Passion for Fashion: GCDS x BRATZ
Play is another very important factor for GCDS and for Giuliano. Remembering to play and to have fun and to not take things too seriously keeps the world interesting. And probably keeps the world a lot kinder, as well. This is partly why a collaboration with BRATZ is so fitting. Dresses with graphic manga prints of Sasha, Chloe, Jade, and Yasmin’s faces, blingy gold BRATZ earrings, and “Passion for Fashion” emblazoned across hoodies, bras, shorts, and dresses, are among the items featured in this status-quo challenging collection.
The phrase “Passion for Fashion” is used both by BRATZ and GCDS to remind us that that’s all this is! It’s really not much deeper than that. It has a kind of “express yourself” message behind it. Calza strives to create clothes that remind us of this sentiment. Just have fun with it! Helping to make toys that dawn his creations reflects just how important it is to Giuliano.
Both GCDS and BRATZ encourage personal expression, acceptance, and different canons of beauty, which is further conveyed by the custom dolls Giuliano chose to create, modeled after some of his most admired icons — artists and musicians and straight up party girls who have challenged the norm in one way or another.
See our conversation with Giuliano below, as we discuss both the toy-sized and life-sized capsule and what the making of it meant to GCDS!
What is GCDS’s mission as a brand?
So, I travel the world and the 7 seas, and I’ve experienced so much in my life; I’ve met so many people. At some point, I realized Italy was a bit cussed out from this vision of global and fun and Pop, and I asked myself, Why can I not be this guy? To make Italian manufacture, make it Pop, make it relevant for the world and my generation? At the same time, I wanted to remind everyone that GCDS is about having fun. It’s about playing your personality, the game of personality, who you are for real, what’s your ambition, what do you wanna be in your life? Sometimes, BRATZ, in a silly way, reminded us of the same thing. If you have a passion for fashion, or just wanna be a bad bitch, just be that girl! I just wanted to create this fun, pink, gay world, call it a weird name that everyone would be pissed off at, and call it my scenario. And BRATZ were exactly the same. I remember one of my first shows, and one reviewer came and said to me, Oh, you do ugly clothes, and I said, Oh, thank you, but I think many people like ugly clothes! I think, today, rather than having the world be where we belong to a tribe and where we belong to a community, we emulate something or lifestyle in order to join one. To me, still, it’s a good reminder to stay young and play the role of who you want to be and not the role of who others want you to be. And BRATZ is exactly the same.
I love what you said about emulating a group you’d like to be a part of.
As a kid, I used to live in Naples, in the south of Italy, and I remember I used to go to a really normal school. We had lots of groups of people. You could be the one doing drugs in the bathroom, the emo one, the metal one, but you really had that lifestyle. Today, I see people emulating a way of living, a way of dressing up, even when they’re not that person. And me, personally, I’m always seeking truth to what I am, what I like, and what I want to be. When I see this thing, I said, Oh my gosh, let's make something that’s fun, let’s make something you just want to own because it’s a toy. Toys for adults, I want to do. This is my point of view on this weird world, where everyone wants to be something, but we don’t experience anything anymore. I used to go hardcore, to parties in China, and do crazy things, and I lived that life. I feel, still, I don’t own anything of that life. Instead, now, it’s enough to wear a metal band t-shirt and you are that girl! I’m like, okay!
What does GCDS stand for?
GCDS is multiple names. At the beginning, it was my first company in China, Giuliano Calza Design Studio. Then, I said I wanted to do streetwear because I was obsessed with seeing people and what they were doing with their own life, their clothes. So I decided God Can’t Destroy Streetwear, because I felt like the world of streetwear was limited to straight people. So I said, I don’t think this can be judged in any way possible, so not even God can destroy it. Then it became Girls Can Desire Sex, because I was obsessed with the idea that my generation can desire sex. I wanted to create a brand that was not labeling in any way possible who was buying it. It had to be a puzzle, a game, it has to evolve.
I saw in the press release that you don’t call GCDS streetwear, but “culture wear.” What is your definition of “culture wear”?
In a way, I don’t think you can define streetwear. What is streetwear today? I love to see hoes in high heels and a mini dress, I love to see punks. To me, it’s more becoming a “culture wear'', in the way it defines your own culture. I’m just trying to portray this; I’m not trying to create something that is based on an ideal of the past or an ideal of the future. I think this is the moment I’m describing, and this is my culture. I always say, Meme is my culture. There is nothing more relevant in our generation than memes. So, I think this is my idea of culture. I’ve studied political science, I’ve studied economy, I fully speak Chinese, I’ve studied French, I’ve studied English. Still, I don’t feel resident in any of these cultures. I just want to create something laughable, doable, enjoyable, ironically good, and you can just wear it!
Will you describe GCDS’ relationship with the LGBTQ+ community? It seems like a significant part of the brand’s identity.
I don’t think it’s an identity. You don’t define yourself with an identity. I belong to a generation that comes with new ideals. They are not the 50’s ideals of what you have to sexually be or how you have to define yourself. I don’t even like pronouns. I don’t think anyone should say I’m this or that. I think we’re living in a culture that puts us in the wave of being culturally connected, living the world, eating food from all over the world. And this is a matter of fact. Kids today are already teaching us how to do better. We should be learning from the younger generation on how to use new media, or how to use your persona and your voice. I’m just speaking up for my generation. I didn’t find myself in any old advertising from any brand. I couldn’t see myself. I was not standard Italian, I was not a guy from anywhere in the world, I just wanted to represent these people. I just want to represent different communities. I just want to represent even the LGBTQ+ world in a way that is not saying, Oh, I represent the LGBTQ. This is my casting. There is going to be trans people, there is going to be gay people, there is going to be cis people. But this is where I live. What really made me come up with this seniority idea of the GCDS logo, was that I was living in a college with kids from all over the world. I was in Shanghai, and I had my best friend from Japan, people from Kazakhstan, people from Russia, people from Colombia. I was not questioning why. I was just fully embracing it. This is my idea of where I should stand for my ideals and what is the generation today. Is there anything, like gender norms, or a beauty standard. What are the standards today? I don’t think anyone can say, Oh, this is right and this is wrong. This is not where we live anymore today. Everything is more organic, even Instagram. You choose what you like. It’s not TV anymore, where I tell you, You need to like this, this is the new product. No, I’m gonna choose what is right for me, and this is my menu. I’m gonna do my own DIY menu.
So, I guess you could say, then, that you’re very much focused on the individual. You’re not trying to define anything or to belong to any one style or community per se, but you’re just making something authentic that people can identify with in whatever way that works for them.
Yes, exactly this in the end. I never set out to do this as my job. I studied Political Science. I was really into art. I’ve always been drawing, I’ve always been painting, but I was not saying, One day I’m gonna design for people, and I’m gonna show what I can do. It just happened to be that people liked what I was doing and it got bigger and bigger. In this journey, I took on my card, artists, people enjoying my work, people really liking it because it’s new, because it’s different, or because it’s really bad, or because it’s really good.
Why does the collaboration with BRATZ make sense for GCDS?
They were the bad dolls. They were ugly, they had ugly makeup. They were different. For this, they were not right. GCDS at the beginning was not right for fashion, was not right for streetwear, was not belonging, but it became a huge success. As soon as they rang my bell, I was so excited, because they were LGBTQ. In any way, these people were pioneering what they were doing. These dolls were going to every place with fashion, with gender norms, with beauty and makeup. In a way, I just felt like they belong to my world. Ten years ago, they did what we’re talking about today. Maybe today, we’re doing something with GCDS that in ten years is still gonna be relevant. I just wanted to fully celebrate it. What I really loved, and I didn’t think about it, is that most of the people that came to the stores when I was releasing the dolls were men. This shows you the impact of a doll can be big. Even on the sexuality of a little young man, that ten years later still is celebrating what he wanted to have as a kid. I think that’s amazing.
How did you come up with the concept of the custom dolls?
I took all the people that were icons to me. Sita has always been by my side, and she has always been the one, like, Fuck it. Then, I went with Shea Couleé, because I’m a huge fan of Ru Paul’s drag race. While there’s beauty queen, and there’s glam queen, she was the fun one. She was dressing up as whatever you dream to be. Icons for me that are not beauty icons or norm icons. Just people that represent their artistry in a different way. Dua Lipa for me was just singing pop style. And people are trying to be different, but sometimes a good pop song, everyone can enjoy it. All different categories of people that have taught me so much. To not care anymore. These rules, what is right, what is asked to be. I don’t think they belong anymore to our generation.
What relationship does this collaboration have with the idea of childhood? You briefly mentioned that these men were able to have the doll that they always wanted.
I think GCDS is very much based on childhood. If you’ve seen my show, once I made a giant T-Rex. I always want to make people feel like they’re a small child looking at something big, or something they aspire to. Dolls are something you think you can only play with when you’re young. But there are many people who shouldn’t forget how it is to play. I think when you lose the playfulness of it all, the world gets boring. I’d rather be celebrating ten years younger people, and just be like, let’s enjoy it, than to create something that is boring.
The clothing created alongside the dolls, what was your vision for that?
First of all, I wanted to create a meme. Because Passion for Fashion is something everyone knows. I think as a kid, you listened to it a million times. Passion for Fashion! This was the first idea. Even when there’s a drama or a trouble in the office, or the casting, or the campaign, the shoot goes bad, I’m like, This is passion for fashion. It makes the room exhale. We’re just doing clothes, guys. On the other side, I wanted to put the dolls in my most iconic prints. And my most iconic print is the naked girls with boobs out. They said absolutely no. This is a doll. Anyway, kids are gonna buy it! So I recreated the manga print by myself. I redid it all with Sasha, Yasmin, Chloe, in a manga way. I did the final inception. I put it on them, and I put it on the people that were buying them.
All the details in the clothing, the graphic quality, even the earrings, it’s all amazing.
The good thing, I wish you could see, but we have no dolls, they sold out but will be restocked soon, is that my gold heart bag has a chain. The chain was designed by me, and each part of the chain is G-C-D-S, G-C-D-S. They recreated it exactly the same on the doll. One day, I was at my desk looking at the doll, and I got closer and closer and realized they made the chain exactly. So detailed! Even the fur has the lining of the fur with the little black cat, because the logo of Sasha is a black cat. My white boots with the logo GCDS as metallic heels. They recreated the metallic heels.
What a fun project!
Honestly, when you’re creating a life sized collection, you have the boundaries of reality. Sales campaign, press, everyone is gonna tell you this is childish or not real enough. With dolls, you have no boundaries. You can say, I’m gonna dress her up in a catsuit, then I’m going to get a babydoll dress with Swarovski, then I’m gonna put on fur, then I’m gonna braid their hair to the floor. The Bratz people were like, Yes, we love this.
How long was the process of making the dolls?
To make a doll, it takes one and a half years. It’s endless just to get approvals on the materials. It’s not hard to design. The difficult thing was to think of this doll not only as an item, but something that people will play with. Even things I planned to do at the beginning changed on the ride to the end. Everything has to change, it cannot stay the same from the beginning. At the beginning, I wanted to have bling makeup, and then they said, no you cannot put stones on the face because collectors are gonna be nasty about it. The most fun I’ve ever had in a capsule collection or anything I’ve done before.
It seems fun! Like a dream! For those who’d like to purchase something from this collection, where can they find it?
The capsule collection is available in my stores in Milan, London, and Rome, or at GCDS.com. The doll is now sold out on all platforms, but it’s going to have a restock in Target and all the Toys R Us in the world and also on GCDS.com.
