DATE:23rd October 2024. PLACE: Graduate Fashion Italia. TIME: 11.45
I: Daniele Venturelli
From the first collection to hit the runway it was clear that this show was going to be a one of the stand out shows at this years Graduate Fashion Italia, the students from Institute Secoli showed collections of impeccable tailoring and accomplished patten cutting which when combined created cool, aesthetic, chic & very wearable collections. Gian Gavino Solinas & Gabriele Fraggetta was able to create collections that were easily relatable and undeniably marketable while creating absurdly wearable products within his collection.
“Love Letter From Sicily” was inspired by an interview with an Austrian photographer about his latest exhibition, which the collection is titled after. During the interview, the photographer was asked the question “Why are so many foreign photographers fascinated by Italy?” to which he replied, “Because our Peninsula has a great power of fascination, seduction and enchantment”. Within the collection, great attention is paid to Made in Italy and the concept of beauty, understood as a aesthetic characteristic, a product in art. It is important for everyone to seek their own vision of beauty, without which, life loses its meaning. Made in Italy and craftsmanship, as well as handwork, are reflected in the garments of “Love Letter from Sicily” through crochet and embroidery, explicit references to Sicily, the designer’s homeland.
The collection is a tribute to freedom; it draws inspiration from two revolutions throughout history, both fought for the conquest of rights: the Stonewall Riots and the struggle against Apartheid. “Freedom” is a silent rupture, hidden in the details and de-structures: the male wardrobe is broken down and the parts considered most constructive and troublesome, are deconstructed, reused and eliminated offering them new life as a testimony to a fought and conquered freedom of expression.
The collection features sartorial characteristics in the structuring of the garments, while moving away from its more classic form in style, shape and volumes. The Women/Men capsule “Essere non è da me” is about the need that exists today to talk about identity. Humans are not stereotypes; it is possible to show multiple sides of one’s personality at once and be proud of what one has become, without ever denying one’s origins. Within the collection, the designer rediscovers and embraces a multifaceted and incoherent style, capable of representing all aspects of her personality, including the most hidden and least appreciated ones.
The End of Westminster” was born from the study: of classic tailored men’s clothing from London in the 1920s and 1930s, of the “unwritten” rules of men’s tailoring in general, which the designer wanted to rewrite in an ironic way within his capsule.
