Rome Fashion Week July 2022. Couture in the City.

So exciting to see Couture - Alta Moda - back on the calendar and the catwalk of the Rome Fashion Week along with emerging and new brands. It slowly faded away once the Italian Couture household names had either gone somewhere else - Valentino in Paris - or disappeared/relocated with their founders - Sarli, Balestra, Curiel - just to mention a  few.  I vividly still remember the thrill back in the day - 2011/2012 - ti be able to witness those historical Couture names showing in Rome.

To be precise some names have sporadically shown in Rome in the last few season but this time the noticeable fact was that they were all on the calendar together. I also have to say that the brands I'm going to write about are really close to my heart as I do personally know the designers or the people that look after their PR. They are Luigi Borbone, Antonio Martino and Caterina Moro.

Before we go into the details of these names, just a word of advice. Looking at Couture requires us to suspend our beliefs as the looks evoke ideas and dreams. Therefore to appreciate it to the fullest you either embrace the over the top styling and hair and make up or ignore it and focus on the craftmanship of each piece ;-)

LUIGI BORBONE

Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' and 'The Dictator' are the inspiration of Luigi Borbone FW 22/23 Couture collection. He encourage women to be playful with fashion and express themselves. Masculine and femminine looks are interchangeable and the designer  creates a relaxed, informal Couture that is very appropriate for this day and and age.

ANTONIO MARTINO

Antonio Martino takes us up in the sky on an imaginary walk though the clouds with the 'No Gravity' collection. Flashes of gold and silver light up the looks like the ray of lights and sun reflections. The colour palette takes us from the early hours of the morning with the whites and the pinks all the way to sunset with the fuchsia and the midnight blues of the night. 

CATERINA MORO

Even if Caterina Moro's is not technically Couture she truly deserves to be included in the list because the way she works, her techniques and craftmanship are of Couture quality and standards. Let's start with the fabric used; sustainable and eco-friendly - sustainable silk, organic cotton and knitwear, certified denim, Econyl ( recycled nylon) and pleated recycled polyester. The inspiration of the collection links in perfectly with the way the collection is made too. Daphne turns into a laurel plant in order to escape from Apollo.

 

The world of plants and flowers is printed or engraved on the collection with incredible techniques such as micro-scanned, recombined digitally and then printed on silk, imprinted on natural leather or engraved on wood and then printed. The results are simply excellent in Caterina Moro's SS2023 'Metamorphosis' collection.

 

I can't wait to see what the 2023 winter edition of Rome Fashion Week will bring but you can check all the videos and pictures of the July 2022 editions on its digital platform.

Rome Fashion Week July 2022. Fashion and the City.

The summer edition of Rome Fashion Week successfully wrapped up on July 15th and even if I followed online I can tell you it was the best one ever. Finally the event is integrated within the city on a massive scale and not taking place behind closed doors and hidden away from public spaces. Infact the Who is On Next final was held at the Piazza del Campidoglio; the hill that looks upon the Imperial Forum and the location of  Rome administration.

The calendar also was rich, diverse and complete. It included 23 RTW catwalks, 107 brands, at the Showcase event,  Fashion Schools of the region end of the year shows and a few made to measure, haute couture brands too. The main hub was the former military barracks Guido Reni District (north of Rome) just opposite the Zaha Hadid Rome's contemporary art museum, MAXXI, that hosted some event as well. Last but not least every event was streamed online and truly accessible to everybody. I will give space to all of the above in the next few days as I'm going to highlight this year Who is On next winners.

Who Is On Next? 2022 - Rome Fashion Week

 

In just over a week the July edition of Rome Fashion Week will kick off  from the 11th to the15th July. Whilst the calendar is still under wraps ( work in progress) the finalists of WION 2022 have been announced, the date (12th July) and the amazing location of the show. As you can see in the picture above the event will be held at the Campidoglio - one of the seven hills - at the heart of the historic centre - just at the back of the Forum - and home to the city museums and the city administration.

This is such a great link up between AltaRoma - that organises the fashion week - and the city. First of all the event opens up to the city itself and makes itself visible to the general public. Rome itself is going to benefit from it as it will show its support for such an important industry and show off what a great place it is to host this kind of event. (On a side note the same synergy will happen on July 8th when Valentino will show on the Spanish Steps). Let's now explore the 2022 edition of Who is on Next and its finalists.

Eleven brands have been selected - 9 in clothing and 2 in accessories - and the category Menswear and Genderless confirmed. WION is a competition sponsored by AltaRoma and Vogue Italia with the aim to select, showcase and support emerging brands that operate in Italy - let's not call them 'young designer', please. The competition will offer to all the finalists a place on the Roma Fashion Week 2023 edition and the first two winners - one for category will receive some prize money and visibility on Vogue Italia. But this is not all.  Milan Fashion Week will give the winner a chance to show during its calendar in September 2022. Pitti - in Florence - will award two designers the Pitti Tutoring and Consulting Award that includes a 6 months mentorship program.

These are the finalists of the Who Is On Next? 2022 edition. ÇANAKU, GAMS NOTE, LESSICO FAMILIARE, LUCIA CHAIN, MAISON LAPONTE, MOKOO, MORPHINE, VIEN for the clothing category and 10.2" and KARIM DAOUDI for accessories ( both footwear).

Last but not least every competition has its judges. The WION judging panel ranges from Silvia Venturini Fendi to Alessandro Michele ( Gucci and born and bred in Rome) and many more expert within the Vogue Italia team, withing LVMH, Milano Fashion Week, Pitti, fashion journalists and designers. let's leave it to them and we will judge by oursleves afetr the show on July 12th.

If you're curious to know more about the Rome fashion Week in general you can read its overview here.

Roma Fashion Week February 2022. The best of.

In my previous post I teased you with lots of great fact about Roma Fashion Week, the way it is organised and its inner workings. I’m aware that I didn’t actually show you a great deal and above all my selection of the February edition. That was intentional as I didn’t ant to overload you, my reader, with lots of info and slowly get you into the many layers of this event. Here go though with my edit of the best brands and looks that went onto the runway. It may not be easy to gage how good a collection is looking at a screen but experience at watching shows and the lockdown shift to digital shows are something I feel I’m quite good at by now 😉

You cannot escape the Italian main features of charm, elegance, craftmanship and a dose of glamour when at the Roma Fashion Week and the designers that you’ll see below they all show one or more of these characteristics.

EDOARDO GALLORINI

Edoardo Gallorini continues to define his signature style and vision with the collection ‘Showgirl’ inspired by the film Cabaret and the character Natalia Landauer, rich, middle-class and well behaved. The looks showcase the chaos and the craziness that happens when the off/on stage world and the burgeois collide. Mismatched prints, bold colours, pailette, feathers and outfits that reveal in a classy way the body. We even have two menswear looks thrown in there. Gallorini proves again that the journey he started last year exploringthe dark side of glamour is a good path for his creativity and designs.

CASA PRETI

Casa Preti explores the concept of innocence and purity. The simplicity of emotions and a child like vision of the world with no assumptions and pre-conceptions. This is reflected onto the neutral colour palette – black, white, grey – with a flashes of red that embodies the fullness and rawness of innocent emotions. Clean lines that on some looks become clerical and religious. Children drawings are the one and only print in the collection, created by kids aged 2-5 asked to draw freely. A positive message is on the runway: do not judge people by the way the look and without knowing their story and their personal struggles and journey.

FRANCESCA COTTONE & SARTORIA 74.

I’m getting the two brands side by side because even if their brand identity is quite different and their inspiration comes from different places, they do share the same roots in Italian tailoring and craftsmanship. You can clearly see at a glance how Francesca Cottone (on the left) and Sartoria 74 (on the right) have a lot in common. They both start from a deep knowledge of clothes construction and design. The starting point for Francesca Cottone is the blazer and Sartoria 74 starts from the smoking.

Francesca Cottone collection 'Guilty Pleasure' plays on sensual and glamour looks. Texture and patterns make each look intriguing and interesting and the precise and exact lines of the blazer add a dramatic, sharp twist to the silhouette. 

Sartoria 74 instead offers a mature, put together, timeless take on tailoring and an amazing twist on the male smoking sartorial features. It is really interesting to see how a contemporary brand can really design garments so femminine and modern without compromising on tailoring standards.

This is my personal edit of the Roma Fashion Week February 2022. let me know what you think and stay tuned for the summer edition in mid-July!