A week ago, Gabriele Semeraro was a designer working largely behind the scenes. Now, after making a dress for a friend as a favor, he is in the fashion spotlight.
On Sunday, Miyako Bellizzi, a costume designer, wore a ruby satin gown designed by Mr. Semeraro to the Governors Awards. The ceremony, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is seen by some as a kickoff to awards season and its many red carpets.
The gown landed Ms. Bellizzi on best-dressed lists published by Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia and Vogue Hong Kong. Within hours of her wearing it on the red carpet, Mr. Semeraro said, he was fielding requests from stylists asking to borrow the dress.
Ms. Bellizzi, who has costumed films including “Uncut Gems,” “The History of Sound” and the upcoming “Marty Supreme,” approached Mr. Semeraro before the event about helping her find something to wear, he said. (A representative for Ms. Bellizzi did not immediately make her available for comment.)
Mr. Semeraro, 33, the head of tailoring and outerwear for women’s ready-to-wear at Givenchy, and an alumnus of Versace, Lanvin and Proenza Schouler, said he and Ms. Bellizzi looked for vintage options and through brands’ archives, but still struggled to find something that she liked. They also reached out to some representatives for brands, he added, but “nobody was helping.”
So they got creative.
“I was, like, ‘Let’s go back to my place, let’s sketch it, let’s do it together,” Mr. Semeraro recalled. “We had four days.”
Aspiring to make an uncomplicated ensemble that evoked old Hollywood glamour and the designs of Madame Grès, the French couturier known for her drapery, Mr. Semeraro created a sleeveless gown with a thigh-high slit. Its construction showed flashes of Ms. Bellizzi’s body and, Mr. Semeraro said, allowed her to move easily.
He added that the pressure put on designers to create memorable red carpet moments can result in garments “that become so complicated, and everything looks so stiff.”
At a time when award shows are increasingly filled with stars dressed in thematic attire that borders on costumery, or in clothes that they are under contract to wear, the positive responses to Mr. Semeraro’s designs were an affirmation. They reminded him that one need not be a household name or wear a major label to get noticed.
Despite the attention, Mr. Semeraro said he doesn’t see himself jockeying for a top job as a creative director at a major label. “I really enjoy translating a creative directors’ design voice,” he said, adding that he has no plans to start a label of his own.
But that attitude may evolve.
“Who knows, maybe in the future, I will change my mind,” Mr. Semeraro said.
Yola Mzizi is a reporter for the Styles section and a member of the 2025-2026 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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