For designers who specialise in a style that can loosely be described as modern-goth, Peter Strateas and Mario-Luca Carlucci’s friendly hellos and warm welcome come as a bit of a surprise. Cloaked in expertly draped long jackets in black, black and more black, the duo appears to have a talent for turning layers upon layers of mainly dark fabrics (from fine silk and cotton to wool and leather) into almost architectural pieces for the body.
The self-taught designers have been friends since high-school and throughout university, where Strateas studied communication design while Carlucci studied industrial design. Instead of following their respective fields however, the two friends decided they wanted to put their time and energy towards a shared passion of their: fashion. Six years ago, fresh out of university and barely into their twenties the pair, now both 27, launched Trimapee in Melbourne. From there, it would be fair to say that the unisex fashion brand, with the designers’ vision of androgynous fashion, played a part in creating what can now be defined as “the Melbourne look”.
“I try not to categorise what we do too much, because even within our preferred aesthetics we do try to expand beyond the androgynous-look niche,” Carlucci explains.
Over six years the Trimapee range, whose high street flagship store is based in Melbourne’s QV retail centre, included pieces such as T-shirts, denim and suit jackets, meant to give the option for the more conservative dresser to combine with the label’s signature heavily draped, almost dress-like tops that has made Trimapee a household name among the style-conscious.
But for all the subtle and rugged beauty their designs exude, Carlucci emphasises that their work has never been just about fashion and clothes. Earlier this year, the designers announced that they are winding down Trimapee after winter’s collection to launch a new label titled Strateas.Carlucci, aimed at a luxury market.
“In a sense our vision has grown up as we’ve grown older. With Strateas.Carlucci, everything is more refined, improved in terms of quality and our artistic direction has matured,” Carlucci says.
Taking the luxury route can be tricky for any design label, let alone one that is relatively young, but the pair has taken the challenge by the horns, deciding to start fresh, launching their debut collection under a new name overseas. Interestingly, the designers have received a lot of attention from buyers from Europe, USA, UK and Asia, despite Trimapee having not made much of a mark overseas. Meanwhile, the new label is still relatively unheard of outside fashion circles in Australia, where the label is yet to be officially launched.
“From the start we wanted Strateas.Carlucci to be an international brand, and I actually think it was good that we weren’t really established overseas, so we could start on a clean slate,” says Strateas, the quieter of the designer duo.
“We’ve managed to get 15 stockists already in the seven months that we’ve worked on the new label. We’re also lucky to have had help from our sale team from StealthProject [an entrepreneurial sales gallery] in Paris.”
Despite a maturing of their brand vision, Strateas and Carlucci are sticking with what they know works best, but taking that to the next level. Although collections are officially separated into womenswear and menswear on the runway and lookbooks, Carlucci says their customers are free to cross gender boundaries and pick out garments from either collections.
Pulling out a silver pendant attached to a kangaroo leather string and label, Strateas adds each garment will be accompanied with a piece of jewellery that will change every season. “It’s like a little gift. We want our pieces to be treasured or even be passed down as heirloom pieces,” he says.
The designers will close Trimapee and its flagship store in November to focus on the new fashion venture. Strateas.Carlucci will be showing for the first time in Australia in September’s Melbourne Spring Fashion Week.