LEVI CAMPELLO designer feature

Levi Campello is a young, fresh independent fashion designer in New York. He spoke to artPLAY about his recent collection SUTURE, the fetish and genderfluid cultures that influence his work and about his future plans.

https://www.levicampello.com/ @levicampello

Photo Levi Campello Model Billy Theodosatos

artPLAY: How has your fashion journey been as a fresh innovative designer in the New York fashion scene?

Levi: I’m a 23 year old Menswear designer living in NYC, originally from Southern California. I recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a focus in menswear design. Before studying fashion design I previously trained in drawing and painting, however I sort of fell into fashion and the rest was history. Throughout my time working in fashion I’ve had the opportunity to train under very talented individuals in many different areas of the industry. I previously trained with a costume and textile curator at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum before that I worked for a bespoke shoe maker honing leather crafting techniques, as well as working with some truly amazing photographers and models since I’ve moved to NYC in the past year.

artPLAY: Can you tell us about your last collection?

Levi: My latest collection titled SUTURE was based around a love story told using non linear memory. It was a meditation of my past while allowing the memories of such events to guide the creative process to twist it into a new story.

A heavy emphasis for this collection was communicating the idea of desire through intimacy in the bedroom, exploring the symbols and objects of rituals and how they relate to the actual wearer. The collection subverts these typical hidden rituals of intimacy and reënvisions them in garments familiar to the male wardrobe that invites the wearer to engage in a space of the erotic. The choice in the material plays a vital role in the conception of the garment because of the way each one interacts with the body.

Sensuality as a vehicle of exploration and expression through dress, the collection was made with natural fibers such as silk, wool, fur, and leather.

artPLAY: Where do your inspirations come from?

Levi: A lot of my inspiration comes from a deep fascination and love of history, whether it’s a painting, sculpture, photography or architecture. Looking back at my collection SUTURE, the inspirations ranged from a sculpture of Michelangelo, an amazing performance artist named Olivier de Sagazan, to a scientist who captured the first images of animals in motion named Entienne-Jules Marey. Sometimes I’m inspired by the most absurd contradiction to what I’m currently looking at but it’s sometimes in the differences that influence my work.

artPLAY: Can you speak to your vision of fetish, the male form and gender fluidity.

Levi: There is a strong theme of fetish in my work because I’m deeply inspired by people and what makes them tick and what stretches across gender boundaries. I believe we all share a fundamental desire of intimacy whether it is physical or platonic, and I’m interested in understanding the nuances and intricacies of these behaviors.

Kink and fetish wear became the language I used to unpack my own understanding of the body and its relationship to desire— transforming individuals into objects of desire through the distortion of the body.

artPLAY: The world has rapidly changed in a few months, how do you as an artist and a creative person deal with this time of dis-balance and confinement.

Levi: I think it’s very troubling for most people to deal with being confined at this current time, however i think it’s important to learn how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Applying this idea to my work as a creative, I’ve found that there is a similar theme between physical confinement of quarantine to the physical confinement and endurance of erotic play. Being able to surrender and accept my current situation despite how uncomfortable it has been has made it possible for me to look at my current state and refocus on the future rather than bask in the uncomfortable.

This time has allowed me to reset and prioritize what is important in my life like relationships, physicality, empathy and the beauty of intimacy and I’m hoping to show that through future work.