As an artist sometimes inspiration hits you in unexpected ways. For Italian show attire designer Anna Omodeo it’s her favorite songs that inspire her beautiful creations.

Born and raised in Northwestern Italy, 33-year-old Omodeo studied design and architecture at the University in Venice where she worked as an assistant teacher for a couple of years. She always had a passion for horses and when she moved to Venice for school she purchased a new horse with which she began to show internationally.

“I always loved horses and I started riding as a child at the ranch next to my family’s house. I got my first Quarter Horse in 1993 and I started showing him throughout Italy in All Around classes,” Omodeo says. “My favorite classes have always been Western Pleasure and Showmanship and in 1997 I got my first Western Pleasure horse and had great results in youth classes.”

Omodeo began making outfits for herself after realizing the quality of show clothing available in Europe was not comparable to what she used to see in the United States. She quickly discovered that making show outfits in Italy was a real pleasure since there she can find the best quality materials and collaborate with world famous design schools and the best tailors.

With her motto “Every piece is a unique story” in mind, Omodeo decided taking her designs overseas was the next natural step.

“I really need to thank Erin Gayer and Lindsey James from Showgirls Apparel,” Omodeo says. “They believe in my work and presented it at the large shows in the United States.”

Omodeo says when she begins working with a customer and her trainer, she asks them to tell her a story. This story is usually made up of technical elements like how she rides, what she rides, what she wants to achieve, in addition to personal elements such as who she is, what’s her background, what she wants to tell to the people watching her performance. The two things she likes best of her work are this initial part, where the project starts, and the day when she closes the box, ships it overseas and awaits the feedback.

“Before deciding the design I try to match a song with my customer,” Omodeo explains. “Once the match is done the design comes accordingly. This is why each of my outfits takes its name from a song.”

This unique approach has worked wonders for Omodeo’s designs and La Collezione di Anna is quickly becoming one of the biggest names in show jacket design. One of her latest works is called ‘Over the Rainbow’ from the Wizard of Oz soundtrack, originally sung by Judy Garland.
 The jacket was designed for Switzerland’s Tanja Horak, a  top European rider.

“The decision to match this song with Horak came at once because Horak is a shiny and generous person,” Omodeo says. “ She works with children and is able to be easily moved by the small things of life.
 Also, Horak loves horses and respects them. Her love for horses goes further than the competitions, she considers them as part of her life.”

She describes the creation as she does the song as fluid colored with warm tones but never too glowing.

“It matches perfectly with Tanja’s blond hair and her horse, Ive Got Reservations,” the designer says.

But one of the nicest aspeects of her work is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, and sometimes that leads to new friendships.
 A couple of months ago she received a message from a girl asking for information about a jacket she had for sale.

“I discouraged her from buying that design because it didn’t look to me like the best match for her and I proposed to start working on a custom design for her,” Omodeo says. “It came out this girl is has a volcano of a personality. She is a very positive, novice rider that tries hard to improve and compete with the best riders.
”

“Miss Atomic Bomb,” a recent song by one of Omodeo’s favorite groups, The Killers, was of course the perfect match. Just a couple of months have passed and now Lisa Jones, of Gig Harbor, Washington, is a proud owner of that jacket, a coordinated Horsemanship shirt and a vest.

“We became good friends, and I’m looking forward to meet her in my next trip to the States,” she says.

Omodeo and her husband, Andrea Momesso, have two daughters, Aurora and Alice and in 2011 she opened her studio in Oderzo, Italy.

There are some great advantages to working in Italy.

“The main benefit is the possibility to find the best materials: leather from Florence, laces and high quality fabrics from Milan,” Omodeo says. “I also have the best team possible, each of my collaborators has a strong background in the fashion industry.”

But her work is not all “trees of green and red roses,’’ as the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow lyrics go.

“There are some serious challenges to working from Europe and marketing in the United States,” Omodeo explains. “There is no room for mistakes with the costs of workers being much higher in Europe and the taxation is twice as much as in the United States.”

And she pays close attention to the trends in the show arena.

The popularity of the vest returned in 2013. With its ease of wear, especially in the summer season, we were seeing the shirt and vest combination everywhere from weekend shows to some of the biggest futurities across the country.

Omodeo says its important that the shirt under the vest have a perfect shape to wow in the pen. She still believes the jacket is a ‘must have’ at bigger events. She also says warm and natural colors are trending now and she would like to incorporate these as well as a lot of symmetry in her next designs.

For additional information about La Collezione di Anna or to contact Omodeo to get started on your next piece of artwork for the show pen you can contact her online at www.lacollezionnedianna.com.

You can also check out her Facebook page – La Collezione di Anna.