Made in Italy. Gucci SS16

September 27, 2015January 20, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Breaking down Gucci‘s recent spring-summer 2016 collection is like reinterpreting every painting in a museum. Each look is totally different. And each has its own woman and story behind it. Seeing how Alessandro Michele revamps the house after Tom Ford’s over-sexualised female and Frida Giannini’s perfect ladies is really gripping. For his first summer season, Michele made embroidery his first privilege. Hundreds of embroidered, tiny sequins created cartoonish trompe l’oeil bows, frills and collars. One look with a bra and skirt was entirely constructed in this style – and if you are an observant person, you could notice adorable lady-bugs embellished on ties and parrots over-laying lace shirts. There is no better way to experience the craftsmanship of Alessandro’s vision as to see the newly renovated Gucci boutique on Via Montenapoleone. Here, you can touch the clothes from both autumn-winter 2015 and resort 2016 collections – each piece is absolutely different. A hand-embroidered bird on mink-coat lining; velvet flowers decorate the head-pieces; the tudor-esque rings are all about the phrase “the devil is in the details”. I totally agree with that in terms of Michele’s Gucci, and Italian fashion in overall.

The new designer of Gucci tipped his toes in Italian fashion history for this season – there were references to early Missoni’s lurex zig-zags and the bold 70’s of Italy. Michele said he has been thinking about the Renaissance and the 1970s specifically – both great eras for Italy in their own ways. Although this very bright collection was all about femininity (the ruffled dresses, the flower pussy-bows), it had a lot to do with punk. Biker jackets (of course, embroidered with roses), spiked killer-heels and sharp and mini-skirts were there too, during the fashion show. Gucci by Alessandro Michele is generally called “vintage” or “nostalgic“. But the designer totally disagrees with these two words. “It’s a big trip! Of course I am interested in personal style and quirkiness. There are things here that look vintage, but don’t really exist as vintage—it’s the illusion of it. I’m not nostalgic! I’d like to shake it up again.”

You can love or hate the new Gucci. Spring-summer 2016 might look too bold for some, if you look at the collection through thumbnails – however, one thing’s sure for both of the sides. The attention paid to the detail was missed for a long time in ready-to-wear seasons, just like the real splendour and beauty of Italian craftsmanship. And Alessandro Michele is pioneering it once again in 2015.

HC – Great Beauty. Valentino AW15

July 11, 2015July 11, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

In the heart of Rome, the Italian house of Valentino presented its haute couture collection which just showed us, that this specific season is all about eponymous splendour. In 1960, Valentino Garavani founded his brand in the eternal city – now, its a label which can be called a fashion empire. But what’s most interesting in this collection is the fact that the creative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, had it presented in Valentino’s hometown and not as usual, in Paris. The venue of the fashion show was bulit on Piazza Mignanelli – the place where Valentino himself staged his shows in the past.

The colour of black is ususally misunderstood. But in reality, black is poetic, elusive and mysterious. These words precisely describe this collection for AW15. “Rome is just a little bit noir, a little sinister” said Pierpaolo before the show, giving us the idea behind the city and the collection’s connection. Leather flowers trellised a sheer tulle cape, while minuscule beads added character to a gladiator minidress. And the repeating arch motif on a floor-sweeping, wool and velvet cape? A treasure. This is one of these collections you are going to remember for a long time.

Men’s – Detournement. Gucci SS16

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Detournement is the art of taking some parts of the past and using them in the present with a contemporary approach and away from their original contest” is what Alessandro Michele of Gucci said before his SS16 show for men. “I love to work with the past to translate the future,” explained Michele, and although his designs are certainly rooted in Gucci’s heritage (those horse-bit loafers, the green and red equestrian stripes, bee motifs and famous GG logos) they update the house’s codes in a way that’s unrecognisable, thanks to his desire of not wanting “to stay a prisoner inside of the brand.” There are many retro references, with suede jackets and wide collars adapted from classic silhouettes of the 70s, but there is, as Michele puts it, no room for nostalgia – his focus is on youth. “They really are the future – when someone asks me what the future is? The future is now, between us, between young people,” he says. Also, the dynamic, new creative director of Gucci has a truly amazing point of view on beauty for men fashion. “My idea of masculinity is beauty,” Michele said after the show. “If you want to be beauty you can be beauty how you want; it doesn’t mean that you are not a man or woman.” That is strongly visible in this collection – hand-made embroideries, royal looking textiles, tudoresque jewellery and that Italian “dolce vita” attitude towards life is felt all over these clothes.

As it is in Michele’s philosophy to have female models in his menswear collection, the mesmerizing robes and silk scarves were jaw-dropping for both genders. And even though, many of these clothes feel like out of this era, they are all looking far into the future. It is a great pleasure to have a peek at all that artisanal beauty and reflect on it in the same, poetic way. Maybe because Michele himself is a great poet?

Paula Cademartori

May 23, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

The success of Paula Cademartori‘s creations is founded on an aesthetic vision focused on intense care for details, combined with the determination to carry out production in Italy. Each bag is conceived as a design object to own and love. The precious seal of each model is a metal buckle, personally designed by Paula supported by her background in jewellery and industrial design. A fine factory brand, a modern vision of a logo that escapes from conventional designs. Discovered during Vogue Italia Talents, in 2010 Paula started her brand – now, in 2015, her mesmerizing, bold bags are extreme must-haves in Milan, and not only!

Interview with Meo Fusciuni

May 1, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Who is Meo Fusciuni? A perfume magician, I might say. A herbist, which understands human emotions. A bold character, which pours olfactory memories into a bottle of fragrance. And, guess what – he’s starring in our May interview. So take a sit and feel chilled out while reading this beautifully poetic post…

What inspires you most while creating new perfumes?
“Our collection tells our life, our travels, our poetry and all that life hides every day. At this time, after creating the trilogy of travel and the cycle of poetry, I am facing the triptych of mysticism and therefore after Narcotico follow two other works inspired by the mystical human and beyond. At first I decide only the theme of each project, but then it is the case, the life and the dream to dictate my path and construction of each olfactory scent, it is important to continue to seek, in yourself and in the journey, both in the physical and spiritual world; to create and think of a new scent is the delicate moment for me, where my sensitivity to each event is very strong, are very intense moments of listening, about the smells and the emotions I feel. Passed this stage very poetic, Federica and I begin to translate this work in material and images, to tell the world about the new job.”

How do you pour in different memories and moments of your life into a bottle of perfume?
“It is a process that at the beginning of my journey I did not know , but after has become a natural process, now, all times in my life, I try first of all to recall a perfume, a smell. I’m not a classic “nose”, I am a chemist and herbalist doctor, with a very strong passion for anthropology and aromatherapy, the plants was for me only therapy for the body and man’s mind, but today has become a conduit for the dream. So what was very strange for me has become normal, enclose memory life in a brown bottle of perfume. I’m just at the beginning of my journey and I still have so many things and secrets to discover in my work, in life I love research, always.”

Do you agree that the language of smell is one of the strongest of all?
“I agree with you. Unfortunately, the sense of smell is the least developed sense in humans, but I think it is the most mysterious. The olfactory memory belongs to everyone and it is wonderful to think that the same perfume can cause a person a nice way and another a negative feeling, the path of our memory is closely related to the smell and the sense of smell, about this we work together the University of Psychology of Bologna about this a very interesting project, telling the connection between smell and memory, between scent and our whole life, as a room full of pictures.”

As a “perfume magician” and professional herbist, do you think that a specific smell can be an aphrodisiac?
I never thought of creating an aphrodisiac perfume and ever I decided to create fragrances for men or women, all our work is oriented without sex. I think the sensuality of a perfume I belong to the person wearing it, but if I have to give a name in my collection is Notturno, because his metamorphosis on the skin is very sensual and mysterious.

Can you tell us a bit more about your latest best-seller, Narcotico?
Narcotic is the first chapter in the cycle of mysticism, is a much important because it marks my transition to the use of raw materials very strong. It’s a very emotional work, tells about our connection with the sacred and the memory of the emotion most intimate of each of us. Born in the streets and in the churches of Palermo, it’s a physical and mental journey through holy places and transfigured the smell, of the human soul. A scent full of meaning, a scent that becomes ritual and in its evolution smell is very mysterious and should be listened quietly, leaving him speak…

Meo Fusciuni are available at Concept 21 Store.