DW25 | INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

CECILIA NUVOLA BECHINI ON MYTHOLOGY, HOPE, AND HER CREATIVE VISION FOR DW25 — IN CONVERSATION WITH NAINA ZILBERMINTS

NZ: Tell me about your creative process coming up with this year’s theme for DW — how did it all begin?

CNB:  It was very important to me to find something that felt relevant to my roots and upbringing but which also spoke to as many people as possible. Greek mythology has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. 

When I started thinking about my vision I came across this quote by Sigmund Freud — “myths are the secular dreams of youthful humanity” — and something clicked in my brain. It just felt like it’s such a beautiful lens through which to view mythology in a way that did feel relevant and explained why I and so many people are passionate about mythology. 

And so, beginning with that quote, I started to develop different phases. I liked the idea of constructing a narrative – this is something that has been done by DONT WALK since my first year at St Andrews with Elize’s vision inspired by the Divine Comedy and I loved it! It was also done by Henry last year where we saw an evolution through three different phases, and what I wanted to do was to explore different myths throughout the year and then through the show, connect them into a cohesive narrative through the lens of the maze and the thread guiding us. Once I found my angle of talking about mythology, tapping into literature which has always been a passion of mine and a part of my degree and even psychology through interpreting these characters and how they could speak to us today – my brain just lit up! 

NZ: You briefly mentioned your roots, do you feel that your heritage and upbringing have influenced your creative approach and vision?

CNB: Immensely! The Odyssey is the first real book that was ever read to me when I was three, and it was just the beginning of a beautiful, long, love story. 

It has put an additional pressure and impetus to my work, I feel some form of responsibility to those that have gifted me with this knowledge and heritage. I love saying that everything I know about mythology and literature and the memories that I have with the people that have shared these important aspects of my life with me are the jewelry of my mind. 

I love to say that everything I know about mythology and literature, along with the memories of those who have shared these passions with me, are the jewelry of my mind.They are the most enriching thing that I have and so I want to pay respect to those that have gifted me this treasure – my parents, grandparents and my teachers.

I went to a school which focused on humanities, on ancient Greek and Latin and I did a lot of drama there which consisted of Greek and Latin tragedies. I think this sparked an interest  in the performative aspect of classic literature and mythology which I found immensely useful when thinking about the show visually. 

NZ: What made you decide to choose the myth and the character of Daedalus to be the one upon which you have centered your vision for the year and which serves as the final crescendo of DW25?

CNB: I was recently going through the notes on my phone and I came across the first note in which I ever wrote the word ‘Daedalus’ and it dates back to about four years ago but that was not even the first time that I was thinking about it, it was just the first time that I wrote it down. 

The idea of interconnection and the intricate comings and goings has always fascinated me. I remember spending hours just staring at the Shibuya Crossing from above and being in utter awe of this beautiful visual performance that seemed to be enacted by people that were mostly not even aware of their contribution to it. That is the first thing that I went back to when I started to think about how I wanted to translate my vision – people building art together while just carrying on with their daily lives. 

I always knew that Daedalus was something that I wanted to explore and when the opportunity came about it was the first idea that I came back to. Daedalus is not really a phase in itself for the show, instead it is the connecting element of all the different myths and phases.

We navigate society and progress through the world feeling this need to have some sort of Ariedne’s thread and myths embody that; they are a guiding principle which is not meant to preclude us from picking different paths but rather show us the paths that have been taken before, and so teaching us something about them. 

These ideas were beautifully interpreted by the stage design team, the designers and the music production team and so I am so excited for all these elements, specifically inspired by the idea of labyrinths to come together and create a labyrinth of our own.

NZ: What is the story that you are trying to tell this year with DONT WALK 25?

CNB: Something which has mattered a lot to me was to create a story which felt relevant to our charities this year, so the main point of my vision was that these myths tell us that there is hope at the bottom of Pandora’s box. By delving into these (often tragic) stories from a fashion and performance perspective I wanted to look for that hope and portray a journey of seeking it, and hopefully inspiring someone to keep pushing what we have done further.

(So, as with myths, I wanted the vision to) And to reflect on the fact that we can very much bring fashion down from its pedestal of perfection and isolation, to create a conversation with the real world and the tragedies that are going on.

I think that my country especially  has an obsession with its classical roots in a way that is often unhealthy and becomes dogmatic yet the reason why I don’t regret spending years of my life studying ancient Greek and Latin is because they have given me the tools to take those classical inspirations and read them through my own experience and what is going on around us. Otherwise, the minute that we place these myths into a bell jar they stop speaking meaningfully to us – its pure echo.

Mythology also teaches us the myth of Echo, who dies from an obsession and the only thing which remains of her is her voice, speaking to itself. That is something which I wanted to avoid – an obsession with these stories in a disconnected way. I didn’t want to be obsessed with them and I didn’t want them to feel disconnected from the real world. Otherwise, the minute that we place these myths into a bell jar they stop speaking meaningfully to us – its pure echo.

NZ: DO you feel that your initial ideas have been changed through the process of the year ? -edit

CNB: There definitely have been changes in a way that I am happy about. The vision has been continuously shifted and shaped by the people who have since contributed to it. The more people joined in the richer it got, and the voice of the vision became clearer and so I am happy about every change that has been made because it has been a testament to the fact that there have been conversations. I definitely did not want for the presentation that I had made in March 2024 to become a static dogma of this year, I wanted it to be the starting point of a conversation!

NZ: Oral Tradition question 

CNB: Something that I find really inspiring from Ancient traditions is that for a story to be told it was enough to have a fire, a story teller, and a circle of people listening. This kind of simplicity is something that I wanted to bring into the vision.

Something that has brought me joy was walking into coffee shops the day after the Launch and seeing people sitting down and talking about the Launch and that was everything that I wanted. I don’t care about immediate social media feedback as much as I do about prompting dialogue – something as close to sitting down in front of a fire and telling stories. 

NZ: In terms of the show, the labyrinth presents both the possibility of escape and entrapment, would this duality manifest in the DW25 Show as we saw it at the Launch earlier this year.

What can we expect from the show in terms of this theatricality?

CNB: The theatricality will definitely be pushed even further with the show and especially in the narrative aspect of it. I took Sammy’s performance in the Launch as inspiration for the show in a way of connecting spoken word, fashion and performance together. You can definitely expect a renewed conversation between the narrative voice and the models which I am very excited for as well as of course the traditional DONT WALK fast paced techno walks that we are known for, though dotted with performances of the myths that we have explored throughout the year. 

NZ: What has been the most memorable moment of this year on DW so far?

CNB: My favourite memory this year so far has been the beginning of the Launch, when the sounds of the waves rushing in and crashing was raised above people’s voices and everyone went silent and my dear friend’s voice started playing and Sammy walked on, beginning her performance, which I had been thinking about for a very long time. It was the most surreal feeling that I’ve ever had, to see it all come together at once, the product of so much hard work but also so many extremely talented people who dedicated their time and talent, tools and energy to that which I was now seeing be performed in front of us. It felt very special to know that these people trusted me and my vision and gave everything they had to it, and people were now seeing it. 

NZ: Do you feel that being the Creative Director of DONT WALK has surprised you at all?

CNB: Being the assistant to the Creative Director last year definitely prepared me for what was to come, but not enough! I’m not going to be very romantic in saying that I had to lower my expectations very early on. Although we could have as many ideas as we wanted to, very consideratethought through organisation was needed or none of the ideas that I was so enthusiastic about would come to life. I realised that having ideas was not enough, it was fundamental to spend time and to actually make them happen. 

NZ: So what has been your biggest challenge this year?

CNB: I have always valued teamwork but I have also always enjoyed working on my own and not having to explain my ideas. This experience has forced me and pushed me to translate whatever was going on in my head into words in a way that people could connect with them. This was INCREDIBLY CHALLENGING, not only in terms of language, as English is not my first language and so many of these ideas came to me in Italian because that’s how I learned about these myths, but also because they began as images in my mind and I had to find a way of putting them into words and for them to make sense to other people as well.

NZ: Do you have a favourite phase? Anything you especially enjoyed working on visually or narratively?

CNB: I am very excited about the Prometheus phase because it is the one that I found the trickiest to visualise so far, and so it is still very much a challenge where there is still enough time for me not to be too stressed about it but just be excited to come together with everyone after the break and see where it will take us. 

NZ: What has been the most important idea for you to convey through DW25?

CNB: My goal has been for this whole vision, with all its UNUSUAL names, to still be able to speak to people. SO, I don’t want to force PEOPLE to think any one thing, just as long as it can prompt some sort of curiosity. If I have prompted one person to be curious and dig deeper into what we are trying to achieve, then I am happy.