Ilaria Nistri presented her first collection in 2006 in Paris. After a long collaboration with her family's company producing fabrics, it seemed the most natural thing to do. "I wanted to unite this knowledge [of fabric treatments and finishings] with the passion I have always had for clothing," Milan-based Nistri tells Dazed Digital of her label, which unites the two. We caught up with the designer to learn more about her eponymous collection for Autumn/Winter 12.

This collection is rich in colour and material. The structures, fabrics and colours, design the strong scenes of the unconventional world of this imaginary woman; the light of certain Icelandic landscapes, the thick steam of geysers, the browned earth as soon as the ice melts at the beginning of spring

Dazed Digital: Why do you love fashion?
Ilaria Nistri: For me fashion is something that has to do with the old, heritage, memories and emotions. A way of expressing an emotion, for others, but first of all for yourself.

DD: Your work proposes unconventional shapes. When did you begin tailoring clothes in this way?
Ilaria Nistri: I've always worked with them. These shapes with which I love to work, get life from the fragility of the woman I have in mind. A strong woman, almost warrior like, who in reality appears strong while protecting her fragility. Strength and fragility are opposites which I believe makes a women sensual, surprising and mysterious.

DD: How has nature influenced your A/W12 collection?
Ilaria Nistri: This collection is rich in colour and material. The structures, fabrics and colours, design the strong scenes of the unconventional world of this imaginary woman; the light of certain Icelandic landscapes, the thick steam of geysers, the browned earth as soon as the ice melts at the beginning of spring. It is natures force and its harmony which brings continuity into this collection. A universe border lining the reality and extremely refined in its poetic tensions.

DD: What's the most exciting thing about being a fashion designer?
Ilaria Nistri: One of the nicest things is when you see your work which has kind of ‘survived’, meaning that it doesn’t stop at the closing of a sales campaign or a launch of production, but actually comes to life only then when it belongs to someone else. When these items become part of someone else’s life. I hope they give emotion as they have given me in creating them.