“The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever” – Pink Floyd, High Hopes
I won’t reveal the real reasons why I have chosen to mention the Pink Floyd and their 1994 song, it’s a secret between friends.
Instead, I prefer to linger on the very concept of High Hopes, or Great Expectations, to say it to the Dickens’s.
The natural declinations of High Hopes are to be considered (or would be considered) young people: the future (an aware and sustainable future) is theirs.
AltaRoma team seems to have well understood that and for the 2019 July edition aims everything, or almost, to the new generations. They do it with intention and sentiment, risking and winning.
Thanks to the collaboration with Vogue Italia and the well-established Who is on next?, to the partnerships with schools and academies in the sector (Accademia di Costume e Moda, IED Roma, Accademia del Lusso, Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli– to name a few), to the SHOWCASE project and ROME IS MY RUNWAY, AltaRoma raises itself as a hotbed of talents: all to be supported, if worthy.
That of the Roman platform is a daring rock push, like the songs of the aforementioned British band. It is a passionately unbridled (but at the same time lucid) declaration of love to the future of fashion with the hope that all of their, our Pips can have a path less tortuous than that of the Victorian novel protagonist.
WHO IS ON NEXT?
Federico Cina wins with a nostalgic and (at the same time) contemporary collection.
The brand Federico Cina was born in 2016 when the fashion designer, originally from the small city of Cesena, was still a student and was mentioned by magazines and journalists during the Polimoda fashion show in Florence. The collection that made him known was “Come una vita viene al mondo”, created under the concept of a global family that breaks the stereotypes of the traditional “man and woman”.
Affirming its role as a showcase to discover and sponsor new talents, Altaroma presented the new edition of Who Is On Next?, the fashion scouting project organized in collaboration with Vogue Italia. This time to WION? confirmed itself as a unique chance for emergent brands to show their designs for a jury of experts and get support to consolidate their names in international markets.
SHOWS
DassùYAmoroso
The SPRING/SUMMER 2020 collection entitled “I AM WHAT I AM” is the clear identity expression of the brand DassùYAmoroso.
DassùYAmoroso is inspired by the street-punk culture and dark, the Anglo-Saxon world and London subcultures.
I AM WHAT I AM wants to introduce itself to the public as an adrenaline rush that encourages you to always be yourself without fears and barriers, breaking down every border and tearing down any prejudice. Fluo pink and green logoed nylon, black vinyl and coated pink shiny fabric are a hymn to freedom.
It is a light collection, not frivolous, with a “message”.
Italo Marseglia
Italo Marseglia presents a candid traveler: refined.
The collection is a blank page to create a new aesthetic that celebrates the concept of upcycling. The tale of a journey between wakefulness and dream, where the boundaries of reality and imagination are doomed to blend with each other.
Contaminations, unique materials such as salmon leather, archival laces, and recycled fabrics.
The aim is to give new life and value to fabrics, in order to reinvent the rules of contemporaneity through the functionality of the shape, the importance of materials and the sartorial work refinement.
White, declined in all shades, is the true dominant color of this collection, which plays with the fundamentals of wearing.
SCHOOLS
Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli – Body Reloaded
“Body Reloaded” aimed to define new landscapes around the body and to outline new forms of fashion that reflect the contemporary condition of humanity. Projects developed according to the logic of the Fashion Theory, a theoretical perspective that considers fashion as a system of sense in which the cultural and aesthetic representations of the coated body are produced. In this perspective, the proposed collections offer an “increased” dimension of the body, which becomes this way because it is an open and sensitive receptor of the complex phenomena that shape a man in the stylistic forms that represent him.
These are the same collections that, through diversified stylistic languages, tell some of the most current themes of the socio-cultural scenario we are experiencing. Multiple concepts that on the one hand materialize the relationship between man and his physicality in the form of clothes, and on the other hand design the relationships that the body establishes with the reality permeated by new technologies.
Accademia di Costume e Moda – Accademia Factory
Even this year the event has represented an opportunity to present the industry projects (developed in collaboration with companies and labels) and personal projects by the students of the three-year courses of the First Level Academic Diploma, of the First Level Master, of High Education and Intensive courses in an unpublished setting. A moment dedicated to students, but also to teachers, professionals, friends to celebrate together the important goals achieved. Actually, the Academy has been included in the prestigious list “The Best Fashion Schools in the World 2019” recently presented by the BoF.
And with the slogan “BE COOL”, the headquarters in Via delle Fontanelle has opened the doors to announce the evolution in #PLASTICFREE too. Since July 3, the Academy in collaboration with 24Bottles has banned disposable plastic. An ecological evolution that marries the alliance with Marevivo, enthusiastically joining the project for the sustainability of our seas. A project wanted and “due” given the contemporary world we live in and which aims to raise awareness among young people and fashion students, future professionals, to work for a production system that respects the environment and marine ecology.
IED Roma – TOUCH ME
A fashion that wants to be lived, worn, touched. That is what the students from the IED Roma Fashion School presented in this summer edition of Altaroma.
On Friday, July 5th the best graduates in Fashion Design and Jeweler Design – selected by an expert panel of fashion experts and journalists – showcased their creations, unveiling the results of their three-year learning experience. The aim was to overcome the limits dictated by the inevitable digital innovation, through an original approach to manual skills.
“TOUCH ME” is a provocative recall, an invitation to live life using the five senses.
The garments that the young IED designers brought to the runway are the result of an unusual exploration of their identity, celebrated through the creation of prêt-à-porter, sportswear and evening dress collections, as well as accessories and jewelry with a unique design.
SHOWCASE / ROME IS MY RUNWAY
Below a selection of the most interesting brands (according to us) met during the four days of events in the SHOWCASE section and in part seen on the runway of the newborn container, ROME IS MY RUNWAY: two special collective shows with designers coming from the Lazio region.
FSTD
“Street Style was born after street culture, so why would it be for a chosen few?”– the motto of the brand founded by Jacopo Fiorentino with Alessandro D’Amico is the perfect answer to those who ask them what they do: question by question.
FSTD is an entirely made in Italy label, fusing innovation and urban creativity. Born in the streets of Rome, it gets a stimulus from the real street style and the urban tribes of the worldwide capitals. Made in Rome, worn in London.
Instead, ITALIANA is the name of the collection presented in Rome: a bomb dive in the Italian summer (precisely).
GALL
Justin Gall is an American designer who combines his strengths in human physiology, art, graphic design, and garment design to create the modern world of GALL. A rare breed of designer who takes pride in doing all by himself. From his modular design to his abstract prints and graphics, to the finished product shots in each lookbook, which he drafts and shoots himself. The brand was born in 2014 by its founders Justin Gall and Chaira Nardelli Gall.
PROGRAMMA
PROGRAMMA is an artisanal product entirely designed and produced in Italy and its design is characterized by traditional craftsmanship, tailoring details and a modern creative process. The philosophy of the brand is very sensitive towards the ethical aspect within the fashion industry, using sustainability in every aspect of its work, from fabric sourcing to textile innovation and fair paid job within the clothing factory. The brand is a continuous flow of ideas that is channeled from the decision-making process; like a code, a language, it is written by its intrinsic nature.
VANTA DESIGN STUDIO
Vanta Design Studio is a creative project entirely made in Italy that through the ethical perspective of impact zero makes its own aesthetics and ideological revolution inside the streetwear universe. Thanks to the archives of the most prestigious Italian textile companies, unused fabrics, and materials intended for disposal find a new shape and meaning. The garments are made of recycled material and entirely handcrafted; repeatable but always different. Vanta Design Studio believes in sustainability, designing clothes that contribute to the “recycling revolution”.
EXHIBITION
A.I. Artisanal Intelligence – “The Shape of the Water”
Once again, A.I. Artisanal Intelligence reaffirms its path that focuses on engaging directly the public and making them an active part of a process of knowing and learning, inverting the stereotypes of common-sense, through different workshops.
In two days of exhibitions and laboratories, the audience was surrounded by a dimension that talks about sustainability, preservation, and environmental safeguard. Always respecting the necessity of giving voice to the contemporary and current reality, the attention is drawn to not only waste materials, that are reinvented and refreshed, but also to the importance of defining, consolidating, and diffusing the migrant trend like a real fashion trend. Diversity is embraced as a chance for growth and perspective and personal enrichment.
The name of the project is emblematic: “A.I. Artisanal Intelligence – The Shape of the Water”. Water is understood as an element of transformation and metamorphosis, in perennial evolution and renewal. In its continuous flow, it is a symbol for rebirth and purity, as well as for the link between the man and the planet, which makes clear the need, increasingly urgent, to live in a responsible way.
Symbols of transformation through the reinvention of a discarded material, are some archive pieces from the collection “From Somewhere” by Orsola de Castro, one of the founders of Fashion Revolution.
