Stella Manente reveals her designer secret and more

Stella Manente is model, presenter, reality actor, and has not finished adding titles to her name just yet.

The 29-year-old veterinarian student started her fashion career in 2009, when she was crowned Miss Italia at the age of 17.

The national event was where her career took flight, and the fashion runway quickly became her passport to the world.

Since then she has modeled for brands such as Sephora, Mercedes, and Davidoff, amongst dozens of other local and international brands.

Her popularity also saw her rise to new platforms, including reality television.

In 2020, she participated as a guest and presenter in “La Pupa e il Secchione”, a reality television game show on Italy’s popular television Canale 5.

On her journey, the 183 centimeter tall beauty has garnered a following of more than 470,000 on Instagram, which she likely acquired with her playful and no-holds-barred personality.

Victor Magazine caught up with Stella while she was at her home in Milan to ask her a few questions and her past and future endeavors.

Salim:

What are some of the strangest things you’ve had to do as a model?

Stella:

Wow. Many things, because when you’re a model, people ask you to do crazy things all the time. Like I remember one day in Thailand, I had to hug tigers. I also swam with elephants and, I don’t remember how much they weighed but I know that if they fall on you can die because they are very heavy and I was swimming with them!

I remember one time. Oh my God. It was for a food advertisement. And uh, I ate about 20 hamburgers in one day because I was acting to eat and every time they said, “action again, action, again,” and I had to eat.

Salim:

That’s amazing, you actually ate 20 full hamburgers? You have a big appetite.

Stella:

Not full hamburgers but I have to say half. So maybe ten, 10 full hamburgers.

Salim:

What are the top five experiences that you’ve had in your career?

Stella:

I think five are not enough, but I will try to tell you five because I had a nice experience in the last 10 years of my career. First of all, I have to say when I was Miss Italy, because it was a really, really big experience. I was also 17 years old, so I was a baby.

After that it was my first fashion show, it was for Cavalli. I was so excited…

(The interview was interrupted by some thrashing sounds in the background from seventh-month old Zuli who joined the conversation)

Salim:

How did you come about naming your dog Zuleikha? It’s a very Arabic name.

Stella:

Yes. I love the Arabic language. I studied Arabic and Zuleikha, I know, means the most beautiful. She is the most beautiful dog in the world. That’s why I called her Zuleikha. I love that name.

Salim:

What are the silliest things that you’ve had to do on reality TV?

Stella:

The silliest things? Interesting question. So first of all, my problem was that I forget about cameras in like three days. The reality show was for one month and after two days I forgot that it was recording everything, 24 hours a day.

So the second thing, I kissed someone. I kissed someone inside the reality program and my boyfriend outside was not very happy about it.

So another thing I have to say is that in reality, I sleep naked. I cannot fall asleep if I’m not naked. And even on the reality show, I slept naked.

Salim:

Rumor has it that you’re starting your own fashion line. What can you tell us about that?

Stella:

I will present my fashion line on June 11. The only thing I can tell you is that I have designed a collection of hats. They are special because they look like pieces of art, but I cannot tell you more because this is a super secret project. Otherwise my press office will kill me. I have never, never, never, ever talked about this in a publication before.

Salim:

Of course you can’t give too much information, but can you tell us what type of hats these are going to be? Is it going to be streetwear or artistic?

Stella:

So no streetwear at all. This is a very luxury brand. And the group that I’m thinking of selling this to is like at polo matches.

They are pieces of art because they are not like Borsalino hats (One of Italy’s oldest luxury hats companies) or normal hats.

It’s a really, really well thought out with major attention put into the details, do you know what I mean? For example, my logo is stitched in real gold, in every hat… Oh my God. I’m telling you too much. I cannot please don’t ask me anything else!

Salim:

I didn’t want to say anything, you know, but I was thinking, yes, yes – want to hear these details.

Stella:

It’s just stmhats.com.

Salim:

With that in mind, what is your next dream? It sounds like you’ve done it all. You’ve done modeling, you’ve done presenting, you have worked as a reality actor and now you’re a fashion designer at only 29. So what’s next?

Stella:

So I have to say that my dream is just to be a happy person. I can become a mom. I can change my life. I can divorce. Anything can happen. But my only dream is to be a happy person.