It’s said that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. And, if you’re a fashion designer, there’s a third: chaos. Chaos that begins right after you take a bow for your latest collection –– because now, you have to start from scratch –– and do it all over again. It’s this allegiance to the industry’s rule book, which dismisses a designer’s creations every six months in favor of something/anything new, that keeps the chaos rolling in as predictably as most collections are rolled out.

On the opposite end of that arc is where you’ll find Mariavittoria Sargentini, the Perugia-based designer behind minimalist’s dream label, Marvielab, deviating from the status quo by following a very different set of rules: her own. First rule: Take your time. Rather than creating 4 separate collections a year (designing both men’s and women’s means two for each), Sargentini channels her energy into producing pieces for 5 distinct categories, which she calls “projects”. Because the projects are kept ongoing rather than seasonal, it allows her work to evolve over time –– rather than a ticking clock. The beauty of such evolution, unhurried, is that it leaves little room to get distracted by the trend du jour – a pitfall even the most authentic designer can fall in to.