New York Fall 2011 Fashion Week: Binetti

It’s hard to imagine a more stylish background than Diego Binetti’s: Raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by an Italian family, he was inspired to enter fashion by his mother, a dressmaker. He worked in Italy and then New York City as a stylist, then a designer, and eventually became the head designer at Jill Stuart before chucking it all to start Binetti in 2001.

Since then, he’s been known for his intricate, richly-colored work (In 2007, WWD described his work as “a hippie-inspired collection of pretty, hand-painted floral caftans and delicate lace bohemian dresses, all with a hipster edge”). At the Fall 2011 show, for example, the last

Another major focus of recent shows: Amazing, artistic manicures.

For Binetti’s Spring/Summer 2011 show, the team at Creative Nail Design created vintage jewelry-inspired “cocktail nail rings.” Now, look closely at the photos from the Fall 2011 show, above, and you’ll see this season’s sensation—CND manicurist Kristina Estabrooks ’ “ManiCUBE,” a Cubism-inspired manicure that created the illusion of a thinner, elongated nail and then embellished it with accessories made of broken glass and mirrors, pearls and even ostrich feathers.

Below, the designer describes his current work, and answers the classic question, Do you think your background influences your work?