Jessica Garnetti Khalaf is a luxury wedding gown designer and catwalk/posture trainer born in Beirut, Lebanon. Growing up in a 'mixed' family - her maternal side was Greek and paternal side was Lebanese - Jessica combines both parental influences and temperament. Jessica's mother’s family lives in Patras, Greece and she loves visiting Greece often.
Jessica graduated from John Casablancas Fashion School / Elite Modelling Agency obtaining a BA in Fashion Merchandising & Business Management and her brand Garnetti is an established trusted name in fashion and art.
Jessica spoke recently to Greek City Times to tell us more about herself and her exciting new book 'My Boyfriend is Artsy I'm the Fashionista'.
What does the word “style” mean for Jessica?
Style is an independent combination of fashion apparel fused with accessories complete with hair and makeup offering a freedom of selections that together reveal one's inner character externally. It declares individuality.
A lot of people believe that if they know about fashion, they know about style. Are style and fashion the same thing?
Creative designers feature fashion in a season that highlights specific colour ranges and silhouettes in sectors of seasonal collections exposing what is inside. Anything prior becomes outdated. Style is when an individual creates their own look, allowing them to tell their story. So to answer the question in brief I say that fashion and style are related to one category, that being apparel.
What’s the difference between ready-to-wear and couture?
Prêt-à-porter (or better known as ready-to-wear) is public, meaning boutiques, the press, and individuals all have access to it. On the other hand, couture is an extreme luxury for few that can afford handmade by specialists and artisans who take hours and months to create one piece made exclusively for one client's special event or occasion.
Where were you born? And you were born to two magnificent parents - I want you to tell us about them.
My 'magnificent parents' as you refer to them are indeed magnificent, to say the least. I come from crossroads of Mediterranean blood - both European and Arabic. Both artists, my father an oil painter and classical musician, caligrapher, and highly skilled reader was the disciplinary and respectful figure teaching me art and seeing (not looking) through my eyes. That intensity of passion combined with delicate feelings and filled with humanity and generosity. Then there’s my mother, from a family of fashion designers that had an atelier creating for the best boutiques and brands in her time, but her qualities don’t stop there. She is a person who believes in life, living with happiness and smiles cultured with home and family balance that most people can never juggle, yet she mastered them all with love and compassion, she taught me to do only what I love and nothing else.
Tell us about your childhood years. Were you the naughty, independent child, or the one who would crack a joke that everybody loves?
I was the shy, quiet, observing child that never got in trouble, always observing, listening, smelling, and hugging. At 21 I broke the silence and became the most public person, fearless, experiencing fashion, stage, easily dancing, modelling, radio interviews, designing, traveling all around the world meeting the most exciting characters, famous individuals, intellects, all walks of life, compiled in an array of colours more than contained in a rainbow - more like a Pantone colour chart and perhaps with more. So, I went from a silent to a worldly socialite.
Let’s approach another side of you. You have recently become an author with your new book - I want you to tell us about the book. Can you tel us about the story?
"My Boyfriend Is Artsy, I am The Fashionista“ is my book that I take great pride in announcing the worldwide distribution and positive reactions of this hard-cover table book that I have written about subjects I that have mastered through expert experience in my field. The book features some of the world-renowned artists and designers based on collaboration and based on PASSION. Art of all forms is passion and my work and my writing derives from my passion for my art appreciating all artists in the world: a fictional love story in part one; exclusive interviews part 2; and a great sculpture created only for the book and Garnetti titled “Fashionista". Some of the names mentioned in my book are Elsa Schiaparelli, Givenchy, Iris Van Herpen, Shepard Fairy and Benjamin Shine.
My aim is to lecture further and inspire new artists and their variations of choice for more generations to come. Sold in over 40 bookstores and galleries internationally, you can order your signed copy directly by submitting it to my email.
Are you thinking of getting into writing, with more books to be released?
Already started…absolutely. More surprises to come….
What would you say about today's society when living in different countries and having yourself exposed to different cultures and mentalities?
I would say we need more HUMANITY and more KINDNESS.
What’s family for you?
EVERYTHING. Like the charger, the battery and the device. The core, the root, everything and every reason.
What’s friendship for you?
Friends are those who enter my home, my sanctuary, my being in totality that become family to me.
Would you change the things you have done in your life?
Maybe I would like to be able to swim better, and understand the universe as a whole as I love water and I love clouds, they are always my inspiration.
If you had the power to change the world what would you change?
No more poverty. No more wars. No more crime. No more discrimination. A healthy-hearted community that sustains mother nature, animals, and humans alike.
What are some of your hobbies?
Sketching, photography, and cooking. I am great in the kitchen, my favorite stress relief.
Your wish for the future.
God's blessings.