Born in Arezzo, Italy, Manuela studied fa­shion and theatrical costume in high scho­ol and went on to get a degree in Fashion Design at Istituto Marangoni, graduating in 2000. She was assistant designer for Juni­chi Hakamaki Milanoand then designed both mens’ and womenswear for Versace while using her experience of the fashion industry to tutor collection development, fashion illustra­tion and technical drawing at Istituto Marango­ni. She has gone on to become chief designer for Costume National Womenswear and C’N’C Womenswear, responsible with her team for all C’N’C and Costume National’s womenswear, for pre-collection, main collection, runway collection, as well as for organising showroom presentations, liaising with stylists and more.