fashion industry

Design Against Waste

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Innovative solutions for a sustainable future


Waste is a major issue in our culture–perhaps one of the biggest. It is undoubtedly a side effect of our lifestyle. Waste is the ignorant byproduct of our times, meaning the etymological non-understanding of what we leave behind.

In other words, it represents a blind and egoistic short-term vision. People simply don’t care. Their children will live in an open-air landfill, but that’s not their concern.

However, the problem is real, devastating, and we cannot ignore it anymore. There’s no way to sweep waste under the carpet or make it magically disappear.

Acknowledging the problem and the environmental cost it carries along, is the first step. But what is the solution?

Design is the answer.
An accurate design is at the core of solving the waste issue. Changing the way we conceive products is absolutely crucial. We need intentionally designed items in every single field and category–fashion, furniture, technology, and beyond.
Products made with eco, recycled materials taht can have multiple lives and eventually enter a circular pattern.
Items made to last. In other words, design against waste.

By the way, this was the standard in the past in terms of lifetime. Products were built to endure. Now, the life of a garment barely exceeds a couple of washes, and a mobile phone lasts less than a year.
Moreover, convenience culture played a significant role in exacerbating wasteful habits and proliferating a throwaway mentality. Buying a new item is cheaper than repairing it. So people throw things away and replace them—even if the new item lasts only a few months. And so, the never-ending cycle continues.

The point is that real designers make good designs. But fashion–like any other industry–is in the hands of people who are more attracted to marketing than design. So It’s unlikely that change will emerge from within the current system.

Unless a new generation of designers, aware of the issue and moved by it, steps forward to make a difference–to change for the better.
We remain optimistic!

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Fashion & Music

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Exploring influences, inspiration, and intersection


Fashion is not only what we wear. Fashion involves the environment around us. Fashion is the music we listen to as well. In fact, there is a clear parallel between fashion and music. Both have developed precisely the same pattern.

What kind of music do we listen to today? What is popular?
DJs are sampling tracks from the 70s, 80s or 90s, remixing them, and then the singer of the moment adds the voice. So, here it is, the modern creative effort. Usually, this music is popular for a few months. Perhaps a year from now, no one will remember a single track.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Take, for instance, “Walk this way” by Run DMC. Well, as we said, exceptions do exist.

What kind of fashion do we see now?


DJs are the new fashion designers. They take designs from the past and add logos all over, following the above remix pattern.
In this world, design skills are no longer a necessity.

Some time ago, a TV show celebrated Fabrizio De André, the great poet-musician, and they interviewed his wife, Dori Ghezzi.
During the interview, singers who recently won the Sanremo Festival appeared in a clip, dressed up to promote fashion brands more than their music, but acclaimed as geniuses. Afterwards, they asked her: “What do you think?” So, she replied: “In my husband’s time, there was a lot of space, we have experimented a lot, and we did a lot. Now, perhaps, these guys don’t have much left. They are scrambling.”

Ads disguised as entertainment–that’s how marketing gurus refer to it, indeed.

The sampling of things already seen, stealing others’ ideas and presenting them for absolute novelties–this is the sign of our times. And in both fields, fashion and music, it’s marketing, not art.

But in the end, we do not have to accept it or conform. We have the freedom to differ, to think differently.

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The Fashion Game

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Luxury brands acquisitions: who bought who?


All the news we are reading from the fashion universe these days is about acquisitions, revealing, in essence, what the fashion game is about. Who bought who? The competition is open!

To this end, it seems like the perfect time to make great deals and play the fashion game. This luxury group acquired that brand, intending to launch other new labels. And so on, with numerous other acquisitions and developments in the same vein. Nothing more than acquisitions, finance, and money.

How does the fashion game works?


The fashion game, explained in a few words, goes like this: take the “designer” of the moment, the one who is popular because of his social media buzz rather than his designing skills. Then throw out the bait to a young audience on social media, of course. There’s no better way to reach the mass market quickly. So, the brand becomes popular and successful!

In other words, the game of exponential growth is not over yet. Brands act as if the lesson taught by the pandemic has left no trace at all.

Somehow those companies are still telling us that fashion belongs to finance more than creativity.

As a so-called designer now, you don’t need to have your own ideas, given that you can buy or steal them. Of course, the latter is a more frequent case.

And how weird it is to see emerging brands seeking acquisition by luxury groups. But once they are acquired, it’s as if the original coolness vanishes, leaving behind very little of what made them unique.

What emerges is that no fashion group or designer has the courage to propose new ideas. Perhaps, they do not even have the intention to do so. No one is taking the risk of disrupting the industry. The pattern remains the old one, and marketing seems to be their ally in maintaining the status quo.

But aren’t you tired of DJs designing brands?

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Details Make The Difference

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Understanding quality fashion versus mass production


Although it is easy to copy high-fashion items, the difference between designer pieces and fast fashion is tangible.

With fast fashion, you get low-quality materials and poor construction, not to mention labour exploitation. Those elements change the final result completely.

By the way, it is well-known that people don’t see details.

Designer collaborations with fast-fashion chains are a way to make money by reaching a broader audience, which otherwise wouldn’t approach the brand. But what’s left of the original design? Does anyone notice that there is nothing of the original designs in those garments?

We still remember the first collaboration Karl Lagerfeld did with H&M. There was a lot of hype, so we decided to try. We bought many pieces, also some lingerie-style reminiscent of Chanel. Whenever we had the occasion, we tried on one or the other, but there was always something wrong. Pull one side, pull the other, no way to make the top, or the dress, seem decent.
The fit was terrible, stitchings and materials too. We ended up wearing some of those pieces as pyjamas.

Since we bought many items, the total amount was not small. Rethinking of it in terms of worth, did it make sense? Wasn’t it better to buy only one valuable piece, which we could wear for years? Rather than wasting money on several pieces we never wore?

Designer vs fast fashion


Indeed, that is the trick: reproducing a similar shape doesn’t mean tailoring the same construction. It doesn’t imply the same stitching ability and, definitely, not the same materials.

The quality of materials, together with the knowledge in crafting, are what make a piece of clothing look beautiful. And only expert hands can shape the proper fitting.

Change those ingredients, take out the sartorial touch, and instead of a Chanel imitation, you get a rag. Instead of an oversized dress, you get a garbage bag.

Yes, details make a huge difference.

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The Exception To The Rule

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Unique perspectives in the fashion realm


They say every rule has its exception. And, of course, we couldn’t escape. In fact, just a few days ago, we wrote that fashion maisons whose original designer has left, lose their meaning. In other words, fashion brands lose their essence once the original designer is no longer at the helm.

Indeed, this is not the case with Valentino, which stands as the exception to the rule. Since the duo Piccioli – Chiuri has split from co-designing the brand, Mr Pierpaolo Piccioli didn’t miss a single beat. Though, we cannot say the same about Chiuri’s work.

From the moment he went solo, Piccioli’s sense of design has been a celebration of the Valentino codes. He carefully paid respect to the founder’s work, elaborating the brand DNA while adding a touch of modernity. Elegance has certainly not been lost.

On July 15, we saw the Fall/Winter 21-22 Valentino couture show, streamlined from Venice’s Gaggiandre, Arsenale. What better occasion to find a valid exception to the above rule. The show was a dialogue between fashion and art, presented from a magnificent set-up.

If fashion is not art, it is true that both forms of expression have many aspects in common: creativity, the vital and foundational element that shapes the entire process. But also time, experimentation, and skilled hands. All these are crucial elements needed to reach a perfect realization.

For the show, Pierpaolo Piccioli collaborated with 17 painters, and the final result was sublime. The overlapping of bold colours was a joy for the eye, a breath of fresh air. The fluid silhouettes and clean-cut lines, the game of form and colours, showed a modern way to make couture.

Impeccable tailoring and know-how. Effortless beauty and elegance. An expression of art, and a real celebration of couture.
Bravo!

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