“Que l’importance soit dans ton regard, non dans la chose regardée!” – André Gide, Nobel Prize in literature 

Separate Collection is the title of the Polimoda’s event staged last June 12 in Pitti Uomo 94 at Florence. A word game that becomes trait d’union between fashion and sustainability. The twenty-one students (thirteen menswear) coordinated by director Danilo Venturini send on the catwalk recovered and regenerated materials turned into contemporary objects of desire and fancy adornments. It is the game of provocation apt to astonish and amuse, beguile and catch the watchful eye of the beholder … always with a precise food for thought.

As usual, we’ve chosen 6, our faves.

Gauhar Afroze Ali – #beyondtheboundaries

It is a sensory collection, induced by a trip to Pakistan (there, the country’s boundaries intrude into the Chinese territory). It is a spiritual tribute to a difficult land full of contradictions where the stiff structures of forms are softened by the polychromatic fabrics.

Andrea Delorenzi – #surgical

Who has never played with Operation? The designer makes that childish experience relive by putting all the “tools of the trade” on the runway. The doctor-patient kit turns into a street wear collection, strongly linked to the trend of the moment.

Erica Bergamaschi – #contradictions

It is a schizophrenic, fun collection. Erica carelessly plays with the atavistic separation of social classes. Her man is half Great Gatsby and half a builder of the transcontinental railroad. He wears tailored suits and overalls, plaster bags and pinstripes.

Anna Dorian – #putthepoint

It’s a message, direct and clear. With an exaggerated collection of volumes, colours and contrasts, Anna absurdly challenges humankind that produces pollution and climate change. It’s a collection that jabs at the environmental crisis of our time.

Sakina Fuse – #freshnostalgia

It is inspired by the uniform of the Florentine street cleaners the collection of the young Japanese designer. In this case, too, the reference to the street wear universe is evident but tempered by slightly nostalgic prints…tender bond with her homeland.

Veronica Spampinato – #bamboccioni

As Veronica stated, the collection is inspired by the Italian figure of “bamboccioni” (big babies): adults who stay at home with parents rather than looking for their own independence. Young adults walk the catwalk wearing impeccable tailored clothes or twee children’s shorts. It is a kinky kinkiness able to whet your intellect, just like a childhood’s game.

Photography by Giovanni Giannoni