Here I am to you. I am Franca Cattalani.

My passion for fashion began early: I was the youngest of four sisters, with a mother who passed on to me a love of beautiful things. For us Italian family, dressing well on Sundays, looking our best at parties and birthdays was a must, because Through clothing care and attention are communicated. I used to look at my sisters who looked gorgeous when they left the house on Saturday night in their best clothes. It was the 1970s: bright colors and desire for change were manifested in society as well as in dress. Fascinated by lines and colors, it quickly became clear to me that “when I grew up” I would work in fashion. When I was 17, I was hired at the Fiorucci boutique in Locarno. With its colors, ethnic, playful, accompanied by a touch of folk and madness, Fiorucci disrupts the canons and gives a decisive turn to the way of dressing. And also my understanding of fashion, which in seven years of experience is being refined and outlined more and more.

It’s 1984, in Paris the Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto, “Comme des garçons,” Issey Miyake-which represent another turning point in my stylistic journey-praise to black-and I feel ready to open my own boutique. I call it “The Labyrinth,” a name that fascinates me and harks back to Greek mythology, to the symbolic sense of getting lost and finding oneself, as in the countless fashion proposals. For me, the search for a style that is self-expression is the path to a woman’s beauty.

In 1988 the Labyrinth moved to Cittadella Street, to a street and house rich in history and art in the heart of Old Locarno: a core of only small grocery and artisan stores, but beginning to emerge as a shopping area. My store showcases emerging artists, I show locally crafted jewelry. And to design the interior and logo I hire young innovative architects and graphic designers. This closeness to creative people has always been a constant of mine, which takes the form, above all, of choosing brands linked to manufacturers outside the circuit of the big names in high fashion, always with the idea of paving the way toward a Japanese avant-garde style that is still little known .

My local and international clientele really like the style of the Labyrinth, which stimulates me to always look for new emerging fashion creators.

And because, as you may have guessed, I love a challenge, when in 2013 I was offered to take over a renowned fashion store also on Citadel Street, I said to myself, why not? It saves its tradition and becomes an opportunity for me to experiment with a new range, more economical but still in style. And to stay with the myth of the labyrinth, I call it “The Thread of Ariadne.”

And here I am now with a new challenge the SHOP ON LINE, which aims to be a “site to browse through” like a magazine, with photographs, ideas and suggestions. A site that is not intended to replace the incomparable direct contact with fabrics, the pleasant sharing of a choice, but only to be a complement to your search.

Welcome to Labyrinth.ch