THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
Posted on February 17 in NEWS / NOVITA' by tessa

The September Issue

Introduction by Danilo Venturi

14.02.2012, Odeon cinema, Florence

The movie we are going to watch this evening is a very direct and close up look at the editorial activity of fashion, which implies creativity, functionality and frivolity, and involves activities like writing, styling, trend forecasting, branding, managing and communicating.

Differently from “The Devil Wears Prada”, “The September Issue” is actually more a documentary than a movie because here the theatrical aspects of fiction leave space for the description of the reality. So, in its mix of brutal truth and fancy voyerism, “The September Issue” is also a kind of reality show, where the camera offers cross-sections of the current fashion system, of its addictions and contradictions.

It is interesting to see how fashion can be read in different and sometimes, in opposite ways according to the relationship between text and context. I’m quite sure the emotions and thoughts this movie raise are different if shown in New York or Florence. Maybe fashion, conceived as a kind of circus made of celebrities, tycoons, big directors and crazy stylists is normal overseas, however here is appears a bit excessive where focus is more on the roots, the creative process, the quality of the product, the refinement and more recently on the quest for innovation. Or maybe both aspects are part of this amazing world and at the end it’s only a matter of subjective points of view. There is a mixed audience this evening so we will live mixed emotions, not exactly like being in New York and not even totally in Florence, but I think it’s a good experiment. Real fashion must not need too many explanations because it is made out of a system of input and output between human, society and industry. When this machine is working properly, the garment or the accessory is self-communicating, coming from the inspiration of a designer, reflecting the spirit of the time and, because of this, anticipating the needs and desires of ‘clients’ so, basically a garment is already a media, in the way we use it to be part of a group and to distinguish ourselves among it, building up our identity. Following this path along time, generations and degenerations, leading or assuming  changes in society, fashion creates icons like the little black dress, Grace Kelly and Alexander McQueen, something we can wear endlessly or somebody with whom we can identify, reflections and extensions of our bodies and souls, and, in some cases, fetish references in some others. In the last decades fashion conceived as an industry needed massive use of the media to be sustained, the self-communicating garment was not enough, and some magazines took its place, reaching the status of icon themselves. It’s more or less the same process that involved some major brands with their logolized products. It’s about the container becoming content, the communicator becoming communication and ultimately the object becoming subject. As a matter of fact, there must have been a shift in the fashion iconography: I imagine a young woman walking along the streets of New York holding her copy of Vogue Americas’ september issue, like holding her favourite bag, or like a priest holds his bible. The media that before talked about the garments and accessories that had already the media, became the garment and the accessory. I think the power of this magazine relies on this process of disjunction and fetishization. It’s all about consistency and symbology, values we find in The September Issue but unfortunately less and less in our garments and accessories.

There’s an episode I widely reported in my book Luxury Hackers that I want to mention also this evening. When Anna Wintour asked to reduce the italian fashion week to three days, Diego Della Valle, owner of Tod’s, wisely said: “It’s not about the arrogance of the question, but about the weakness of the answer”. Well, over the last years fashion felt the need to make itself understood using great monographic books and movies, as if willing to fix a truth that is slipping through its fingers. Is it because finally the system realised that there is a big misunderstanding? We live in the “I like” era where our extemporary opinions are forming continuous micro-majorities and macro-minorities. What was marginal before is suddenly central. Time and space are compressed and overlapped. Currency is the new currency but up-to-dateness is not as relevant as before because fastness makes the new look old in a few seconds. These are only some of the changes due to historical breaks like globalization, the internet and the downfall of big stories, both political and commercial. I think the fashion system has not understood this new spirit of time in its many facets and, not posing the right questions, it is not giving the right answers. As a consequence, the system of inputs and outputs between human, society and industry is in tilt, people live their styles alone or alternatively they gather around visible totems like great magazines or brands.

Apparently the press is able to impress and fashion is not. So, in my opinion it’s time for the fashion system to take a moment of reflection, of deep discussion, where error is granted as a possility for creating new patterns of innovation. Creativity in fashion has always been an erotic and errotic activity, coming from both huge passion and disruption. We need to make a new collage of the fragmented reality surrounding us. So, I welcome this movie as an opportunity to read all the hidden messages below the lines of its script, to become aware of the editorial activity, a portion of this sector that is not usually visible from the outside, and above all for you to make your own personal opinion on what fashion should or should not be.

Have a good ‘vision’…

POLIMODA FASHION WRITING CONTEST
The film is an absolute must for a host of good reasons! Besides being a stimulating occasion for reflecting on the fashion world, the film will be the protagonist of a Contest dedicated exclusively to students of Polimoda.  The successful candidate will win a scholarship to attend the new Specialization Course in Fashion Writing to begin in April.  

Full details regarding applications will shortly be published here.

AMANTE
Posted on February 2 in NEWS / NOVITA' by francesco stralanchi

Premio ASVOFF Barcelona al Mejor corto realizado por un estudiante
Amante
de Paul te Riele

Premios

Gran Premio ASVOFF Barcelona al Mejor corto

Ephemeral Nature

de Gsus Lopez

Premio al Mejor director de moda

La Taille for SHOWstudio

de Marie Schuller & Kristian Schuller

Premio a la Mejor dirección artística

Twin Parallel

de Justin Anderson

Premio a la Mejor banda sonora

Gala’s Invitation

de Alex Murray-Leslie and Anat Ben-David

Premio ASVOFF Barcelona al Mejor corto realizado por un estudiante

Amante

de Paul te Riele

VESTIRSI DA UOMO AT VILLA FAVARD
Posted on January 25 in NEWS / NOVITA' by francesco stralanchi

VESTIRSI DA UOMO AT VILLA FAVARD
curated by Marc Ascoli

On January 12th at Villa Favard, during Pitti Uomo 81, the Fondazione Pitti Discovery presented the second edition of VESTIRSI DA UOMO [Dress like a Man], the special project devoted to the new contemporary classic look with a focus on new generation masculine elegance. This edition has been staged by art director Marc Ascoli – who has created some of the most powerful and memorable images of fashion, with the collaboration of Polimoda students.
The stars were clothes and collections from a group of very different and distinct Italian and international firms that express this new fashion concept through a product that can consistently combine artisan tailoring, styling, innovative materials and details with concreteness.

Continue to read / Continua a leggere

BRAND NEW YEAR!
Posted on January 14 in NEWS / NOVITA' by linda loppa

New Year, New Smiles

When we look back on 2011 will we remember it as the year of the fake smile? The struggling global recovery and the associated negativity regarding the financial markets have left business in a dour mood. After 3 years of recession, retailers are running out of ideas to try to perk up their customers. The faces of salesclerks remind me of uncomfortable family gatherings where mother tells us to behave and act like we love everyone. From their fake smiles to brand campaigns that feel halfhearted, so many companies have let the veneer of happiness start cracking. Since the forecasts for 2012 aren’t more reassuring, can the business world continue to project a believable facade? The old stalwarts of fashion and industry can’t seem to find an ounce of authenticity to offer consumers. The opportunity for smaller and smarter brands is to tap into consumers desperate for optimism and joy. Populist movements and increasing scrutiny of corporations around the world has left the consumer leery of the manufactured smiles at the mall and on the high street. Consumers have started to realize that the deep discounts, spotty staffing, and shabby stores reflect a not-so-rosy financial picture of many brands. It then becomes harder to convince the consumer to express confidence in the brand through purchases. The inevitable spiral becomes difficult to break. What the consumer is looking for is partner they can trust in the business world; someone not so big as to seem monolithic and impersonal, but not too small so they can’t meet their needs. A wisely managed independent brand of modest size is the perfect vehicle to rebuild the consumer mood. It will take more than butterflies and rainbows to convince patrons to part with their cash but good hearted confidence and optimism is a sure place to start. A smart organization that wisely interacts with customers and can swiftly meet their needs is what people want. Given our hazy view into 2012, the most logical thing to do is remarkably the most difficult; run your business well. It’s not a trite throwaway to encourage brands to be smart. Nor is it too much ask for a brand to project confidence or positivity. Those that are able to utilize these emotions will be able to fare much better throughout the year and remind us of what a real smile looks like.

 Matthew Collins – Polimoda student Luxury Management June 2011

VALENTINO UOMO
Posted on January 12 in EVENTS by linda loppa

Valentino Uomo A/I 12-13 Guest Designer of Pitti Immagine a Palazzo Corsini
Elegance and Style in a beautiful setting,

Linda Loppa

MEN AT PITTI UOMO
Posted on January 11 in NEWS / NOVITA' by linda loppa

Elegance & Style!

Left
Alberto Scaccioni
Segretario Generale di Firenze per la Moda Italiana. www.cfmi.it

Right
Patrick De Muynck
Head of Department Fashion Design – Polimoda. www.polimoda.com

grazie, e buon Pitti Uomo!!!!

Linda Loppa

WHY CAN’T I BE YOU?
Posted on January 5 in COLUMNS / RUBRICHE, DANILO VENTURI by linda loppa

WHY CAN’T I BE YOU? by Danilo Venturi

Portraits by Ruggero Lupo Mengoni – collection by Alicia Declerck – styling Wowo Kraus – writing Danilo Venturi – models Niina Turunen & Alessandro Ferrara.

Continue to read / Continua a leggere

GHOSTS
Posted on January 5 in NEWS / NOVITA' by linda loppa

Still of GHOST Video
GHOST – POLIMODA

directed by Ruggero Lupo Mengoni
styled by Wowo Kraus
collection Letizia Caramia
shoes Minzu Son and Mariko Mikami
location Villa Favard Firenze
performed for POLIMODA 2012

VISIT MAXXI ROME
Posted on January 1 in NEWS / NOVITA' by linda loppa

EXHIBITIONS:

THOUGHTFORM – October, 7th 2011 – February, 5th 2012
curated by Chus Martinez and Monia Trombetta, Assistant Curator MAXXI Arte. The Otolith Group. Thoughtform, the first exhibition in Italy devoted to the London-based group founded by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun, has been co-produced by MAXXI and MACBA – Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona where it has been first presented last February. Continue to read / Continua a leggere

POLISHING BRICS
Posted on December 27 in NEWS / NOVITA' by francesco stralanchi


Polishing BRICS
By Ana Paula Toledo

A constructive resolution which could possibly rescue the BRICs market with integrity in a long term perspective is corely based on education and spirituality. It is worthless taking the banal exit by widening markets and stepping down brands by using labels merely as souvenirs. Such an innocent strategy will only generate a further lethal assassination of the concept of original luxury. In addition, in order to revive the core beauty of the exclusivity myth, new consumers are to be reprogrammed into appreciating luxus in an invisible dimension where enlightment and true contentment are acquired with the intangible feeling of experimenting paradise. It is about deeply understanding a product as the history of a living person with an eternal soul and all sacrality which embraces the whole concept, bordering a myth, creating a cult, contextualizing a fragment of a niche mosaic.

With thirty three percent growth in the luxury market in Brazil in 2011 and having spent over 6.5 billion euros in luxury goods in 2010 (against India with twenty percent growth), the emerging markets are a thirsty, hungry and (possibly) already bulimic team of addicts, pressuring a shiny bubble which if not handled with care and in a conscientious manner, might pop and be injured indefinitely. It is extremely necessary to build a structure of knowledge, “BRICk” solidness as well as an independent qualitative tact, so that this new luxury profile of consumers can pursue an extended (and hopefully more linear) lifecycle. Considering that the anxiety for social distinction will probably remain in the BRICs consumer and social behaviour for a considerable period, a wise resolution would be to increase education to a maximum level by deepening knowledge for eventually becoming the new experts, where prestige can be no longer seen as “press-tige” and key drivers shift from status seeking to self rewarding mentalities. Therefore, new money can strategically step up its positioning where quality overcomes quantity, eventually reaching the connoisseurship of the old, still consuming with the passion of enfants where followers become setters. It is important to emphasize that this is only for few selected individuals with the capability of immersing their souls into heaven: there is no reason to implement comunism into a nazist sprinkled society. It only makes sense in the opposite manner, if we consider Russia inside out, implementing wastefulness as its own reaction to socialism. It is about integration in “outegration”, meaning selected groups excluding themselves from society privately exchanging truly defined co-interests and bespoke perspectives.

Continue to read / Continua a leggere

ASVOFF & POLIMODA
Posted on December 24 in NEWS / NOVITA' by linda loppa

Polimoda, in collaboration with the international Fashion Film Festival A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF) Barcelona, founded and directed by Diane Pernet, offers an exclusive award to the winner of the ASVOFF Students Competition: a Scholarship of the value of 16.000 Euros for new Polimoda Master in Digital Communication for Fashion 2.0.Submission forms and information about the competition can be found at www.asvoff.es .

Competitions close 1st of January, 2012.

The Master in Digital Communicationg for Fashion 2.0 is a real opportunity to come to grips with the fashion industry in the digital era and gain the necessary skills to build a professional career working in big brands and agencies all over the world. Internet and digital media are dramatically changing the fashion and apparel industry and the way we interact with brands. This revolutionary transition from conventional to unconventional media was led by a new generation of digital products, such as e-commerce stores, fashionist blogs, video sharing websites, social networks and mobile apps. Hence fashion and apparel firms are reorganising their communication in the new digital channels. Their new strategy of digital marketing has shifted from bringing users to the company’s official website to a new goal: to spread the brand content throughout the digital space and third-party sites in order to attract new visitors, build new fans and then create new consumers. Sell is an old-fashioned buzzword.

Continue to read / Continua a leggere

POLIMODA TALENT
Posted on December 24 in EVENTS by linda loppa

With the new edition of the Polimoda Fashion Week and Pitti Uomo, in January 2012 a new “nursery” of talents comes to birth: POLIMODA FUTURE LAB. A launching-pad, comprising shows, installations, talks, workshops and a location of outstanding artistic value devoted to the former Polimoda students, youngsters with a passionate interest in design, marketing and communication, who present their vision of the future of fashion. In the new premises of Villa Favard, in a beautiful and ancient architectural complex, each semester the Director Linda Loppa and her team will select a young talent from among the most deserving former students to display the collections, innovative marketing concepts and communication projects of tomorrow. The first talent to be presented by POLIMODA FUTURE LAB will be Erïk Bjerkesjö, a young designer, originally from Stockholm and former student on the Master in Footwear and Accessories Design (2009-2010); after graduating successfully from POLIMODA, the designer launched his own collection of clothing and accessories, marked by a minimal and contemporary aesthetic typical of the Swedish style. For the show-installation that will be unveiled on 10 January, Erïk Bjerkesjö will present a range of men’s footwear produced by expert Tuscan craftsmen and characterised by a state-of-the-art branded sole. Opening on January 10, 11 and 13, from 10 am to 19 pm, at Villa Favard.

Not to be missed on 11 January at 17.00 in the Aula Magna of Villa Favard, the GUEST LECTURE “Transmission with Erïk Bjerkesjö”, an opportunity to listen live to the designer’s experience in the launch of his own brand.

Photographer Magnus Klackenstam – Bastugatan 5, 118 20 Stockholm, SWEDEN – Tel +46 (0) 70 787 32 74 info@klackenstam.com www.klackenstam.com

Art Director – Magnus Liljebergh magnus@liljebergh.com www.liljebergh.com

Represented by Birgitta Martin AB – Tel +46 (0) 8 641 49 94 – Fax +46 (0) 8 714 98 53 – www.b-martin.se