Supernature by Polimoda: faith in a defunct surreal future
Six outfits to mark their entrance into the world of fashion, six outfits to establish the ideal of their own artistic and creative maturity. On a catwalk illuminated by evocative projections through the windows of the industrial spaces of Manifattura Tabacchi and on the notes of Cerrone’s iconic song Supernature, twenty-two collections debuted, twenty-two students, twenty-two different fashion concepts.
Selected at the end of their final year of studies, the creative young people from the Fashion Design course at Florence’s Polimoda institute, exhibited their creations during the Fashion Show signed by the school itself: Supernature. The best collections from the Fashion Design students paraded under the scrutiny of a prestigious international jury composed of twenty-two representatives from every branch of the fashion sector, from the Editor-in-Chief of Hypebeast, Arby Li to the top model and activist Lea T, from the Chief Marketing Officer of Alexander McQueen, Paolo Cigognini to the Tutoring & Consulting Director of Pitti Immagine, Luca Rizzi, from the founder of ASVOFF Diane Pernet to the Global Executive Director of Karla Otto, Alexander Werz, called to choose The Best Collection of 2019.
The collections, all differing in concept, design and personality, proved to be united in technical quality and passion. The title of The best Collection of 2019 went to the menswear collection of the Tuscan native Francesco Mandrini HERD. A collection, that in the words of the designer himself, “wants to be a sort of investigation into human nature, where archetypal menswear is twisted around the dualism between compression and expansion: sometimes we experience sorrow by chance, without any clear reason, and it is this fragile potential that reveals our role as animals in the world”.
Foam rubber garments become both a protection and an obstacle to movement, while the prints are a reworking of still-life with vivid, unnatural colours that remind us of belonging to the “herd” and our common fate, under the main thread of a claustrophobic sense of loss and merciless melancholy. “There is dignity in small movements, faith in losing. We are beasts among beasts, tamed by everyday interactions and unpredictable losses”. Thanks to the partnership with Pitti Immagine, Francesco will receive the Pitti Tutoring & Consulting Reward, a series of personalised consulting sessions with Luca Rizzi, Tutoring & Consulting Director, and his team, on the topics of Portfolio Review / Setup, Orientation Meeting and Strategy Meeting, with the aim of supporting the young designer in the first steps of his professional career.
By Sara Baroni
Credits: Creative Direction Danilo Venturi, Course Mentor Sara Kozlowski, Production and Casting From Studio, Scent Design Olfattorio, Location Manifattura Tabacchi.
Partners: Pitti Immagine, Pitti Tutoring & Consulting
Sponsors: Class Hair Academy, K-array Eurofur, Falco Pellami, Filati BE.MI.VA., Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel, ISKO, Khamir, Lanificio Bigagli, Lanificio Becherucci, Mohai Group, My Dream, Nuova Glory, Officina Ciemmeci, Riri.
Immages: http://bit.ly/Polimoda-Show-2019
(credits: Polimoda, ph Federica Fioravanti)
