By Dylan Dias
Pull quote: “We talk about abundance and bringing positivity into your life, but it’s not about abundance of money – it’s abundance of love, it’s abundance of soul.”
Great style and great fashion can mean different things to different people. And in a climate of hyper-saturation and digital overload, finding what that means to you, as an individual, can be complex. Maybe it’s the silhouette of a piece, the weight of the fabric, or the place it comes from. Maybe it’s the legacy of a designer, the way it layers with your favourite denim, or the colour in the light. These can all be true, though at its core, great style finds its place through its wearer – the person you are, the person you choose to be, and the person you are becoming. While sitting for coffee and pastries with visionary entrepreneur and designer Anne Morrone, one-half of the talented team behind Buona Fortuna (stylized as BVONA FORTVNA), we reminisced on the relationship between style and story – both hers and the people who have adorned her luxuriant accessories to tell their own.
“[Our bags] are about carrying a story, carrying meaning.”
As first generation Italian-Canadians, Anne, alongside her business partner and friend Sonia Cavalieri D’oro, created BVONA FORTVNA – a vibrant and plush line of polished handbags and jeweled accessories rooted in the charms, tokens, and talismans of their heritage. Meaning “good luck” in Italian, BVONA FORTVNA’s spirit is inherently interwoven with auspicious symbology meant to ward off negativity, encourage abundance, and protect the love in our lives.
“We talk about abundance and bringing positivity into your life, but it’s not about abundance of money – it’s abundance of love, it’s abundance of soul. What do you need in your life that you are looking for?”
For Anne, the design of these pieces reflect both the elegance and craftsmanship of high fashion as well as a reverence for tradition, her family, and stories from her childhood, past artistry, and love of fashion. Growing up, she would enchant herself watching vintage, golden-era films with her mother on Sunday mornings. And, as an opera singer with a master’s from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Anne’s relationship with art and style continued to steep in classic, opulent beauty.
“When we were kids, we waited for Vogue every month.”
As she herself took shape, so too did her sense of design – leading, eventually, to the bags of BVONA FORTVNA. Il Piccolo – an everyday, boxed crossbody that can swing around the shoulder in a shining, gold linked chain or held under a wrist strap. And Il Lungo – an oversized, sleek clutch inspired by timeless starlets of the fifties, the likes of Sophia Loren, and sophisticated, feminine glamour. As well as their slick Portacarte – a matching, four-slot card holder as a partner to their iconic bags. Each clad in glossy patent vegan leather and lined in vegan suede in monochromic, dazzling colourways – sustainable, sublime, and meticulously handcrafted in Italy.
“The inside has to be as beautiful as the outside.”
As in fashion, as in heart. Alongside their golden charms, clasped effortlessly onto any bag of any colour and easily interchangeable, bridge personalities of style both chic and demure to colourful and contemporary. Bold, vivacious, distinctive, and unique.
“It’s individuality. It’s saying – this is what I feel like today and this is what is meaningful to me. It would be nice if we all started our day with that little bit of gratitude [and honesty].”
It is the charms themselves that are the heart of BVONA FORTVNA’s story – gleaming jewelry inspired by treasured imagery and small nuances of superstition and beauty from generations of culture. It is this heritage that anchors the soul of the brand’s visual language – something Anne attributes to the roots of her parents and grandparents in southern Italy.
“When our parents and grandparents came to [Canada], everything was new to them. But they were able to [settle] within little towns and little areas where they could still grow their culture. That is the beauty of Canada. These [charms] are pieces of jewelry that I designed from our old talismans that we walked around with and wore as kids. We had no idea, but our parents put them on us for that sense of protection.”
As spellbinding as the charms themselves, whimsical little oracle cards, designed by the artist who helped create BVONA FORTVNA’s logo, express each talisman’s symbolic lore. Like the mano cornuta, an ancient horned-hand gesture that is meant to cancel bad fortune and protect beauty. Or the wolf-shaped in bocca al lupo or “in the mouth of the wolf” – a wish of luck before a challenging circumstance.
“Being in the opera world, you would say ‘in bocca al lupo’ before you got on stage, and you would say afterwards ‘crepi il lupo’ which means ‘kill the wolf.’”
Stunning pieces that reference religious imagery and esoteric numerology are prominent here, as well. The Sacro Cuore or “Sacred Heart” – a powerful and historic symbol of Catholicism. As well as the number 13 itself, which holds auspicious significance in many cultures – the feast of St. Anthony or the lunar cycle of thirteen moons, for example. In a way, the ornaments are totems – deeply-rooted emblems of culture, devotion, prosperity, and protection against malocchio(the evil eye) meant to encourage health, wellness, positivity, and fortune. There is quiet luxury, and there is luxury with meaning – BVONA FORTVNA has a voice.
“The snake is my favourite charm. We used to wear these little snake rings; they used to wrap around our pinkies. It has a lot of meaning for me particularly. If you treat the snake well, it will bring you luck.”
When beautiful design meets both style and story – it is rarely matched. There is an essence here, a dialogue between character and craft, that doesn’t only create a fantastic product – it creates purpose. It becomes more than just the reason for wearing something, it becomes the reason for being something. Loud, quiet, brash, pensive, modern, or classic – the possibilities, like the combinations of BVONA FORTVNA’s bags themselves – are endless.
Meeting Anne was a reminder that the greatest power fashion can provide us is the ability to be who we are, in whatever shape, form, or colour that may be. Though it doesn’t hurt to have a little luck on your side along the way.
In bocca al lupo — crepi! – VV
Photography supplied by Buona Fortuna
