Discovering the great splendors of Venetian fashion with Antonia Sautter

Venetian designer Antonia Sautter takes us on a journey to discover the ancient splendors of the Serenissima through her creations

After studying foreign languages and literatures at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Antonia Sautter moved to New York at a very young age, where she began working in the fashion industry.

Fascinated by the history of her city—a place of exchange and avant-garde, a hub of creativity representing artisanal haute couture worldwide—she returned to Venice and founded the Atelier Antonia Sautter Creations & Events.

Here, Antonia chooses to give voice to people’s imagination, following in the footsteps of her mother, a seamstress, who allowed her to grow up surrounded by creativity and fashion. A world of precious silks, crystals, stones, and references to the most magnificent past of the Serenissima.

Choosing a garment has a playful significance; it is a moment of lightness, fantasy, and imagination. It allows the wearer to project themselves beyond reality, while simultaneously revealing an intimate trait of their personality hidden from most.

On the occasion of the autumn edition of Venice Fashion Week, in collaboration with the Associazione Piazza San Marco, writer Alberto Toso Fei led a cultural walk to discover the history of fashion. The walk concluded at Antonia Sautter’s Atelier.

Here, together with her long-standing collaborators—contemporary witnesses to the long Venetian and Italian artisanal tradition—Antonia creates unique period costumes using traditional techniques. Fabrics are hand-printed according to ancient methods, and every garment is designed and studied down to the smallest detail.

Over the years, the atelier has specialized not only in the creation of sumptuous gowns but also in furnishing fabrics, precious kimonos, bags, and footwear. This dedication upholds the reputation of Made in Italy worldwide. Among the techniques used is one inspired by an ancient Oriental technique brought back into fashion by Fortuny and revisited.

The sartorial art of Venetian fashion designer Antonia Sautter interpreted the frescoed hall of the Ca’ Sagredo hotel with the fashion show QueensEssential – Every woman is a queen in her soul during the 9th edition of Venice Fashion Week. A performance-style runway show featuring a collection of hand-designed and handmade costumes dedicated to queens of history and queens of the imagination: an allegorical journey into the female universe and the ethical promotion of the “Made in Venice” artisanal tailoring that Antonia Sautter represents.

Not just a fashion show, but a true initiative to “give voice to women’s souls,” says the designer, “to strengthen our identity and our role in society.” The designer has always been a promoter of female creativity, as well as the preservation and sustainability of artisanal activities in Italy and in her city of birth, Venice.

In 1994, thanks to a meeting with Terry Jones, a historic member of Monty Python who was in Venice to prepare a BBC historical documentary on the Crusades, the idea was born to create an event capable of evoking the magic and elegance of past eras: Il Ballo del Doge, an artistic event, a social highlight, and an unforgettable experience that brings people together from all over the world.

Antonia Sautter’s Il Ballo del Doge, considered the very essence of the quintessential masquerade ball, is one of the most anticipated events of the Venetian Carnival. Now in its 26th edition, it remains faithful to its original principles: wearing a mask to “feel” better and more deeply through the five senses, rediscovering one’s own instinct.

This year, the ball was held in the fantastic spaces of the Scuola Grande della Misericordia. The theme, Carnival Rhapsody – provocation, redemption, miracle, tells the story of the Venice Carnival through the symbolism of the rhapsody, which in its musical sense represents the freedom to interpret a theme without fixed patterns—a succession of varied ideas and rhythms that allow for the experimentation of improvisation, where everyone is free to narrate the story according to their own creativity and perspective.

An invitation to step out of our comfort zone and the predictability of daily life to don a new identity through costume and mask—perhaps the truest one that everyone keeps in their imaginary world, in their “elsewhere.”

Photos by Claudio Gervasutti @ph_claudiogervasutti, Marco Valmarana @marcovalmarana, Cristian Carla @christian_carla_, Marta Formentello @itsmartaeffe for Venezia da Vivere.