CONVERSATIONS WITH SARA SOZZANI MAINO

1. What are the biggest challenges for a young designer in 2026?

The biggest challenge today is being noticed. The market is extremely saturated, and the fashion system is going through a very complicated moment. For this reason, I believe the new generation shouldn’t focus exclusively on entering the traditional mechanisms of retail, fashion shows, or

large-scale production, but rather on building their own system, their own language, and an authentic storytelling path.

Today there’s an enormous amount of content, and often very little quality. It’s like standing in a crowded square and trying to emerge. Social media can help, but it’s not enough. What’s needed is identity, consistency, and people who are genuinely willing to listen to and support creative work.

And that is probably the hardest part.

2. How can someone maintain a balance between intellectual honesty and commercial success?

By staying true to your values. Life is already made of compromises; if you begin compromising your principles as well, you risk losing yourself. I believe values are what, in the long run, protect you and allow you to build something authentic and lasting.

3. Among the most promising young designers today, there’s often a recurring focus on celebrating cultural roots and territory, usually connected to the designer’s own background. How can someone build a coherent narrative without falling into cliché?

I think the key is never forcing the narrative of your origins. You shouldn’t feel obligated to constantly prove where you come from or construct an “exotic” identity just to be recognizable. It’s much more important to remain natural and sincere.

When someone is truly themselves, their culture emerges naturally and authentically anyway. Today we’re often pushed to create artificial versions of ourselves, especially through social media, but in the end, what truly remains — and what genuinely reaches people — is authenticity. And that’s also

the hardest thing to protect.

4. Identity is equally central in today’s cultural conversation: how can a young creative discover who they are through the act of creation, and how can the design process become a tool for personal investigation?

I believe this process always begins with a deep confrontation with oneself. Sometimes, in order to truly find your own voice, it’s necessary to step away from environments that end up creatively suffocating you.

I think, for example, of designers who are only really able to evolve once they stop trying to find space within dynamics that are already overcrowded or too predefined. When you move into more “arid” territory, maybe the process becomes harder, but you finally find air, freedom, and the

possibility to cultivate something that truly belongs to you.

That’s why I often tell young designers that entering the traditional fashion system today is extremely difficult — not because there’s a lack of talent, but because the system itself is no longer sustainable, both economically and productively. So if you’re going to struggle anyway, you might as well struggle while building something of your own. Because if it works one day, it will be a system created on your terms, not according to rules imposed by someone else.

And I think many young creatives understand this today. They’re no longer obsessed with the size of a brand or traditional ideas of success. Instead, they look for fulfillment in reaching goals that are aligned with their own rhythm, their own creative and economic balance. Along with all the difficulties and disappointments that are naturally part of the process, there also comes a stronger awareness of who they are.

Today, we also tend to judge everything through personal taste alone. But fashion is not only that. There are very different languages, markets, and aesthetic cultures. What may seem “old” to some people can still represent an incredibly important form of expression, craftsmanship, and desire for

others. It’s essential to continue showing all of these different facets, because fashion also lives through the plurality of its arts and cultures.

5. How important is it for a young creative to invest in the Italian production chain?

It’s fundamental. I would almost say mandatory. The Italian production chain is not just a manufacturing system, but a cultural heritage made of knowledge, craftsmanship, and values that must be preserved and supported.

6. Can you tell us about Fondazione Sozzani: how it was born, where it wants to go, and what its future projects are?

Fondazione Sozzani was born as an evolution of Galleria Carla Sozzani, founded in 1990 by Carla and later transformed into a foundation in 2016. Its goal is to protect and enhance cultural heritage, archives, memory, and everything that deserves to be preserved.

But it also wants to be something more: a place open to new generations and to all those creative people who often struggle to find a space where they feel welcomed. A place for meeting, for cultural exchange, for dialogue between fashion, art, photography, cinema, design, and craftsmanship.

Fashion naturally remains central because it represents the path built by Carla Sozzani, Franca Sozzani, and also my own work. But fashion, by its very nature, is constantly in dialogue with all the other arts.

The desire is to build a space that is truly accessible, welcoming, and free — a place where people feel comfortable expressing themselves. Often, cultural institutions perceived as “important” risk feeling distant or intimidating. We want exactly the opposite.

7. What is the ethos of the Foundation? And in what direction are you moving to make it truly meaningful for younger generations?

Freedom and responsibility. Those are the two fundamental principles.

Freedom of expression, research, and dialogue. But also responsibility toward what is happening around us. We cannot ignore the world we live in, nor close our eyes to the difficulties, injustices, and cultural and social tensions of the present moment.

That’s why I believe a cultural foundation today must also know how to listen, welcome, and give voice to those who often don’t have one. Through talks, meetings, projects, and moments of exchange, the goal is to create a living, conscious, and open space.

8. What matters more for a designer today: great talent or strong communication skills?

For me, talent matters more. Communication can amplify the work, but it cannot replace it. If talent is missing, eventually the emptiness shows. Communication is an important tool, but it has to support a real vision, not take its place.

9. Is creativity a static quality, or something that changes over time?

Creativity is absolutely mutable — it’s like a roller coaster. It changes constantly and transforms together with the person, with experiences, and with different moments in life. But I don’t think it simply depends on age: growing older doesn’t automatically make someone more creative, nor less

creative.

Creativity moves through different phases. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming, almost uncontrollable; other times it becomes a way to stay alive, to react, to continue searching for new possibilities of expression. It’s something deeply human and constantly in motion.