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.
“It will be like a game,” said Marc Ascoli, “a game between real and surreal, between the real garment and the imagery it evokes: exuberant, filled with energy, fanciful, dreamlike and visionary. I decided to work on this project with Polimoda students because they, the new generation with eyes that are not clouded by stereotypes, can interpret this dichotomy between the tangible and the imaginary and move beyond the static appearance of things.”
Along the rooms and halls of Villa Favard, nineteenth-century architecture designed by Giovanni Poggi, Marc Ascoli has created a series of tableaux vivants and dream visions, sometimes funny sometimes disturbing, animated and performed by actors, musicians, artists, models and students. To support and engage the public an atmosphere between dream and reality, enigmatic characters – as released by the movie “Rabbits” and “Inland Empire” by David Lynch – a “Black Widow” that floats and touches, inspired by Baroness Fiorella Favard of Langlade, and more playful and theatrical stage presences. A special soundtrack, composed by Frederic Sanchez that takes turn with live performances from the French young talented Owlle and the Belgian band of Lawrence Wasser. Coup de théâtre and magic, as magical and surprising should be today’s fashion: full of energy and fun, passionate and impeccable workmanship, with a distinct anti-serialism, desirable and marketable.
Vestirsi da Uomo has been realized in collaboration with Linda Loppa, Director of Polimoda, and Patrick De Muyinck, Design Department manager. “It is a great privilege to work with Marc Ascoli”, says Linda Loppa, Director of Polimoda, “this opportunity, to build an imaginary world inside the real world of men’s fashions was an important cultural exercise for refreshing contemporary fashion for all of us, students, faculty and myself. We were able to create dreams, images and stories together with Marc Ascoli, and at the same time, leave all the fashion clichés behind us, and then even have fun bringing a fantasy-filled world to the stage. And it is a world that will find its perfect fit in our Villa Favard!”
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
The second edition of Dress Like a Man – “Vestirsi da Uomo” a Polimoda!
At Pitti Uomo 81, the Fondazione Pitti Discovery will proudly present 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. It is a strong trend in today’s men’s fashions that Pitti Uomo captures fully and Pitti Discovery will feature it in an originally scripted event-performance. The stars will be 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.
Art director Marc Ascoli will stage this edition. Mr. Ascoli has created some of the most powerful and memorable images of fashion: he began working with Yohji Yamamoto in 1984 and then worked with Jil Sander, Cerruti, Chloé, Hugo Boss and Martine Sitbon. During his career he has worked with photographers such as Nick Knight, Peter Saville, Mario Testino, Paolo Roversi, and Stephane Sednaoui, and he is always on the lookout to discover young, unknown talents such as the photographer team of Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot – to launch them on the international stage. “It will be like a game,” says Marc Ascoli, “a game between real and surreal, between the real garment and the imagery it evokes: exuberant, filled with energy, fanciful, dreamlike and visionary. I decided to work on this project with Polimoda students because they, the new generation with eyes that are not clouded by stereotypes, can interpret this dichotomy between the tangible and the imaginary and move beyond the static appearance of things.”
There will be two performances of Dress Like a Man during Pitti Uomo: Thursday 12 January – in the magnificent, recently reopened Villa Favard, where Polimoda, International Institute of Fashion Design & Marketing, has its new premises.
Thanks to the Fondazione Pitti Discovery! Linda Loppa
