Des Phemmes’ Salvo Rizza on Tweaking Brand Strategy, Venturing Into New Categories

MILAN — “It’s more a season of experiments. Considering the market, maybe it’s best to stay put and wait for the storm to pass,” said Salvo Rizza, founder and creative director of Italian brand Des Phemmes .

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Only he’s not really staying put but playing in advance on the traditional fashion schedule he has adhered to so far, when he usually presented his brand’s collections in Milan during women’s fashion weeks.

This time, Rizza skipped institutional presentations in favor of one-to-one showroom appointments to unveil the Des Phemmes spring 2025 collection. “For a young brand, going solo and showing outside the hodgepodge of fashion week is easier. During the shows, there’s never time and people hardly see the collection,” he said of the decision. “So we wanted to take a step back… Sometimes it simply doesn’t make sense to run and try to keep up the pace with the big players.”

Rizza said that moving up his brand’s schedule also enables him to understand the market more promptly and serve retailers in a better way. Especially considering the young designer is working to scale up the business — he enthused about capsule collections developed with partners like Moda Operandi and Net-a-porter selling out and being restocked multiple times — as well as venturing into new product categories.

The change in pace kick-started at the end of last year, when Italian manufacturer Olmar and Mirta SpA acquired a 45 percent stake in Oasi Srl, the parent company of the hip brand that Rizza launched in 2019. A 10-year licensing agreement added to the deal, with Olmar and Mirta charged to support Des Phemmes both in terms of production and distribution.

“Having such a solid partner backing you makes all the difference. I went from handling everything alone to working with 10 people on collections. Plus, even everything goes wrong in one season, you still have a support system,” he said, comparing his privileged position to those of fellow young brands which are also struggling with cash flow issues due to delayed payments from retailers.

Founded in 1997 by Giambattista Tirelli, Olmar and Mirta is best known for being a longtime business partner of Rick Owens. It had been the licensee of the brand from 2001 to 2015, when a new firm dubbed Owenscorp Italia SpA was established under the umbrella of Owenscorp France to optimize the management of that label. Olmar and Mirta also holds the license of the Uma Wang brand, in addition to owning the Gentryportofino and Fisico labels.

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No wonder then the Des Phemmes spring 2025 collection saw the addition of plenty of knitwear and the introduction of beachwear — categories core to the business of Gentryportofino and Fisico, respectively. Rizza, who’s known for his ‘90s aesthetic of unfussy silhouettes heavy on sizzling embellishments and tie-dye , also expanded into denim separates and toyed with the first accessories for the brand, crafting sequined-embellished satin sachet bags to complete his looks. “It’s just a test to see the reactions of buyers,” he said of the three bag iterations in popping colors.

In general, the Des Phemmes spring collection was inspired by the 1968 movie “The Girl on a Motorcycle” starring Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon and the love story they portray between a young bourgeois woman and a biker. Hence a wardrobe that mixed eco-leather biker jackets with a lived-in effect with crystal-embellished lace bustiers and sequined pencil skirts; mannish oversized shirts blended with ‘60s A-line dresses and miniskirts in duchesse silk, and leather pants with criss-cross details juxtaposed with ribbed knits and cropped cardigans.

Prints also infiltrated Rizza’s lexicon for the first time, such as polka dots splashed on silk georgette pieces and organza frilled skirts. A cherry motif nodding to a birthmark of the designer also profusely popped on garments, including as sequined embroideries on a chocolate tailored suit and one-piece swimsuits.

It’s likely that the heavily-embellished numbers will further build on Des Phemmes’ increasing popularity with celebrities. To wit, Rizza’s creations have been donned by the likes of Dua Lipa, Lupita Nyong’o, Eva Longoria , Gwen Stefani and Anne Hathaway , among others, in placements that have contributed to the brand’s expansion in the U.S. last year.

Rizza’s feminine vision has been influenced by his professional beginnings at Giambattista Valli in Paris, which he joined after graduating in fashion design from Milan ’s Istituto Marangoni in 2011. Starting as an intern in the design team, he climbed the ranks over the span of five years to eventually oversee ready-to-wear and haute couture collections. Then Rizza returned to Milan to freelance for brands including Agnona, Max Mara and Emilio Pucci, before eventually launching his brand.

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