I’ve known Ginevra since we were little, although, for most of those years, I’ve probably known more about her obsessions than about her actual life.
I remember hearing stories about her devotion to One Direction, the kind of devotion that involved choosing a favourite member, defending him with your life, and convincing everyone around you that they absolutely needed to listen to the same music. Some people grow out of being fangirls. Ginevra simply found a way to make it part of her adult life.
Today, she lives in London and works in global PR for Paul Smith, a job that involves celebrities, stylists, fashion shows, and the occasional surreal encounter with someone she used to watch on Disney Channel. Somewhere between organising press opportunities and attending concerts, she’s become the sort of person who can discuss a Galliano collection, book a trip to Japan on her own, and tell you exactly which member of One Direction she would have defended on Twitter in 2012.
What I love about Ginevra is that she has never really abandoned the things that made her excited as a child. She’s still a fangirl, still curious, still collecting experiences, only now she has a job that sometimes places her on the other side of the fantasy. And there’s something quite beautiful about that: growing older without becoming embarrassed by the things you once loved so intensely.
Our conversation begins among the clothes at Paul Smith and somehow moves through school memories, the Jonas Brothers, One Direction conspiracy theories, celebrity encounters, fashion archives, solo trips to Japan, and the strange freedom of building a life in London.
We talk about the difference between admiring someone from afar and meeting them in real life, about why fashion is as much about the people behind the clothes as the clothes themselves, and about how the girl who once lived for concert tickets now gets to work behind the scenes.
I think there’s something particularly charming about interviewing somebody you’ve known since childhood. You arrive thinking you already know their story, only to discover that there are entire chapters you missed.
And with Ginevra, apparently, most of those chapters have a soundtrack.
Clothes, publicity, and pretending to call people “amo”
Ginevra: What language should I speak? Knowing myself, it’ll probably be a mix of Italian and English.
Yasmina: Okay, fair enough.
Ginevra: And a little French.
Yasmina: Totally, totally, totally. Are those all men’s jackets?
Ginevra: No, this is the women’s collection.
Yasmina: Paul Smith. I don’t know why I keep forgetting there’s a women’s collection.
Ginevra: Actually, in the nineties, womenswear was one of Paul Smith’s strongest areas. It was huge. The brand kept showing it on the runway until around 2022, then decided sales didn’t justify doing shows anymore. France was the strongest market for womenswear. So they said, you know what, there’s no point doing runway anymore. It’s more commercial now.
But Bianca Balti walked for Paul Smith womenswear. Cindy Crawford walked for Paul Smith, to give you an idea. And then, nothing. So this is what we have. There’s also a suit connected to Fashion Week.
Yasmina: So, sorry, they don’t show anymore?
Ginevra: Not womenswear, only menswear. That’s why there isn’t a Paul Smith show during this Paris Fashion Week: it’s women’s Fashion Week.
Yasmina: And how long have you been at Paul Smith?
Ginevra: Are you asking how long I’ve been there or what I do? Almost three years. I’m in global PR, and I look after all the markets in the world except the UK, Japan, and the United States. For everywhere else, I’m your press girl.
Yasmina: I have a question. What the hell are press relations?
Ginevra: Okay, imagine opening a magazine and flipping through it. You see all those photo shoots? My goal is for the models to be wearing pieces from the brand I represent. So most of my work is pitching to stylists and editors. Say we launch a product. Recently we launched the third edition of our collaboration with Barbour. I’ll pitch it to every relevant editor: news, features, shopping pages, whatever. I also approach editorial stylists, magazine stylists, and VIP stylists.
Yasmina: Did you always know you wanted to work in PR, or did you fall into it?
Ginevra: I studied fashion at university, and then focused more on communication, both digital and offline.
Yasmina: In Milan, right?
Ginevra: London. Then I did my master’s in Milan. I knew I wanted to do something in communication. But whenever people asked, “What do you want to do after university?”, everyone said, “Press, press, press.”
I thought it sounded so cool. I had absolutely no idea what it was, but everyone kept saying it, so I decided I wanted to work in press too. I thought it meant going to fashion shows and partying.
And yes, you go to shows and parties, but you’re the person organising them!
Yasmina: I actually remember your Facebook posts. You used to tag your friends, make these videos for people. God, I don’t use Facebook anymore. I swear I don’t use it now. But I remember you making videos whenever someone was leaving or something was happening.
Ginevra: God, you’ve just reminded me of the one I made for Costi Pinto. I don’t know how many hours that took. And during the last week before the BAC, when I should have been studying, I had to make a GoPro video. Studying was impossible. I was on a mission.
Yasmina: A video of what?
Ginevra: The BAC video! And I passed the BAC by sheer luck.
Yasmina: I can’t even remember what stream you were in at school.
Ginevra: I was terrible. I genuinely don’t know why I took the scientific BAC. It makes no sense.
When I was class representative in like 2nde, my chemistry teacher said, “Fiano, you’re amazing at chemistry.” I don’t know why I was good at chemistry.
He told me to do the science stream. I said I didn’t want to, and he was like, “Who cares? You’re doing it.” So I did, and somehow passed with a two out of twenty in maths.
Yasmina: What was the subject that actually got you through?
Ginevra: I have no idea. I think I’m an idol for children at school, because I’m proof that even if you’re completely hopeless at maths and choose science, you can still get anywhere you want in life.
Yasmina: “You can get anywhere you want.” That’s going to be the title of this section.
Ginevra: Wow.
Fangirling as a way of life
Yasmina: Let me explain Palomita a little. It’s always a mixture of questions that come to me in the moment and questions I’ve prepared. Sometimes an answer opens up another question. There are also the photographs and objects you sent me, and then the bigger concepts. So of course we’ll talk about concepts, because you’re the biggest...
Ginevra: My girl, I know. God, this morning already started badly.
Yasmina: What happened this morning?
Ginevra: Can you believe Elton John sold out in three seconds?
Yasmina: You didn’t get tickets?
Ginevra: No.
Yasmina: I think you’re the ultimate fangirl, and I mean that as a compliment. Is your concert budget basically the biggest budget in your life?
Ginevra: I think so.
Yasmina: Let’s start with concerts, then. I’ve thought of you as the ultimate fangirl since we were little. Bibi used to tell me how obsessed you were with One Direction. I also see your TikToks. We don’t talk that often, but I follow you, I see it. What’s the first person or thing you remember truly becoming a fan of?
Ginevra: In music or in general?
Zac Efron, probably.
Yasmina: So we’re talking 2006.
Ginevra: Exactly. When High School Musical came out. I don’t know the month, but it was 2006.
Yasmina: You were six.
Ginevra: I was six. But if we’re going right back to the very beginning, my first real fangirl addiction was Spirit.
I watched that movie eight times a day. I had everything related to Spirit.
For music, I think it was Lucio Battisti, because of my mother. She only played Lucio Battisti. When we went to the seaside, there was always this boy playing “La canzone del sole” on the guitar, and for years it was the only song I knew all the way through. I learned piano, unfortunately, from someone who didn’t teach me solfège, so I never learned to read music. I just memorised the melodies.
Yasmina: I sort of do that too. I play notes and pretend it’s proper piano playing. But when you don’t like your teacher, it can ruin it for you.
Ginevra: My secret dream is to learn bass. Deep down I think I’m a rock star who hasn’t been released yet.
Yasmina: And when did the pop-band side of your personality arrive? When did you become truly obsessed?
Ginevra: The first band I was crazy about, but not fully addicted to, was the Jonas Brothers. I think it all came from Disney Channel. As a child you’re surrounded by this whole world where practically every main character in every film sings.
Yasmina: I think everyone had someone to look up to. For me it was Selena Gomez. I loved her.
Ginevra: That makes sense. For me it was the Jonas Brothers. But in terms of Disney personalities, I probably identify most with Miley Cyrus. Because in the evening I become Hannah, and then when I disconnect from the world, like in Japan, I’m Miley.
You see me all dressed up in London, and then I go to Japan and cycle around an island without a phone for two weeks.
Yasmina: How many times have you been to Japan?
Ginevra: Twice, and I’m already planning the next trip.
Yasmina: Both trips alone?
Ginevra: Always alone. Well, my first trip I organised completely by myself, yes. I first travelled alone when I was nine, when I came to London for summer camp.
Yasmina: But Japan was your first proper solo trip? And you did Korea as well?
Ginevra: Yes, Korea too. It was more a challenge than a dream. I’m getting sidetracked and I haven’t answered your question. So, Jonas Brothers...
Yasmina: We absolutely need to come back to Korea and Japan.
Ginevra: Obviously. To finish the story: I knew I was truly addicted when I discovered One Direction. I talked about nothing else. People at school thought I was insane.
If there was a talent show, we had to do One Direction. Every musical performance was One Direction. I wore a One Direction T-shirt to school. I forced Bianca, who didn’t even know who they were, to listen to them every day if she wanted to be my friend.
I was bullying everyone. Basically: “If you want to be my friend, you have to listen to One Direction.” And it was actually my brother who introduced me to them.
It’s even stranger because he was always obsessed with X Factor. He followed all the different international versions. He discovered them. I went into his room and he said, “Look at these four...” And then I watched.
Yasmina: Who was your favourite? Harry?
Ginevra: Not who you’d expect. Louis.
Yasmina: No way.
Ginevra: Yes, Louis.
I also had a twitter account full of edited photographs of me with Louis, and with the drummer from 5 seconds of Summer.
Yasmina: Publicly? Under your real name?
Ginevra: No, under a fake fangirl name.
Yasmina: Both of them together?
Ginevra: Exactly. Mixing universes. I was fighting with anyone who tried to tell me Louis was dating this or that person; for me it was like “impossible he only loves me”.
Yasmina: The whole “he only loves me” idea makes me think that everyone at some point imagined there was an actual chance of dating their idol. For me, British celebrities seemed closer. I’d think, maybe I’ll move to London and meet them. Was there ever anyone you genuinely believed you might end up with, or were you always realistic?
Ginevra: I always thought it was impossible. Why me? I’m not famous.
But people I thought I’d never run into, I’ve actually met through my job. Like when we were kids, anyone who grew up with television was obsessed with The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Then I find myself on a red carpet high-fiving Cody! And I’m thinking, if I were eight right now, how the hell would I react?
I was so excited, but he’s also a human being. Maybe he’ll fall in love with me, who knows? As a child you either think things like that will never happen, or you’re convinced your idol is obsessed with you. Lies.
Two songs called “Kiwi,” and the freedom to leave Rome
Yasmina: Let’s look at your playlist. It’s so eclectic. Going from Bocelli to Charli XCX is a roller coaster. Queen and Bob Marley next to Justin Bieber, and two songs called “Kiwi.”
Ginevra: I realised the Kiwi thing too. And I don’t even like kiwis.
Yasmina: Why did you choose those songs? What’s the story?
Ginevra: Harry Styles’s “Kiwi” was one of the first songs on his first solo album. I think it’s one of the songs where he’s most authentically himself, because that’s where he finally broke away from the pop he was trapped in. For the first time he talked about drugs, something he hadn’t really done before.
There’s electric guitar rather than just ballads… and it sounds almost like a rebellion against the character he’d been before.
In a way, I’ve had that feeling about leaving the Roman bubble. We were incredibly lucky to have international educations, to study in multiple languages and be exposed to different nationalities.
But at school there were real problems with open-mindedness. I don’t want to insult the school; academically it was excellent. But the mentality? Terrible. I remember people being looked down on because they didn’t speak Italian all day. And I was like, why can’t I be friends with anyone I want?
So when I left, it was like, finally I can be who I want to be.
London gave me the opportunity to be that person. At school I sometimes felt isolated because, as we grew up, little cliques formed. There were the mean girls, as there are in every school.
I like everyone, and I want to talk to everyone. That could get me excluded.
When I came here, I noticed people were more like me. I thought, how amazing! Nobody judges you. You can spend time with whoever you want. You can dress however you like. If I want to show up at university with pink hair, nobody’s going to say, “God, what have you done?” They’ll say, “That’s so cool.” You really feel free to do whatever you want. In Rome, I think you could even be at an art school and still not have that freedom.
Yasmina: You moved to London straight after high school, right? When did you realise you wanted to live there?
Ginevra: Yes, straight after. But I had come as a little girl, then kept coming back in the summers. The first time I came, I told my mother, “I don’t care about anything else. After school I want to come here.”
Yasmina: So your relationship with London started before university.
Ginevra: When I was really little. I saw this girl dressed in this completely strange outfit. I remember thinking, how cool is that? Nobody was saying anything. I want to be able to go out dressed all in white, or however I want, and nobody comments on it.
Yasmina: I know London so badly. I really need to come visit, and maybe we could do a second part of this as a video tour.
Ginevra: You would go insane for London.
Yasmina: I think it’s similar to Paris in that respect, although obviously it depends on the neighbourhood. I live in the sixth, but the sixth isn’t necessarily where I feel most at home. I feel that more in the Marais, the eleventh, the tenth.
Ginevra: I’d associate my life in London with the eleventh arrondissement in Paris.
Ginevra’s London address book
Yasmina: Okay, let’s do a mini London address book. These aren’t the rapid-fire questions yet. Those come later. You can elaborate as much as you want.
Ginevra: My classic place when the weather’s good is London Fields. It’s a park where I spend afternoons playing cards. I was literally there on Saturday.
Yasmina: What do you play?
Ginevra: President when there are lots of us, or burraco.
We have a group of around thirty people. A typical weekend is going to one of London’s food markets, because there’s a huge food-market culture here. Everyone gets whatever they want. It’s incredible because there are so many different cuisines and you can eat practically anything. Then we spread out blankets, eat together and play cards. It’s the most grandparents-core activity imaginable.
But the energy is hilarious. We’re so competitive, we’re shouting at each other. So definitely London Fields. And there’s always somebody visiting or somebody bringing along another person, so you end up meeting new people every time. It’s really fun, in the simplest possible way: playing cards.
I could give you twenty places, or just two. Right now London Fields is what comes to mind, because it’s probably where I spend the most time.
Another place I love is The Dreamery, it’s this little place like that spot in the eleventh in Paris where you have ice cream and wine.
Yasmina: Folderol?
Ginevra: Exactly.
Yasmina: Where to go vintage shopping?
Ginevra: I think Brick Lane was one of the very first streets I explored for vintage shopping.
Yasmina: What’s a shop you go into even when you don’t need to buy anything? Clothes, vintage, records, anything.
Ginevra: Lately I’ve found this place called Files, again near London Fields. My God, I practically live in London Fields. It’s a shop with archival runway pieces.
This is my new thing. For a few years now, I’ve been trying to invest in vintage pieces, preferably pieces from collections with a history behind them. I get so excited by the story of a runway piece.
I prefer investing in vintage fashion because I know those pieces last. The latest purchase I made was a Dolce & Gabbana jacket from the Autumn/Winter 2006 runway. If it has lasted twenty years, it’ll last another twenty. Unlike people who buy a pile of new stuff every single week. Boring. And honestly, it’s not ethical. If we can change our habits even a little, why wouldn’t we?
I love Files. Even yesterday, it was closed and I was still saying, come on, let’s go in, let’s have a look. The other person was telling me it was closed, and I was like, I don’t give really care, let’ see.
Yasmina: In so many of my interviews, especially with women, vintage always comes up. What’s your relationship with Vinted?
Ginevra: I use Vinted more to sell, because I need money to buy other things. I have a box full of random stuff. But I do buy on it, especially when I’m searching for a very specific piece. I’ll research it obsessively.
Yasmina: You can’t see it here, but I have a whole pile of Vinted clothes, in the pink Agent Provocateur bag. That’s what I call my Vinted bag.
Ginevra: I do search for particular pieces on Vinted. But I spend a lot of time looking for them.
Yasmina: Do you have a Vinted tip you’d share?
Ginevra: Always ask for the lowest price. Always.
Yasmina: Someone I interviewed told me you need to doomscroll and like everything so the algorithm learns exactly what you love.
Ginevra: I like that. But to be honest, since travelling to Asia, I source most of my pieces there. The market is incredible. Things cost so little and are in impeccable condition.
Yasmina: And what brands are you looking for when you source?
Ginevra: Comme des Garçons. I said that with a really strong Italian accent. Comme des Garçons! And Issey Miyake, not going to lie, I’m a huge fan. Lately, Miu Miu too.
Yasmina: When you said Comme des Garçons, I expected you to stay in that very archival, avant-garde world. I’m trying to move more in that direction myself, though it’s difficult because I’d have to get rid of all the colour in my wardrobe. I love the avant-garde designers, Margiela for instance, Ann Demeulemeester, that darker world. But the pieces are expensive, so I’m doing it gradually. They’re investments.
Ginevra: After Palomita, I automatically associate you with Paloma Wool. I’m sorry. The silhouettes are really cool.
A brand I’m enjoying a lot is MM6, because it has that Margiela approach but with more vibrant colours and pastels. And it’s at a lower price point, the entry-level line compared with Margiela, a little like Emporio Armani.
Yasmina: You know what I discovered in Rome? There’s this shop called Massimo Degli Effetti in the centre, specialising in avant-garde fashion. I’m fascinated because I struggle to imagine the Roman clientele being interested in some of these designers. Milan, sure. But Ann Demeulemeester in Rome? Where are those people?
Ginevra: Maybe in Bologna!
Galliano, McQueen, fashion shows, and a pirate hat
Yasmina: John Galliano. You chose him as the designer whose world you’d want to enter for one day. Why?
Ginevra: Genius. He’s very controversial, obviously. He’s done a lot of terrible things. Verbally, in the way he communicates, no bueno. But his creative mind is absolutely insane. If I think of the most iconic fashion pieces and collections, I think of Galliano at Dior. Or his own line, with that whole newspaper collection. Genius. Or the Margiela invitation he had children draw, or his last artisanal collection for Margiela, where the models looked as if they were made of porcelain.
And he was one of the first designers to embrace so many different body shapes on the runway, to experiment with fabrics and silhouettes. I find it fascinating. He’s so closed off in one form of expression, verbally, and so completely open when he creates. I want to understand what goes on in his brain. How do his synapses work? How can somebody express themselves in these two completely opposite ways, when everything is coming from the same mind?
Yasmina: I have such a soft spot for Alexander McQueen. Those incredibly theatrical runway shows. Do you think that kind of scenography is still relevant? You work in the industry and see more of it than I do. Is there still room for that kind of spectacle?
Ginevra: Fashion can be very traditional. But if you want a recent visual example that really sticks in your mind, even shocks you, think of the last Diesel show Glenn Martens did. The collection itself was interesting because of how he deconstructed denim. But then there were around two hundred actors in the crowd making out. It was deliberately uncomfortable. At a certain point you remember the concept around the show even more than the clothes.
And of course there were Karl Lagerfeld’s insane Chanel sets. But there’s a dilemma: do people remember the collection or the background? With Alexander McQueen, for me, it was always the entire world. The scenography, makeup, accessories, clothes, it all worked together.
I think some designers have tried to reproduce that, sometimes in quite a drastic way, and I haven’t always liked the results. You can’t necessarily reproduce another person’s genius. Sometimes I wonder whether those theatrical moments are really coming from an instinct, or whether designers are thinking, “The great fashion icons did crazy shows, so let’s do one too.” Simply copying the effect doesn’t work. It has to come naturally.
Yasmina: And Paul Smith is more restrained, more classic.
Ginevra: Exactly. The motto is “classic with a twist.” Let me show you something, because this is really funny.
Yasmina: Wait, let me get this right. I want to film this. Okay.
Ginevra: Here’s an example. I don’t know if you can see it. This is a shirt. Its silhouette is completely normal. But the fabric comes from a curtain that was in Paul’s own house. Not a factory curtain, his curtain! It could look like a perfectly ordinary shirt, but you’re literally wearing a curtain. Who would think of that?
I have another thing I want to show you.
My favourite hat from the collection is this. It’s actually just a bucket hat with pins attached to it, but suddenly it becomes something completely different. Underneath it’s a normal bucket hat.
Yasmina: It becomes a bit Robin Hood.
Ginevra: And from this angle it’s a pirate hat. This one is going to be mine.
Yasmina: I don’t know whether I’ll be able to use these videos. You’ll have to tell me.
Ginevra: You can use this one. Everything I’m showing you is already available in stores. I’m not showing you unreleased pieces.
Yasmina: The pirate hat is beautiful. I love the idea of these little videos as teasers. At first I thought I would do a model-like approach, and I love the makeup with the hat.
Ginevra: This is my office personality. I walk into the office and put on this hat. It’s amazing. Maybe I should find an influencer to wear it to Paris Fashion Week.
Yasmina: Make a face for the photo shoot.
Ginevra: The photo shoot? What do I know? I don’t walk the runway. I don’t pose. I do the shoots.
Yasmina: And I’m taking a picture with my camera of a screen with my own picture on it. It’s so anti-aesthetic that it becomes its own aesthetic. It’s absurd.
Ginevra: I’m not taking this hat off.
Dinner, community, and the end of the call
Yasmina: I actually have so many questions, but you don’t realise we’ve ended up answering most of them already. We can call each other again, or I can send you voice notes for the rest.
Ginevra: I’d rather call. It’s lovely to talk to you like this; it’s much more natural than just sending messages. Anyway, a friend of mine who’s Italian went to a mushroom festival and bought mushrooms to bring back to London, and tonight he’s cooking an entire dinner made of mushrooms.
Yasmina: Ready for rapid fire?
Ginevra: Yes.
RAPID FIRE
Yasmina: Last song you listened to?
Ginevra: Luna by Gianni Togni.
Yasmina: A song you know how to sing from beginning to end?
Ginevra: One Thing by One Direction.
Yasmina: A song that makes you think of London?
Ginevra: American Boy. Even though it’s not really about London.
Yasmina: Who do you call when something amazing happens to you?
Ginevra: My mum.
Yasmina: Something you wear when you want to feel like yourself?
Ginevra: A necklace with a Little Prince star. It’s not technically clothing, but there’s no competition.
Yasmina: Something that’s always in your bag?
Ginevra: My phone charger.
Yasmina: The first thing you do when you get home?
Ginevra: Pee.
Yasmina: One word for London?
Ginevra: Performative.
Yasmina: One word for Ginevra?
Ginevra: Music.
Yasmina: One word for me?
Ginevra: Creative.
Yasmina: And your favourite word?
Ginevra: Merenda.
AND FOR THE PHOTO EVIDENCE
(I added a reference photo of me as a child to prove that it’s true. There has genuinely never been a day in my life without Pan di Stelle.)
THANK YOU GINEVRA
