Francesca Beretta: "I deeply love imperfection" ish EditInterview with the founder and creative director of The Nourish Edit
In 2022, Francesca Beretta founded The Nour. The starting point? A fascination with contrasts, between light and shadow, structure and ruins, freedom and identity. What began as a personal search for meaning evolved into a precise language and form, with garments that evoke emotions, memories, and fragments, transforming them into tangible creations. We sat down with her to talk about the SS26 collection.
Interview with Francesca Beretta, founder and creative director of The Nour
This collection was born "in the suspended silence between dream and awakening". What was the first dream, or the first image, that inspired The Nour SS26?
I dreamed of walking inside Max Ernst’s painting Forest and Sun. I was moving through those dense, almost liquid forms where the forest and the sun intertwine in a hypnotic rhythm. From that image came the energy of the collection: grey, burnt, and sunlit tones, but also the tension between shadow and light. It felt like inhabiting a mental landscape, a place where matter and imagination merge.
You mentioned a "modern vampire". Who is this figure for you today, a muse, a symbol, or a part of yourself?
First and foremost, she’s a symbol but inevitably, she also represents a part of me. In the figure of the vampire, I see the death of a past life and the transformation necessary for rebirth. She’s a being that regenerates through desire, crossing the night to return to the light. The "modern vampire" is not a monster: she’s a woman who has learned to let go, to feed on experiences, and to transform them into strength.
Your garments express a constant dialogue between light and shadow. What do these two poles represent for you?
Light and shadow coexist within each of us. They are the inner conflict that keeps us alive. Every person carries both forces inside, and only by accepting them can we truly express ourselves. In my garments, this dialogue emerges through contrasts: transparencies and opacities, sharp cuts and soft lines. It’s a way to give visible form to what usually remains unseen.
The dyes are hand-made, and each variation is unique. Is it harder to control the process or to let chance take over?
I deeply love imperfection. Everything that’s too perfect becomes, to me, predictable and sterile. I think of a face completely retouched - no lines, no marks - it loses that vibration that makes it unique. In the same way, I let chance intervene in my garments, letting the color move freely. Imperfection becomes a language, an act of freedom, and it generates a kind of beauty that can’t be replicated.
Is there one piece in the collection that you consider the "heart" of the project, the one that embodies the essence of The Nour SS26?
I think the most representative piece is the linen and cotton coat with raw-cut openings. It contains the whole meaning of the collection: the sharp cut that breaks harmony, the rigor of the double collar softened by naturalness, the delicacy of the material contrasted with the strength of the design. It’s a piece that tells the story of duality, the constant dialogue between control and spontaneity, between structure and breath.
Your references to Surrealism (Dalí, Carrington, Man Ray) are very strong. if your collection were a work of art, which one would it be?
I would go back to Max Ernst, and once again to Forest and Sun. That painting was the origin and remains my visual and emotional reference point. I love how nature and light confront and embrace each other, the sense of mystery that arises from their layering. It’s the same tension I try to translate into the fabrics and shapes of the collection. The lines of Leonora Carrington’s works also strongly influenced the silhouettes of the pieces. In her art, the liberating and dreamlike essence typical of dreams is evident, and that’s exactly what I aim to evoke through my designs.
How do you interpret the concept of "craftsmanship" in 2025, in a world racing toward AI and hyperproduction?
For me, craftsmanship is a conscious and political choice. It means slowing down, restoring value to gestures and time. My collections always start with a limited number of pieces - thirty, thirty-five at most - because I want each one to have a real presence, a strong identity. Artificial intelligence can be an interesting tool, but it can never replace the creative act, which comes from experience, from the body, from the soul. Every garment I create carries my story within it, that’s where the connection with the wearer happens.
If you could describe this collection in just three words, what would they be?
Subversive. Dreamlike. Precise. Three words that express a fragile yet powerful balance: the rebellion of the dream, the precision of the gesture, and the freedom to reinvent oneself.
