Designer Profile
Prisca Vera Franchetti
Prisca Vera Franchetti moved to New York City in 2011 after graduating from the Instituto Europeo de Design in Barcelona. “I wanted to go somewhere where I didn’t know the language. I have always loved the idea of a fresh start,” said the 27-year-old Rome native. Despite her friends and classmates moving back to Rome or somewhere in Europe, Franchetti moved to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a designer. The first job she landed in New York was not in fashion design, yet Franchetti admits it was the biggest stepping stone towards her label: She worked as the creative director on three short films by Isabella Rossellini. “Watching her work was truly an inspiring time for me. Not so much connected to designing clothes, but I learned the kind of person I wanted to be, about work ethics and the kind of product I wanted to create,” she says. A year later she worked at Zac Posen as the assistant to fabric research and development. In between jobs in 2014, Franchetti started to work on her own label. She reached out to mentors for words of wisdom — and a few discouraged the idea of launching a young label in a risky economy. But everyone in New York was excited and enthusiastic. “That was invigorating, New York invests in young people; you can truly feel it in the air,” she said. In 2015 she quietly launched Priscavera out of her apartment, selling only a few pieces on consignment to one store. This week, she will hold her first runway show, where she will showcase a collection inspired by the happy clash of Austrian and Bavarian influences, which she calls “’90s posh party-wear and lingerie.” When asked where she sees Priscavera in the future, she says: “A dream of mine would be to open a flagship store one day. I thought it was going to be years until I had my first show and I’m having one now — so who knows what the future holds!”
