Marco Castelli, a 28-year-old model, has become a designer for the royal family in Doha, Qatar. A native of Porto Empedocle, in Sicily, the hometown of novelist Andrea Camilleri, Castelli was based in Milan after graduating from high school and has modeled for Chanel, Ferrè and Benetton, among others. He has travelled extensively and has worked in New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Los Angeles, among other cities, before starting to design.

”I have been working on an ambitious project for a while”, said Castelli. ”I am designing clothes for the royal family in Doha and an event wil 8, model and couturier l be held at the Virginia Commonwealth University on April 19”.

Castelli over the next few months will also organize a number of events in Sicily and across Italy to promote his designs.

”Modelling is my life although I am also able to design”, said Castelli, who added that he liked to say that he paints, rather than designs, his clothes before having them made. ”Art and the Italian style are something marvelous for which we are known worldwide”, he said. ”Doha’s royal family wears clothes I have created and I obviously feel very gratified, although I also feel that mine is just a small step that contributes in bringing our nation higher on a stylistic level’