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dreamsinanarmoire