Mina Mazzini… her name evokes deep nostalgia for me. As a child, I was mesmerised by her presence and would constantly sketch her face: those sad panda eyes, her sharp aquiline nose, and her signature lack of eyebrows, which intensified her expression. There was a mystery in her appearance, an otherworldly glamour that felt larger than life. Even before I fully understood who she was, Mina’s voice and presence on black-and-white television shaped my early love for fashion and art.
Mina’s music became an emotional thread in my life from a young age. Her voice had a raw vulnerability that drew me in, making me experience adult emotions long before I could grasp them.
Later, I realised how revolutionary Mina was for Italian culture. She defied societal norms, notably when she had a child out of wedlock with a married man, causing a national scandal. Yet she never apologised. She was one of the first to embrace and introduce the miniskirt in Italy, fearlessly breaking the mould in a deeply conservative country. Her courage to break away from tradition and follow her own path inspired me greatly. She did not just follow trends; she set them—a boldness that continues to influence my work as a designer.
One iconic moment in her career was her decision to step away from the public eye in the late 1970s. At the height of her fame, exhausted by the relentless paparazzi and the toxicity of fame, she chose to retire from television and public appearances. I remember watching reruns of her performances and later videos on YouTube, feeling a deep sense of awe. In that choice, Mina became something more than just a celebrity… she became immortal. Her image, frozen in time, remains forever young, never ageing or fading, yet alive through her music, which she continues to produce today.
Her face, immortalised in portraits by her friend and artist Mauro Balletti, has been a lifelong source of fascination for me. Balletti’s work captured her timeless appeal, keeping her image rooted in the iconic ’60s and ’70s while subtly updating it through the decades. Mina adopted a striking look—a kind of drag-queen-esque glamour that added to her mystique. With dramatic eyeliner and a bold bare forehead, she played with gender roles and aesthetics long before they became mainstream. As Balletti described her, she was “a face designed to be drawn,” and I could never stop sketching her. I would sit in class, pencil in hand, drawing her face again and again. Her sharp features and bold choices made her a perfect muse for my artistic mind.
Even today, as I create designs for Mertl Valente, I return to those early memories of sketching her face. The same obsession with her magic still lives in my work. In the illustrations I create, you will often find hints of Mina: her eyes, her nose, that unmistakable face. Mina taught me that true glamour is about more than just beauty—it is about authenticity, strength, and individuality. Through my work, I aim to capture that same blend of nostalgia and modernity, of personal expression and timeless style.
Giorgio Valente.
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