“I like the defined silhouette, every woman has something to show off”

Next to the elegant reception room, several coat racks display dresses from the latest collectionorganized by color. Yellows, greens, fuchsias, reds and intense blues shine.

The gaze runs through this rainbow where the clothes, like a prism, break down the light. Down the hallway, on the right, are the large fitting rooms and, to the left, the office. Claudio Cosano (62), who next year will turn 30 years with fashion.

The atelier has a backstage – a workshop open to curiosity – with materials, fabrics, toiles and some mannequins. In the first row is Mirtha Legrand“because Chiquita has to have her dress ready, it’s impossible to try it on… Furthermore, after so many years of dressing her, I know by heart what she likes and her measurements. I bring the garment even with the hem made.”

A first question arises: Before dedicating yourself to this profession, what was your life like? “I didn’t have another life! (laughter) And if I had it, I don’t remember! But she immediately says that she studied architecture, that never dreamed of being a designer; that he did not finish his degree because he did not pass some finals and, by chance, he fell into the world of fashion, as an administrator and to pay for his studies.

“I saw the notice in the newspaper and I didn’t know it was for Fruit of the looma store founded in 1865. And that world of fashion caught me. I grew professionally with 60 percent effort, 30 percent talent and 10 percent luck. Because I was in the right places and at the right times. But you don’t have to be enlightened. With desire, with energy, you arrive!”

His latest collection. Divided into four blocks differentiated by color – black and red, silver and pewter, black and white and gold and black -, with metallic nets, natural silk satin, ecological leather and lace, the 50 models and 60 dresses were combined with handmade embroidery in crystals and stones. The rest of the Italian Circle were presented at the Leloir Palace, in Bravo.

Now, The couturier designs his next fashion show for Septemberalong with Silkey, which will be the second part of the collection seen at the Círculo. The news is that she is also putting together a haute couture tailoring collection, whose photographic campaign will possibly be with Evelyn Shield and Teresa Calandra.

“With Chiqui there is something special, I say it is cosanesca because he loves my clothes, I have been wearing them for more than 20 years. We know each other a lot, I know he likes glamor and shine. The same with Susana Giménez, it is also cosanesca.” But in addition to the divas, she dresses Wanda Nara, Luli Salazar or Teresa Calandra. “Teresa is very net. But my DNA is sophistication and fashion with femininity, making women look divine as women. That’s why I don’t do anything baggy, I like a sharp silhouette. Every woman has something to show off. “It’s either her neckline or her legs.”

He started making sporty, urban clothing. The clients were taking it to haute couture. “I am self-taught, I never believed I was on a pedestal. Every day I learn with and from clients. With them we evolve, we create different things. I never get bored because I have very strong energy! I wake up every morning with ideas to move forward. I draw immediately with pencil – that comes from architecture – and I am very structured. I am Capricorn structured and it shows in my clothes! Teresa Calandra jokes when she tells me ‘Your dresses look like columns.’ And it’s true! “My molding structures my designs.”

Her iconic dresses? He acknowledges that there were several over the years. The one that marked him, because he said to himself, “this is serious, people like my clothes,” was a dress from Susana Gimenez. “She had a program at noon where she was raffling off a palo verde and she asked me for a dress. “I made it yellow with a green center that was like a sun.” Another one that she remembers was a silver one that she made for Mirtha for Martín Fierro, when she was just starting out.

“Wanda Nara’s wedding dress catapulted me into the media and I started receiving girls who asked me for their wedding dress. She was living in Russia, I did it to her without her seeing it. She chose me because she likes sexy. Since they are haute couture dresses, I prepare a toile to try and on toile “I draw,” he describes.

Valeria Lynch, “total Argentine goddess”, he describes, he dressed her for several Grammys and I drew on her body what the dress was going to be like. “It’s easy to dress models. The challenge is to do it with women who do not have perfect sizes or heights. I make my dresses for collections on the mannequin. Then I put them on the models who are all the same, skinny and tall. And she is already…”

He says he has been through so many crises that he is used to it. “What’s bad about us Argentines are the crises, but the good thing is that we get ahead. In the United States they decompensate at the slightest problem. Americans are so rigid that if you change pairs of shoes, they get dizzy. Here we solve. In these years I planted a lot, so the harvest is good,” he acknowledges. He has clients who not only make party dresses but also ready-to-wear.

“Work has decreased. Many consider that it is time to make one dress instead of three. And that’s fine. My advertising, what made me grow, is word of mouth. Each client brought me another and another. I was lucky to fall into the Jewish community and the Armenian community. Dressing celebrities gives you popularity, but not sales. The sale comes when the client leaves happy and tells her friend you have to go to Cosano. Fidelity and recommendation come into play here.”

He has been in The Fashion Cage (Ciudad Magazine), a program that gave him great popularity. She traveled throughout the country and neighboring countries. “People greet you, it fills your soul, but it doesn’t fill you with sales. In Miami I even hosted the program and we won a Martín Fierro.”

It started from nothing. He comes from a very humble family. I didn’t even have a sewing machine. “Today, having my atelier, my own work team, my dressmakers who retired working with me… is a source of pride. Since I am self-taught, I know how to cut, sew, glue a button, and make buttonholes on the machine. I have a trade and I am a designer. It’s one thing to make party dresses that anyone can make, and I don’t mean that pejoratively. And another is to make haute couture, an exclusive piece, finished by hand, with molding and measurements. It is something unique, unrepeatable. I am also lucky to have my brother who is the head of embroidery. “That they are unique because Fabián will never repeat them.”

Sells throughout the country. It has two lines. A prêt-à-couture that adapts on the day and costs from a thousand dollars. “Because it is not the same to wear a made and adapted dress as another haute couture dress that it took us months to make. I operate in dollars because everything I use is imported. And it happens all over the world. The good laces are Italian, French or Spanish,” she describes.

Just returned from Europetravels a lot and is now learning to do so to rest. “I was in Spain and England. And I saw that the sneakers are still there, but the white ones are viral. The novelty? The skippythose rubber sandals that I don’t know if we are going to adopt. Of course, the Prada, Moschino and Versace ones are sold out. You have to buy them online and they are worth $1,300! But it is another market. The moccasin is all the rage, everything is platform loaferespecially for men. As for pants, the cargo comes. Wide, narrow, tube. And the more pockets it has, the better! Another item is crochet for both women and men. We will have to see if we take it here for both sexes.”

He loves to buy clothes and shoes. He has a problem with shopping: “It’s an addiction. TO The Cage I have to look good. If I sell fashion, I can’t be badly dressed. I am fascinated by Versace because of how irreverent she was and I still like what her sister does. I have to wear something from Versace. It is impossible to have everything because of the costs! I also like Dolce & Gabbana… in general, disruptive designers,” she confesses.

Among the classics admired Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior. “I am realistic. I was not born in Italy and I will not have the same importance as European designers. I also didn’t think about what is going to happen with all this when neither my brother nor I are here. We have no offspring. The dean of UP, Oscar Echeverría, drives me crazy to have a professorship. I like education. I give talks without hiding secrets… Perhaps my legacy is to communicate my expertise…”

He loves his country and chose to work here. “In crises, the textile sector loses. A garment is not a first necessity. You repeat or recycle your dress. Currently, sales are down. There are designers who have the backbone to face it and others do not. In the pandemic, everything was closed, there was no party. I came to work anyway and launched a line of face masks. It was great for me. I am very careful and disciplined with money. I don’t waste. I am a good administrator. But no one is exempt from melting down or having a setback and it must be horrible. If your head is full of debt, you can’t design. To design you have to be in a bubble with your head at peace.”