Fashion
For Faith Connexion, the purpose is not just to sell clothes; clothes are a vehicle. Creativity is the target of the brand. It has always been a passion for Maria Buccellati.
Updated 12:43 pm EDT, April 20, 2025
Published 10:02 am EDT, April 15, 2025
FEATURING THE STUDENTS FROM MIAMI FASHION INSTITUTE AT MIAMI DADE COLLEGE: Ariana Ishairzay, Edgar Aguilar, Kate Perez, Steven Alvarez
MODEL: Jenny Cruz
MODELing agency: Select Model Management
hair & make-up artist: ruxandra milea-popa
photographer: flávio iryoda
special thanks: oscar lopez, sara torres
Today, Maria Buccellati is the co-owner and CEO of Faith Connexion, a 20-year-old fashion brand founded at the start of the millennium. Paris-based label Faith Connexion prides itself on using the power of collaboration to bring together a brand that fuses fashion, art, and street culture. One of the driving forces behind the resurgence of the brand is Maria.
“I wanted to return to the brand’s core DNA of rockstar glam with an alta-moda take on it. I added my interpretation of Faith and an homage to the Miami nightlife and the ‘It Girls’ who rule the club scene and influence Fashion in the 305.”
The label exudes a pure, unadulterated luxury that combines urban influences with high-octane glamor (think Sunset and Cielo). Maria Buccellati continues to be the first lady of the fashion house and embodies its Faith Connexion culture. One observation is immediately apparent: Maria loves what she does and projects an enthusiasm that is hard to ignore.
What is unique about Faith Connexion’s strategy is its determination to look at the future. Instead of hiding from technology and AI, which many consider the enemy of creativity, Faith Connexion seeks to incorporate technology into fashion.
Maria started our conversation by describing her most crucial relationship, her family.
She is exceptionally proud that her best friend is still Andrea Buccellati, the scion of the famous luxury brand. Maria told us that her marriage was a beautiful storybook tale. Still, it also allowed her to grow as an entrepreneur by participating in running the century-old Italian house. One lesson she learned was that sometimes you have to break the rules to understand better what you want to do and what you have to do to succeed.
Maria is not a dilettante; it is clear that building Faith Connexion has been challenging, and through this hard work, she focuses on understanding her purpose and then fighting for it. Her resilience in the face of the ruthless nature of business, especially in the fashion industry, is truly inspiring. Despite the constant demands for what is next, she pushes forward, a testament to her unwavering determination.
Maria has driven Faith Connexion’s strategy to include Artificial Intelligence and technology. She sees that so much on the planet is changing rapidly with AI, technology, and the new era of divisive politics and culture.
But Maria looks at the upheavals as opportunities and is determined to take advantage of these interesting times. Her vision for the future of fashion, intertwined with technology, is not just innovative but also optimistic, showing the potential for growth and evolution in the industry. The brand was born in 2020, emphasizing t-shirts and caps for Los Angeles and France.
In 2012, Maria met with a group that wanted to relaunch the brand to include more fashion beyond just t-shirts. Ultimately, this group asked her to help with the relaunch of Faith Connexion and become an advisor.
“Inspired by Ruysch’s painting Fruits and Insects, my print explores nature’s fragility and fleeting beauty. Electric teal flowers symbolize vitality, their brilliance enhanced by light and shadow, while browning leaves fade into the dark background. The design reflects how we admire beauty yet overlook its transient nature until it fades.for more of his casual-chic vibes.”
Maria was one of the pioneers of “incubation,” which refers to programs that support and nurture emerging designers and brands, providing resources like workspace, mentorship, and business training to help them develop and grow.
For Faith Connexion, she persuaded Christophe Decarnin, creative director of Balmain, to become the creative director of the revitalized brand. Maria was hands-on with everything from setting up testing labs to direct one-on-one mentoring to the designers. She brought a new freshness and wild enthusiasm to representing the brand.
This initial hard work resulted in a brand relaunch in 2015, with 400 stores participating worldwide. Maria slyly remembers her first meeting with retailers such as Barneys, who said, “Impress me,” and after Maria did so?, The retailers signed on board.
One of Maria’s most notable successes was championing high fashion mixed with edgy streetwear to create a new genre. In the early 2010s, there was no true collaboration between streetwear and haute couture, but her vision was to create a wardrobe for women who wanted to be bold and daring but could still afford the best that luxury had to offer.
“Inspired by the biblical story of Lot’s wife and the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah, this collection examines faith and its promises. The “Triumph de Pomona” print evokes timelessness, while structured corsets symbolize stability, reflecting the strength and commitment of belief—a bold narrative blending spirituality, history, and fashion-forward design.”
Faith Connexion was always structured to be a brand that housed other mini-brands. In that first resurgence, Faith Connexion connected highly trained creatives from designers who focused on jeanswear to others who lovingly created couture dresses. The team pulled designers from the universities and self-educated streetwear designers to develop the soul of Faith Connexion. According to many fashion accounts from that era, Faith Connexion was one of the hottest brands from 2017 until 2019. But then COVID-19 hit.
But before the pandemic, Maria remembers the atmosphere of those vibrant, creative, and heady days. The brand was headquartered in a glorious French “hôtel particular,” with influencers trying on the clothes in the actual design rooms. She created a unique atmosphere that fostered creativity with an unconventional style. Faith Connexion was a place for all sorts of creatives to hang out and ooze with the atmosphere of originality. She even ensured there were locations in the hotel to quietly design, converse, photograph, and even record music.
Maria was enthusiastically living at work in the hotel. Lunch and Dinner barely interrupted her daily tasks, and she remembers the fantastic level of collaboration that resulted in organic and uninhibited designs. Then COVID-19 hit, which resulted in sales and manufacturing being shut down. At the time, Faith Connexion was not online savvy. They thrived on pop-ups in vibrant locations and demos to the retailers.
“Dark Florals redefines my floral aesthetic with a bold, moody palette. Featuring black fabrics accented by red roses and white orchids, the collection balances elegance and drama. It challenges my usual light-toned designs, showcasing a fresh perspective that highlights sophistication and creativity through timeless, fashion-forward pieces.”
However, once Maria acquired the brand in 2020, she was committed to weaving together a more technology-driven approach to fashion design. She was convinced that designers working with AI and technology could jumpstart the brand, rebuild the team, and set off to profitability.
This time around, though, Faith Connexion wanted to start slowly by focusing on design quality and mentoring to avoid costly early mistakes and ensure that the start would be an unmitigated success. Another critical aspect of Faith Connexion would be sustainability, and the new incubated artists and artists who specialized in sustainability were selected to work in the new company.
Although initially it was an enormous challenge, today Faith Connexion manages with zero waste. Faith Connexion’s commitment to sustainability is not just a trend but a core brand value. She has directed the company to operate with no stock and no waste.
In Maria’s opinion, a significant economic problem with current brands is their requirement to hold inventory. Retail store inventory costs can be high due to storage, labor, and transportation. She firmly stated that Faith Connexion needs to be managed more sustainably to respect not only the planet we live on but also to understand the economics of success.
The Faith Connexion team has decided to use a comprehensive commerce platform that would empower Faith Connexion to sell online and in person, offering tools for building online stores, managing inventory, processing payments, and handling shipping. In this manner, Faith Connexion would avoid the cost of creating an expensive proprietary system and focus her investments on creatives instead of operations.
A commerce platform similar to Shopify is crucial to the economics of selling online because it simplifies e-commerce, offers tools for managing inventory, taxes, and marketing, and provides a scalable platform for businesses to grow and sell globally, ultimately increasing revenue and efficiency.
By utilizing this technology, Faith Connexion has already created fashion capsules. Fashion capsules are a curated selection of versatile and interchangeable clothing items and accessories designed to create a functional and stylish wardrobe with limited pieces. Maria has already worked with Miami Dade College’s Miami Fashion Institute (MFI). Working with Oscar Lopez, Chairperson of Fashion Programs at MFI, she has twice mentored award-winning students to create and prep their collections and place them on the runway using Faith Connexion’s new strategy.
Maria’s work with these students has produced successful capsule collections with beautiful pieces and a first for zero waste. But although she wants Miami to be a center for fashion, she doesn’t stop there. Maria has been working with Qatar and the Sheikha Al Mayassa to advance fashion in Doha. She has worked with Qatar’s Fund for creatives to help create fashion in part of the Doha design district.
Maria has also been working with Formula E, the world’s first fully electric international single-seater championship. Officially known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the organization is designed to promote sustainable mobility and the development of electric technology through competitive racing.
Faith Connexion has cleverly used existing associations with fashion and racing to be part of the Formula E races in Qatar to present their activewear. Maria’s idea for Doha is to promote an elevated form of activewear, such as hoodies or leggings, with evening wear and luxury. With a nod to her patrons in Qatar, Faith Connexion has included the abaya in her activewear, which only further promotes the brand’s ideals of inclusivity.
Faith Connexion’s new strategy avoids the most significant drawbacks of brick-and-mortar brands, which are primarily real estate and inventory carrying costs. Depending on the region, Faith Connexion searches for appropriately talented creatives from the local area and, using technology and her more online-driven approach, helps mentor and set up further outposts for Faith Connexion.
Maria stated that in this manner, money can be generated more easily and quickly for the brand and the creatives themselves. The next stop for Faith Connexion is Shanghai, where she will duplicate her current success in the Asian market. One of the key lessons Maria imparts to her mentee designers and Faith Connexion is that sustainability does not just mean being “green.”
Being sustainable also means that Faith Connexion has to stop wasting time and resources on expensive operational activities. After all, if you do not make money, then you are not really in business. She wants to educate the new generation of creatives about money and its necessity for success. It is all fabulous to be creatively lauded, but if you cannot commercialize your success, then the success will only be fleeting.
Maria plans to position Faith Connexion as part of fashion education by working closely with educational institutes. As her strategy is implemented, Faith Connexion will build courses on using technology to create a collection and be extremely careful not to waste money. In this new tech world with a hyper-fast supply chain, brands can sell clothes before manufacturing them. Technology has been key to building Faith Connexion.
One reason Maria is so committed to the brand is the very name itself. She has created her success and sustained her family with faith as a key lodestone. In the past, she has seen previously successful brands and friends fail by not moving with the new fast-paced world of social media, technology, and instant communication.
As stated to AVESSA. “You need to move quickly to be successful and, more importantly, move with the changes.” When she started with Faith Connexion, few of her fellow creatives believed her strategies would work. But now, she has proven them to be successful. The following steps for Faith Connexion will depend on where the world and business move.
Faith Connexion is flexible for a reason. Through her network and hard work, Faith Connexion is now active in Qatar and Shangai and intends to expand to Africa and Brazil. Mana Common in Miami is another key to her growth plans.
Mana Common is a platform for urban revitalization and community-building led by Founder and Chairman Moishe Mana, who is a visionary entrepreneur reshaping urban landscapes to foster connected, thriving communities. Maria is determined to build projects with purpose. For Faith Connexion, the purpose is not just to sell clothes; clothes are a vehicle. Creativity is the target of the brand. It has always been a passion for the CEO.
Maria Buccellati has lived many moments in fashion and now wants to help the industry grow with a purpose. Faith Connexion is a world of believing. She feels she has a gift for creativity and was meant to proselytize for it. The CEO has consistently grown and succeeded organically from start to finish. This experience has been used to grow Faith Connexion. As she left the interview, one could picture Maria’s passion as a collage of images and experiences that she has embraced, and through faith, she has succeeded.
Recovering from an obsession with Italian-designed menswear, Alfonso decided to take a deeper look into women’s fashion to see how our relationship among clothing, society, and business has changed. Educated as an economist with an MBA, he travels between Chicago, Miami, and Mexico on a search to see what happens next to fashion.
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