“Dresses for little girls who want to dress like their mummy and feel like a princess.” This is how Elisabetta Franchi describes her line for little girls, which focuses on animal welfare, attention to detail and quality garments. These are the characteristics that have allowed Elisabetta Franchi La mia Bambina to achieve global success in just three seasons, as the Bolognese designer explains, revealing details of the upcoming season to Book Moda, beginning with newborn and footwear
What will Elisabetta Franchi La mia Bambina’s princesses wear this summer?
This La mia Bambina collection keeps the identifying details of the womenswear collection, beginning with dresses (some of which are divisible) and taking in medium lengths and trousers with a palazzo leg or cropped or boyfriend style. The volumes range from little doll skirts to sack dresses and tracksuits, not to mention boxy sweatshirts and T-shirts with loose structured sleeves.
What colours have you chosen for the summer collection?
We’ve introduced some typical summer colours that can express the brand’s class and style with a touch of lightness: lacquer, candy pink, turquoise, blush, ivory, eggshell, powder pink and black.
Some Elisabetta Franchi La mia Bambina pieces featured on the runway at Milan fashion week. Is “mini me” fashion now one of the main aspects of your collections?
The details reflect the Elisabetta Franchi universe in dresses for little girls who want to dress like their mummy and feel like a modern princess.
Animal welfare is one of the fundamental values of the Elisabetta Franchi brand. How does that translate into the kids line?
I stay faithful to my animal friendly spirit and conceived my La mia Bambina collection in full respect for animals and nature, leading the company mission forward to help protect them. Animal welfare can be seen in the graphic motifs on the knitwear and accessories featuring a dog called Teo, flamingos, raccoons and hens, and the super fashionable Betty Doll.
Are there are pieces that we could call brand icons?
The dresses for special occasions are the soul of the collection. When it comes to details, divisible outfits and tracksuits are my distinguishing feature, in kidswear and womenswear.
Which one is your daughter Ginevra’s favourite?
Ginevra loves princess dresses, so her favourites are the ceremony dresses.
There are many new features in the Autumn/Winter 2018-19 collection, including lines for newborns. What do they include?
There are complete kits designed for the cradle and for baby girls. The baby offering is a reproduction of the junior line, for babies.
And for older girls? Will there be a new sportswear line to match the one for mum?
Yes, we have designed the new Moves line, which is a sporty capsule line with a big focus on fashion, perfect for leisure time and for looking great all the time.
What can you tell us about the footwear produced by Andrea Montelpare? What will they be like?
They are the big new feature of the season. They will have all the same details and the same fashion style of the rest of the collection, and all the shoes, from sporty to ceremony, will be finished off with an iconic feature embodying the brand’s philosophy.
We’ve already said you are a big animal lover, you have even created an accessories line dedicated to dogs, the proceeds of which go entirely to charity.
Yes, the EF loves dogs line, launched in February 2015, includes collars, leads, a carrier, doggy bags, bowls and a coat – all designed to give our four-legged friends the brand’s unmistakable style!
Elisabetta Franchi La mia Bambina is now in its third season, how is it going on the market? We achieved some great results after the first sales campaign, which showed it gained a good foothold with multi-brand top players in the Italian kidswear market and made excellent progress in major European markets such as the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Russia is a particularly interesting market for us, as it is attracted by the attention to detail and quality. These are the characteristics that have allowed the brand to reach countries such as Japan, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
What would you like to do in the future of Elisabetta Franchi La mia Bambina?
Simply to dress baby girls.
To read the entire interview look at the latest issue of Book Bambini (n.28): http://www.bookmoda.com/2018/01/23/book-bambini-n28/
