My Pitti has finished, I am writing that while on the train to a Milan said to be particularly muggy (difficult to think it’s muggier than the Florence of the latest four days). Mine is an authentic tour de force, a sort of Tour de France – or better – a Giro d’Italia where day by day I dreamt of a new goal and reached the wanted landmark. It’s just the way I want to tell you about #Pitti92, in stages – metaphorical stages, obviously. The pink jersey? I let it to others, I just enjoyed the event.
THE STANDS
The three most important ones.
MY FACTORY – For new expressions of urban culture as they relate to technology, music, art and design, My Factory is an extraordinary platform to valorize some of the most dynamic creative laboratories in the urban and sportswear segments.
OPEN – It offers a sophisticated approach, this is the project dedicated to the latest generation of collections that overcome the menswear/womenswear distinction, a segment gaining in popularity on the international market. This section offers a selection of experimental collections and accessories designed for both men and women to wear.
UNCONVENTIONAL – UNCONVENTIONAL, the exhibition project that presents luxury underground styles, doubles its exhibition area and broadens its horizons with an eye on athleisure. In the two areas of the Archivi, an international and exclusive selection of collections with personality for a hyper-contemporary gender-neutral wardrobe, representing an urban tribe accustomed to self-expression outside current conventions. And Unconventional also hosts the special project realized in collaboration with the Tokyo Fashion Award that shines the spotlight on 6 talented Japanese designers.
THE PRESENTATIONS
Z ZEGNA – To ensure optimal performance in dynamic situations, the TECHMERINO™ collection sports naturally-enhanced pure Australian merino wool garments certified by The Woolmark Company. The incredible benefits of this noble fiber help to ensure unrestrained freedom and breathability even on hot summer days. Innovation in TECHMERINO™ tailoring debuts with TECHMERINO™ WASH & GO suiting which is domestically machine washable while maintaining the same performance with a natural casual fit. In parallel, Z ZEGNA has created an exclusive new Capsule Collection inspired by the Maserati Multi70 led by renowned Italian skipper, Giovanni Soldini. The new Z ZEGNA Maserati SS18 Capsule Collection replicates the exclusive outfits designed by Zegna for the Maserati Multi70 crew, underscoring its iconic, performance-driven expertise. The Z ZEGNA SS18 collection, with its dynamic style attitude, is the perfect evolution to the brand’s “Tailoring meets Performance” state of mind.
Christopher RÆBURN x Save The Duck – Continuing on the success of the last season’s first collaboration and ‘RECYCLE’ project, Save the Duck team up once again with award-winning British designer Christopher Ræburn to collaborate on a second luxury capsule collection for SS18. In keeping with Save the Duck and Christopher Ræburn’s vision, a commitment to protecting the animal kingdom and planet, the collection presents a range of contemporary lightweight quilted jackets. These have been made from highly performing recycled fabrics, including Save The Duck’s PLUMTECH®, an innovative padding and technical fibre that replaces down feathers.
ALANUI – The journey as an expansion of personal horizons, strengthening of human bonds and accumulation of emotions and experiences is the fuelling principle for ALANUI, a project born by the dialogue between siblings Nicolò and Carlotta Oddi.
It all started with a found garment – an oversized cardigan – which Nicolò gave Carlotta as a present. Carlotta used it during a trip to Hawaii, discovering its multi-purposefulness as the on-the-road journey unfolded. Upon return, Carlotta told her brother about her experiences, and Nicolò decided to use them as an inspiration to conceive a luxurious and emotion-charged garment that could be the perfect travel companion, getting better as experiences grew, and keeping textural record of them. This is how Alanui was conceived. The name, apropos, means “large path” in the Hawaiian language.
THE EMERGING DESIGNERS
Four, to keep an eye on. Two the ones chosen from the GUEST NATION project (this time the protagonist is Australia). Two the ones chosen among the WION? s finalists.
STRATEAS CARLUCCI – is a creative collaboration between the Australian designers Peter Strateas and Mario-Luca Carlucci. Each season, STRATEAS CARLUCCI creates collections based on the concept of binary oppositions as an underlying theme in their work. By merging and colliding these opposing worlds and notions, each collection, and the work found in each collection, results in unique and uninhibited concepts.
EX INFINITAS – Lukas Vincent, otherwise known as the Australian designer behind the brand EX Infinitas, has segmented an aesthetic that combines the lyricism of the 70s’ surf culture alongside a polished, minimalist, modern punk.
BAD DEAL – Bad Deal consists in an aesthetic accident between a urban tunnel and a rose garden. Bad Deal is everything that is below ground, in the basement, in the depths of the human mind, buried deep. Whatever is unknown isn’t necessarily dark and obscure, it can also be fluorescent. Bad Deal springs out from the slums of the subconscious, it tears apart and rebuilds itself, it gets on a path and walks on its own legs, thinks on its own and comes to life. Never losing its urban soul. Chromatic aggressiveness, chaos and never-ending inputs in a very precarious balance. A stone tossed in the wavy surface of the ocean generating imperfect circles.
MILANO140 – Milano140 comes from the need of reinventing classical Italian pieces with a new esthetical vision, expression of quality, attention to details and materials research, where tradition meets new thoughts, in a perfect balance. The brand mission is to value and reinterpret the tailoring heritage in a contemporary concept, relying on made in Italy fabrics.
THE SHOWS
Federico Curradi, J.W. Anderson, OFF WHITE c/o VIRGIL ABLOH™. It is unnecessary to add anything. You can see more at fuckingyoung.es/runway
THE EVENT
THE EPHEMERAL MUSEUM OF FASHION – On Tuesday, June 13th, 2017, the opening day of the 92nd edition of Pitti Immagine Uomo, Il Museo Effimero della Moda (The Ephemeral Museum of Fashion), produced by the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery in collaboration with the Gallerie degli Uffizi and the Palais Galliera, will be inaugurated in the spaces of the Galleria del Costume of Palazzo Pitti. The exhibition is the second edition in a three-year program promoted by the Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana and the Gallerie degli Uffizi and it is curated by Olivier Saillard. It was open until October 22nd, 2017. The peculiarity of The Ephemeral Museum lies in its novel conceptions of staging and thematic content. The exhibition, in eighteen rooms, showcases nearly two hundred items – clothing and accessories – dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
THE PARTIES
LVR17 – A party to celebrate the launch of the LVR Editions, a series of collaboration we would start with fashion designers and emerging talents to create unique products and limited editions.
The first edition is a partnership with Sergio Rossi: the three exclusive creations will be only available at LUISAVIAROMA.COM. The next dates, instead, on July, 7th with Dolce&Gabbana, on July, 21st with Dilara Findikoglu, on August, 4th with Italia Independent and on September, 8th with Angel Chen.
OFF WHITE x LEVI’S MADE & CRAFTED – Following the show in the monumental Piazza Pitti, a party to celebrate the collaboration between the memorable American brand and the one led by Virgil Abloh: a respectable ending for the event, my respectable closing.
THE SHOES
The shoes, fundamental as usual. Loyal travel companions, the last stage is to them.
ALBERTO GUARDIANI. A walk along the Adriatic coast just after the spring equinox. In this imaginary atmosphere Alberto Guardiani’s SS18 collection takes place, founding its muse for this season in a Flâneur that walking on the shore gets inspired by the vibrant colours and bright contrasts in the architecture.
This intense but meticulous attitude perfectly mirrors in the core product ONESOUL, sartorial in its structure and relaxed in the look. ONESOUL is not just a sneaker of performance but of design: well-finished in all details – from the technical bottom consisting in three parts to the sewn tip in rubber-coated calf – it’s associated to a tread that is reproduced in the relief motif, the Brand logo: an element that comes back again, this time in metal, on the shoe upper band and that turns this shoe in a lively slip-on.
BALLY. The Swiss luxury brand presented at Pitti Uomo, launches its SS18 retro sneaker collection. Bringing back the magic with the revival of its best sneaker styles over the past decades, Bally’s retro sneaker collection includes four replications of its most successful lace ups, from hip-hop era classics to smashing tennis shoes and sporty runners: The Competition, rose to recognition in the mid-1980s among rappers on the hip-hop scene, the Super Smash series of tennis shoes, Bally’s Galaxy runner, a shoe originally created for utility in 1988 and The 1974 Vita-Parcours.
Bye, bye Pitti.
