Photo Courtesy of Daniel Cody

“Fashion is everything. It’s a way of being. Not just dressing well, but paying respect to the world and having good manners. It’s something I was brought up with. It’s a question of style and taste. I’m majoring in marketing. Besides that, of course, [I have] my love for design and fashion. Other than those, I really like social media and communications. My Instagram blog has more to do with marketing than the design part; I love connecting with people. I love designing things, but I do not like to describe myself as a businessman. I like to describe myself as a person with a love for design but [also] with a business vision. I’m passionate about making my love for suits into a design. My mom designs chocolates, and I think that I get my artistic side from her. She chooses colors and shapes them, whereas the business originates with my father. It’s a combination that I thrive off of. I was based in Buenos Aires and lived there all my life, but I traveled to Italy every summer for a couple of months to work. One night in Florence, after a fashion show, I went to a restaurant near where I was staying, and they were almost full. I asked the maitre d’ if there were any empty seats, and there were, but I needed to have a reservation. She apologized and said that she couldn’t give me a seat, so I walked out. I was maybe a hundred feet from the restaurant, and they called me back and told me there was an open spot. I remember that the maitre d’ told me that she loved my outfit, so they let me into the restaurant and I got a free meal. That was one of my favorite experiences in Italy. I think that people really underestimate the tailoring community in America. Not only the Italian tailors who go to the U.S. to open stores, but also the Italian-American immigrant families who have been here. I really like it here in New York, and one of my goals is to start work in America because it’s not a crowded market like in Europe. There’s an existing suit culture, especially in New York, and one of the things that tailors told me from back home is that New York is the place to succeed. I chose Hofstra because I knew if I was close to the city, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate. I’m not a superstitious person, but my family is, and I’m really passionate about the book, “The Great Gatsby.” Although it’s a fake character, I relate to him: not being accepted, dressing like this. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what people say about you; it’s just believing and making [your dreams] possible.”