Photo Credit: Lello Ammirati
Prince Nereides Antonio Giamundo de Bourbon is a well-known public figure, the founder of the Parisian high fashion house “Nereides”, a poet, journalist, patron of creativity and a member of the royal family of the French House De Bourbon.
The Nikolai Gogol award is very honorable and widely known in the world, it has been awarded by many outstanding people from 50 countries since 1998. Now the President of the International Literary and Art Academy of Ukraine Serhiy Dziuba (who unites famous writers, scientists, translators, artists, journalists, state and public figures from 70 countries and is the founder of the Ukrainian Prize named after M. Gogol) received gratitude from His Highness, Prince Nereides de Bourbon.
FMM: Your Highness, you are known for your Parisian high fashion house “Nereides de Bourbon.” Tell us about fashion in 2022.
I founded ‘Nereides de Bourbon’ luxury house in 2007 which is one of the 18 divisions belonging to the Parisian conglomerate NDB GROUP (Nereides de Bourbon Group) specialized in financial services and investment, luxury goods, entertainment, recruitment, education, marketing, and communication. The foundation of Nereides de Bourbon brand is strictly linked to my dualistic nature, creative and pragmatic at the same time. Being a cultural diplomat but also an entrepreneur and an artist, creativity has always played a main role in my activities. I grew up surrounded by beauty, and even despite my legal and financial background, art and fashion have always been dominant elements in my personal and professional path to this day. I can express my inner creativity with the creation of exclusive haute couture collections, bespoke jewels and sophisticated objects. I also developed an innovative high rejuvenating skincare line and I am currently working on a parfum fragrance. Meanwhile, I have always been fascinated by the social aspects of fashion. Fashion results from an individual vision but it is also the most externalized expression of a generation. Above all, fashion is a cultural medium, a powerful language, an expressive and a potent means of social affirmation. Fashion is capable of signifying one’s culture, moral standards, economic status, and social power. For centuries, fashion has been a powerful tool to negotiate and structure social relations as well as to enforce class differences. Fashion is a form of imitation and so of social equalization, but, paradoxically, in changing incessantly, it differentiates one time from another and one social stratum from another. It unites those of a social class and segregates them from others. The elite initiates fashion and, when the mass imitates it in an effort to obliterate the external distinctions of class, abandons it for a newer mode. However, living in a more diversified democratic civilization and a global capitalism era such as in 2022, inter-and intra-class mobility is not only socially acceptable but encouraged. Today people do not develop a singular class-consciousness or distinct class culture. Instead, they make an effort to achieve self representation and vie for the acceptance of their chosen peer group. The progress of technology has also helped provide access to comparable and often identical status symbols to people of different class backgrounds across the globe. At the same time, however, the dominant social classes tend to possess not only wealth but “cultural capital” as well. In matters of fashion, this capital manifests itself in the possession of refined taste and sensibilities that are passed down from generation to generation. Fashion plays a major role in our society and affects the social aspects of our life. It also facilitates social change by providing a transitional stage from one custom to another. It tends to modify the rigidity of custom and the belief in its importance. It prepares the mind for a change so that people may not feel scared on switching cultural norms. As fashion creator, I not only create beautiful objects, but I also personally contribute to cultural and social progress.
FMM: How have you preserved a culture dialogue with European countries during this time of war and unrest in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is not the only crisis in which I have been directly or indirectly involved in the management of international relations but it certainly represents another humanitarian tragedy and a notable defeat in terms of civilization and international cooperation. War creates political, economic and social disorder. In particular, the Russian-Ukrainian war reshapes the global geopolitical map once again. If on the one hand the Atlantic Alliance doesn’t encourage the Eurasian strategy, and on the other hand Russia tries to reaffirm its sovereignty and overturns the boundaries of mutual tolerance with violence, European countries seems to evaluate a new political, military and economic ‘strategic autonomy’. Europe needs to federate more and faster. Ukraine is a modern Trojan horse that shatters our beliefs on both sides while thousands of civilians are sacrificed in the name of both causes. In this insane war, I cannot accuse either defend, I can simply stand up for peace and freedom. The dialogue with the various institutions as well as with the private sector cannot and must not be interrupted due to a war, but rather, it must be intensified. Cultural mediation is the only way to resolve conflicts. Clearly, there are many critical issues that occur in a war regime: security plans, political restrictions, economic sanctions, but common sense must prevail. Where politics struggles to resolve a conflict, cultural diplomacy must raise awareness and encourage a sense of solidarity and togetherness. Despite the ongoing difficulties and restrictions underway, I am keeping alive the dialogue with all the parties directly or indirectly involved in this crisis, and I am pursuing an intense diplomatic cooperation with Eurasian countries. We cannot compromise or subjugate our values to this war, either interrupt any previous relationship with international partners and fall into the trap that has been set for us. The pursuit of peace and prosperity are a public affair and everyone’s responsibility. Dialogue and mediation must not only affect the political spheres but also the cultural and economic ones. Living in a regime of democracy, everyone shares same rights but also duties. International cooperation is above all a duty. Certainly, the world leaders hold considerable political power, but we are the ones who legitimize them and who can make a change. It’s time to wake up and act for collective utility.
FMM: You are this year’s winner of the International Literary Award named after Nikolai Gogol “Triumph” in Ukraine. Tell us about your work and what does this honor mean to you?
I am very grateful to be the recipient of the Nikolai Gogol 2022 award. It means a lot to me, both professionally and personally. I feel overwhelmed to be awarded for my diplomatic, philanthropic, and cultural commitment by a government under siege. If on the one hand it crowns my personal achievements, on the other it testifies to Ukraine’s commitment to keeping the flame of hope and dialogue alive. Culture does not have to die even under attack! It is the foundation of civilization, of progress, and of historical memory. The salvation of human lives and culture go hand in hand. I am fighting for immigrants’ rights at a European level since I personally experienced a significant political resistance from a few countries and the existence of some extremely complex and unclear immigration flow policies. One of the countries where I am working the most is certainly Italy, the Mediterranean gateway to Europe, where the annual flow decree made by Prime Minister has turned out to be an amnesty rather than a real vehicle for access to legal immigration. When it comes to immigration, whether it is political or labour immigration, our certainties collapse. Since last year, I have developed a project that redefines the standard to which immigration refers. The project, named NDB OPERA (Nereides de Bourbon Opera), has been raising a lot of support especially from the third sector, that of personal services, but we are still working hard to guarantee the equal access of immigrants to Europe and to create an integration plan for them in the destination countries. I am currently deploying many efforts in Europe where I have created a business network together with strategical partners for the provision of housing, linguistic and professional trainings, job opportunities, health care assistance, and integration services for people with concern from different countries and backgrounds, including Ukrainians. Since the beginning of the war, I have been personally contributing to the diplomatic dialogue between Ukrainian and Russian leading players with European Union’s states members. I also provided support to a few crisis units, GOs and NGOs involved in transports and logistics. Last but not least, I am also working on a project aimed to secure Ukrainian cultural and artistic heritage, books and mobile works of art, those in churches or civil buildings, an economic heritage, as well as a memory one. The Nikolai Gogol award represents for me a recognition but also a responsibility that I have welcomed with great pleasure. For years, I have worked hard to defend human rights, freedom of expression, and protection of the arts, and I cannot redeem myself in such difficult times for a country so close to us.
FMM: How important are the arts in the time of crisis?
The arts play an essential role in cultural diplomacy strategies and conflicts resolution. Not only hard power in relations between states is crucial, but also culture. Although the concept of cultural diplomacy is not new and its centrality within the complex international dynamics met its maximum expression during the Cold War, today the role of culture and art is increasingly investigated and reaffirmed, by academics and politicians, as a fundamental tool of soft power. The concept of cultural diplomacy finds indeed multiple interpretations, as well as applications. The reason is linked to the complexity of culture including values, beliefs, habits, legal systems, artistic expressions and any other manifestation such as to define the identity of a specific group. The arts are a vehicle to communicate, reproduce, experience and explore a social order. In politics, since culture is not considered only in terms of the mere production and transmission of symbolic objects, it presupposes an instrumental value and use intrinsically connected with the exercise of power. In diplomacy, the culture is eminently an instrument of international relations, which can be exercised both bilaterally and multilaterally, such as to affect the impact of a state on the world scene, allowing in fact the affirmation of its identity and influence, as well as the creation of international relationships. The exercise of cultural diplomacy necessarily falls into the category of soft power as the ability to obtain something through attraction rather than resorting to coercion: it arises from the attraction of culture, of political values, of a country’s ideals and policies. Therefore, cultural diplomacy consists in the exercise of a governmental activity aimed at projecting a favorable image of one’s country in the rest of the world through the internationalization of its cultural life including arts, thus allowing the development of alliances and exercise of its influence. Culture and art can provide the means and tools for finding common ground, to overcome hurdles, and to improve communication.
FMM: What is your message to the Ukrainian people through poetry?
Literature and poetry are perhaps one of most strenuous forms of resistance to inhumanity. Once Nikolai Gogol stated: “The current generation now sees everything clearly, it marvels at the errors, it laughs at the folly of its ancestors, not seeing that this chronicle is all overscored by divine fire, that every letter of it cries out, that from everywhere the piercing finger is pointed at it, at this current generation; but the current generation laughs and presumptuously, proudly begins a series of new errors, at which their descendants will also laugh afterwards”. May a popular sentiment be stronger than a thousand inhuman tactics.
FMM: Tell us about Nereides Club – International Cultural Diplomacy Corporation.
I founded a club entirely dedicated to international diplomacy that brings together some of the brightest minds from political, cultural, philosophical, economic and scientific fields. The club’s purpose is to bring concrete solutions through global social impact initiatives. We operate independently while relying on the support of governments and international organizations. The club works closely with the NEREIDES DE BOURBON FOUNDATION and the NEREIDES DE BOURBON GROUP to which it belongs. Among the objectives achieved by the club I can mention its commitment to create a new standard for labour immigration and its significant contribution to the resolution of middlemen illegal activities; the implementation of the Euro-Asian alliance strategy through an historical partnership between the NEREIDES DE BOURBON GROUP and the China Silk Road Group, the main Chinese conglomerate endorsed by its local government; and the development of new political, cultural and economic synergies between Europe and Africa. As last initiative, I signed a strategical partnership with LutinX, a Swiss American company, for the acquisition of a blockchain license aimed to developing educational programs, monitoring immigration flows, and securing business and personal data protection.
FMM: Share your vision for 2022.
It is time for resilience! We live in a transitional period of political, cultural, social, and economic changes where our beliefs, norms, and priorities are waving. Peace, equality and environmental protection are at the core values of international political debates and the common objectives of global governments as well as of the United Nations’ combat. However, I have many doubts about it. We are victims of a complex system that we created on our own in which money compromises with peace. Everyone’s prosperity can’t be realized unless we will strive towards the achievement of collective well-fare. I foresee a period of political, economic and social crisis. Nations are facing a historical change and must choose whether to defend national interest or to adopt a solidarity policy. Furthermore, the world is splitting into blocs, both politically and economically, rather than favoring a safe, prosperous, and peaceful environment. It is time to raise our voices and to fight for our preservation. We have to fight for ethics and overcome selfishness with common sense. Mr. Henry Ford once said: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
