fashion education

Sustainable Fashion Awards 23

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What are we celebrating?


The Sustainable Fashion Awards 23 closed the Milano Fashion Week. Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana arranged this award ceremony to celebrate the designers who stood out for their environmental commitment, ethical practices and social rights.

We should be happy with it, celebrate the winners and move to Paris! No?

Held at Teatro La Scala, the Sustainable Fashion Awards reminded us that although the fashion industry is polluting, the Italian supply chain is progressing towards a greener way of operating the fashion business.

In other words, this event is a counterpart to the Milano Fashion Week. However, you’ll find the same names you saw on the runways throughout the week, only now under a different umbrella–a green one. Event and brands presented with labels so familiar to marketing, intentionally or not, blurring into greenwashing.

Sustainable Fashion Awards & The elephant in the room


Perhaps industry players, business owners, and designers are developing a higher consciousness about green matters. And, perhaps, some changes could be relevant. However, we cannot understand how these changes can align with a production model based on overproduction.

It’s one or the other! And since the two elements aren’t consistent, they cannot stand on one plate because they clash.

The fashion industry has one major issue: overproduction, the elephant in the room, which none dares to mention. But if we still have overproduction, there’s no sustainability. No effective change in production chains will be enough without interrupting the overproduction pattern.

Sustainable Fashion Awards 23 witnessed a progression in the fashion industry towards greener practices, elevating environmental consciousness. But, as Mr Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès creative director, said at Triennale: “Sustainability, that’s where we have a problem in fashion. We are making a change with low impact facilities and manufacturing practices. Perhaps in 15 or 20 years we’ll see the result and we’ll finally be sustainable.”

Unfortunately, according to climate scientists, we do not have that time. So, in the end, what are we celebrating now?

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Milano Fashion Week 24

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Simplicity and practicality for Spring-Summer 24


Milano Fashion Week 24 is over, so we want to analyse the overall feelings. What’s in the air?

It looks like fashion designers had to focus on safety. So, they provided simplicity and practicality through those tailored techniques typical of the Italian style. In fact, collections were more down to earth. Easy to wear, which also means easy to sell. Market demands, not creative genius.

Spring-Summer 24 from Milano runways


We were happy to witness the end of the circus Alessandro Michele made for Gucci. Perhaps Sabato De Sarno needs time to develop his own path, but anything would have been better than the flea market jumble. However, it would be interesting to understand to what degree this collection is the result of his view or a commercial request.

Still related to the above topic, there’s a discussion about the expectations on genderless fashion or the end of it.
We are astonished! Specifically, we cannot understand why people identify genderless style with the circus. Can anyone explain? Take a garment without asking yourself if it comes from a specific gender category. Then wear it (with elegance, if you can). This is genderless. And it’s still here.

Indeed, isn’t the work of Mattieu Blazy for Bottega Veneta a blend of blurred gender identities? Though fabrics and outfits seemed too heavy for a Spring-Summer collection.

Thoughts on Milano Fashion Week 24


Overall, the impression is that clothing was the background as brands mainly plan to sell accessories. On the one hand, we are happy for the end of the circus. It was time to take a sense of elegance and Italian tailoring back. But on the other hand, brands mostly looked the same. Unless you have a trained eye, and so you can say, ‘this accessory is from this designer’ – it is almost impossible to tell the difference from one to another.

Milano Fashion Week 24 has probably satisfied people’s needs and the industry turnover. But, in this game of overlapping design codes, and by compromising to any current contingency, we wonder where brands are going. More precisely, do you think brands are reliable?

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Visions And Glamour By Antonio Marras

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Fashion as cultural contaminations


The evening event “Visions and Glamour of a mythical set on the cliffs of Capo Caccia” by Antonio Marras confirmed our sensation: cultural events connected to fashion are more fascinating than fashion shows. The things you learn, the cultural depth, are amazing. And there’s no circus.

On September 21, during Milano Fashion Week, we were invited to Cinema Mexico for the documentary screening: “The Summer of Joe, Liz and Richard.” The docufilm by Sergio Naitza debuted at the last Rome Film Festival and was awarded in London as best documentary at the Kingston International Film Festival. It investigates the reason for the flop of the movie “Boom!” – which director Joseph Losey filmed in the summer of 1968 in Capo Caccia, near Alghero, Sardinia, with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Before the screening, there was an introduction by the filmmaker Sergio Naitza, Alessandra Sento (dir. of Società Umanitaria – Cineteca Sarda), the art critic Francesca Alfano Miglietti and Antonio Marras.

This cult movie inspired “Lights, camera, action!” – the Spring/ Summer 24 Marras fashion show featuring Marisa Berenson and sequences of the documentary, contaminating the presentation of the items from the collection.

Visions and Glamour by Antonio Marras

Antonio Marras: fashion & cinema


“I use fashion to tell stories and I learned it by going to the cinema, an inexhaustible source of stories, dreams, moods, characters, costumes, sets, life stories. Cinema for fashion is an indispensable life companion. And even more so for me. Not by chance, I named my debut collection from ’87 ‘Hush, hush sweet Charlotte’ after the ’64 film starring Bette Davis directed by Robert Aldrich. So, how not to give in to the provocation of a Hollywood film like “Boom!”
Thanks to Sergio Naitza’s masterful documentary I immersed myself in that hot summer, where the line between reality and fiction, between true and false, between reconstructed and existing, between acted and revealed, was only a faint breath of wind. As if by magic, Hollywood lands in the wildest and purest land, on the cliffs of Capocaccia, Alghero, Sardinia.“

As the director Naitza explained: “The documentary aims to be the reconstruction of a cold case in the history of cinema, one of the most sensational flops despite the presence of the major stars of the time and a huge budget.”

Visions and Glamour: icon of style


Also the critics rejected the film. But they later re-evaluated it as a true cult movie after the rehabilitation of great cinema voices of our time, such as the famous US director John Waters. The film is also an icon of style and a timeless reference for fashion and glamour, thanks to its costumes, atmospheres and landscapes. Astonishing details made the movie special: a young boy designed the clothes, and it turns out he was Karl Lagerfeld. And Bulgari made the jewels for Liz Taylor.

The “Visions and Glamour of a mythical set on the cliffs of Capo Caccia” event by Antonio Marras prompts that fashion is culture, revealing intriguing connections and contaminations between seemingly separate worlds. Indeed, it was a pleasure to learn from it.

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Triennale: “A conversation with Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès”

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Insights for the future of fashion from one of its most prominent figures


Yesterday at the Triennale Teatro Milano, we witnessed a special event: “A conversation with Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès.” For the level of culture transmitted, the interview was worth it an entire fashion week. Yes, because fashion is culture.

Cathy Horyn – “The New York Magazine” and “The Cut” fashion editor – with Marco Sammicheli – director of the Museum of Italian Design, Triennale Milano – conducted the interview.

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès: A history of culture & craftsmanship


The creative director of Hermès made us know more about the maison in an attempt to analyse the issues, challenges and transformation the fashion industry faces in this rough time. Dumas narrated the anecdotes, the history of the family and his personal journey, and craftsmanship as fundamental elements of the Maison. No arrogance, only passion. In fact, the word culture has emerged several times.

“Being a creative director is turning off the ego to listen to others’ ideas.”

“Robert Dumas once said: luxury is something you can repair.”

“We don’t need marketing.” (Like saying we don’t need to trick people).

“My values are sincerity, honestly, quality.”

Most of all, he focused on the creative and artisanal process. Also, he talked about “Petite H” – a workshop where they collect all the scraps and pieces that do not pass quality control so that designers can give them a second life. In other words, they recycle and upcycle.

However, he’s been clear on one point: “Sustainability, that’s where we have a problem in fashion.”
In fact, they are experimenting with vegetable leather and undertaking low-impact practices. He said, maybe, in 15 or 20 years, the industry will reach sustainable standards. But we are afraid we do not have 15 years to make change.

A conversation with Pierre-Alexis Dumas Hermès

Martin Margiela & modern luxury


The conversation ends with a note about Martin Margiela, wanted in the company by Pierre-Alexis’ father.
“Margiela helped redefine the idea of luxury. He could go straight to the essence.”
At that point, we were moved by everything that no longer exists and by what is now fashion.
The image projected onto the screen was the one we reported here as a quote. It was 1999, and we can find everything there:

  • timeless style par excellence, i.e. timeless fashion
  • simplicity as added value
  • quiet luxury
  • genderless

The words culture, tradition, craftsmanship, design, and creativity stood out throughout the event “A conversation with Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès.” Specifically, the whole story of Hermès brought out what is now missing in fashion: family businesses disappeared, and so have their soul. Corporations took the place of family businesses, but brands and maisons have no souls anymore.

You know, there is always something to learn.
Hello, fashion industry!

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Selecting Fashion For Connoisseurs

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How to navigate the fashion weeks


In a finite world of endless options, most of which have a massified concept, selecting fashion for connoisseurs represents very specific research. Less but better, timeless fashion and quiet luxury are fundamental values for people like us.

By the way, given that overproduction ignores the current dramatic situation, we find it thoughtless to focus on brands that still operate on such a pattern.

So, we are keeping an eye on some international brands, and of course, we are curious to see what happens around us in the fashion field. But that’s just what it is–curiosity. In order to survive all the fluff that overwhelms the industry and contributes to making it less fascinating, we need to be very clear.

Fashion selection


Our preferences and choices reflect our values. We know what we need and what we don’t. So, let’s recap what it is precisely.

First, what we don’t need:

  • obsessive trends
  • poor design
  • mass products, quantity, overproduction/ overconsumption
  • fake sustainable products
  • exhausting social media presence

Too much noise and confusion. There’s too much of everything put out in a compulsive manner. That is not for people like us.

Now, what do we want?

  • clothes made to last: staples and meaningful garments. Once you consciously purchase, they will become a constant element of your wardrobe. That’s what timeless fashion means
  • tailoring: well-crafted clothes made with care and attention
  • beautiful fabrics: when you touch and wear them, you feel the difference on your skin
  • good design and quality

The market is large, crowded and oversaturated with pointless stuff. Should we fit in? No, thanks. Brands’ social media presence doesn’t impress us. Influencers don’t influence us. We prefer less, much less, but better. Niche fashion–it might not be for you, which is fine.

Selecting fashion for connoisseurs, people like us, we seek unique clothes for unique people.

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