Simone Cecchetto

Simone Cecchetto is a Rome-based footwear and fashion designer whose practice centres on leather, construction and material development. After studies in art history, he entered the Carpe Diem environment and worked there from 2003 to 2005 on footwear, leather and denim. During the same period he also worked on footwear and leather for Rick Owens, gaining production experience before turning to an independent practice built outside conventional shoemaking training.

Cecchetto founded Augusta in 2006 and presented its first small collection in Paris that year. The label initially concentrated on footwear, then expanded into bags and garments before continuing from 2010 under the name A Diciannoveventitre, commonly abbreviated A1923. His 2023 curriculum vitae identifies him as Creative Director of the label, responsible for footwear and men’s ready-to-wear, leather and fabric development, technical design, patterns, atelier coordination, raw-material sourcing, production and liaison with Italian factories.

Alongside A1923, Cecchetto’s 2023 professional record lists him as Design Director Footwear at Ann Demeulemeester from 2022, covering men’s and women’s footwear and leather selection; the supplied research confirms that role through December 2023 but does not establish whether the appointment remained formally current in August 2026. A1923 itself is clearly active in 2026, with its Rome atelier, current collections and Cecchetto’s authorship corroborated by the official brand and the University of Bologna. The supplied research does not establish his birth year, birth city or birth country, so those biographical fields remain unfilled.

Cecchetto approaches footwear as a material and sculptural problem rather than as an exercise in established luxury codes. His art-history background led to an interest in the body and animal skin, while his lack of conventional cobbler training encouraged an experimental use of traditional construction. Early independent work moved from basic Blake stitching into hand-built soles, layered leather heels and other methods adapted to hides whose density or finish resisted standard production.

Leather selection and treatment remain central to the work. Historical interviews document direct experimentation with tanning, oils and raw hides; his later professional record shows that the contemporary practice also involves seasonal development with tanneries and Italian factories. Horse, kangaroo and related leathers are valued for the way surface, stiffness and colour change with use, while hand painting, vegetable tanning and visible irregularity allow the material to retain a sense of time rather than arriving as a chemically uniform surface.

A1923’s current structure separates authorship from the romantic idea of solitary manufacture. Cecchetto once described producing very large portions of the footwear himself, but contemporary evidence shows an atelier-led network in which he directs design, patterns, materials, finishing and production while working with external Italian factories and artisans. The same discipline carries into men’s ready-to-wear: garments are treated as extensions of material research, while the seasonal wholesale calendar coexists with recurring numbered footwear forms that are refined across successive deliveries.