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"           Italian propriety meets London mod in looks from the designer&amp;#039;s debut collection. In La Ragazza con la Pistola (&amp;quot;The Girl With the Pistol&amp;quot;), the Mario Monicelli comedy that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968, a young woman living in a provincial Sicilian town succumbs to the sexual advances of a man who kidnaps her. But when, to the surprise of the audience, the timid girl&amp;#039;s sexual appetites grow insatiable, the man flees to Britain, prompting the heroine&amp;#039;s grandmother to hand her a pistol with the order to go after the man who &amp;quot;dishonored&amp;quot; her.          &amp;quot;She has to go to London and kill the guy!&amp;quot; says designer Sofia Sizzi, who was inspired by the film for the debut collection of her line, Giulietta. &amp;quot;In Italy in the &amp;#039;60s, there were women who wore all black, and there was this sense of purity, that women had to be, you know, immaculate.&amp;quot; But in &amp;#039;60s London, that girl stumbles into the swinging nightlife, gets a fashion makeover, and transforms into a modern, sexually liberated woman. The procession of looks in Sizzi&amp;#039;s fall show tells a similar narrative, progressing from the monastic, precision-tailored, black-and-white bishop-sleeved dresses\u2014if Miuccia Prada joined the convent, this might be her take on the habit\u2014to the more stylized, &amp;#039;60s-inspired silhouettes: white pantsuits with flared legs; turtleneck capes; and bell-shape mod dresses. With the only print being a cheeky take on a baroque cathedral ceiling, the collection is not overly embellished; rather, it uses stiff, old-world fabrics (wool crepe, silk, and cashmere) in fits that feel intelligent and new. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a little bit like my story: I love the Italian tradition,&amp;quot; says Sizzi, 33, who grew up in Florence and moved to New York 10 years ago to work. &amp;quot;But at the same time, I was formed a lot creatively by New York and a more modern sexuality, so I wanted to have this contrast.&amp;quot; Sizzi started her design career at 19, at Gucci. The company had sponsored a shoe design contest at her school, the Centro di Formazione Professionale, and Sizzi beat out her 25 classmates with a pair of stilettos for the prize of an internship at the famed Italian brand. (&amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t think I would like them now,&amp;quot; she says of the shoes. &amp;quot;This was the &amp;#039;90s, so they were very pointy and sassy.&amp;quot;) The internship led to Sizzi&amp;#039;s two-year stint at the house as a shoe designer; later, after moving to New York, she continued with accessories design at Donna Karan and Calvin Klein, respectively, until deciding to cofound a ready-to-wear line last fall with her friend Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, the former artistic director of Art Basel.  &amp;quot;I felt confident enough to try,&amp;quot; says Sizzi, who designed vegan shoes for her collection, &amp;quot;but I promised myself that if it wasn&amp;#039;t working, I wouldn&amp;#039;t continue.&amp;quot; Fortunately, the label was picked up by Barneys and Net-a-Porter, whose buyers immediately responded to the dichotomous femininity of Sizzi&amp;#039;s designs\u2014true to her inspiration, they suggest a pistol in the garter and rosary beads under the pillow. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a way for women to transform into a different character,&amp;quot; the designer says.  The name of Sizzi&amp;#039;s collection, Giuli\u00ADetta, is an Italian nickname for a young girl, and a reference to Federico Fellini&amp;#039;s Giulietta degli Spiriti, a surrealist picture that follows a housewife&amp;#039;s sexual awakening. And the final look in Sizzi&amp;#039;s show\u2014a cardinal-red silk chiffon dress\u2014is a nod to an important scene in the film. &amp;quot;It comes at the end, when she embraces her sexuality,&amp;quot; Sizzi says. At least she&amp;#039;s consistent.  Photos: courtesy of Sofia Sizzi  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/a12324/sofia-sizzi/>