While riding a rainbow-farting unicorn, Alice on acid, rather that falling down the rabbit hole, landed onto the set of Slava Tsukerman's 1982 cult film Liquid Sky.
This kaleidoscopically perverse vision might have appeared in the minds of at least some of the fashion connoisserus that yesterday night stepped into the Teatro Niccolini in Florence to see the installation by Marco De Vincenzo, womenswear guest designer at the Pitti tradeshow.
There were no Lower East Sides junkies, punks or mysterious aliens feeding off the substance junkies secrete at the point of orgasm, but the space was invaded by an installation deviced by De Vincenzo and artist Patrizio Travagli that was a riot of bright colours, illusionary mirrors and masks that called to mind the visual power of Tsukerman's film with its mix of Marina Levikova's costumes, Marcel Fiévé's fluorescent make up, Pop Art, and Kabuki theatre (the Noh mask in the film, courtesy of industrial designer Gennadi Osmerkin).
Entitled "In-Lusionem", the installation played with spatial and chromatic perceptions and comprised a single line of theatre seats upholstered in metallic leather sitting in the middle of the auditorium surrounded by semi-opaque mirrors and therefore multiplying themselves ad infinitum and looking as if they were filling the room.
Further mirrors multiplied five handcrafted black chamois leather looks (three long dresses, a cape and a pantsuit) crisscrossed by brightly coloured rainbow-hued strips creating a Harlequin pattern and donned by glitter-masked mannequins (locked in glass displays to produce a magic box effect), while six further designs covered in fringes of laser-cut organza that formed a fur-like effect were scattered around the theatre box seats.
Though fashion was clearly an instrumental part of the installation, it was actually just one element of it since architecture and art played equally relevant roles. De Vincenzo opted for this format since he felt there was no need to produce a proper collection, after all, he has just released his Pre-Fall designs and will be again on the runways in a month's time for the womenswear shows, while in February he will also launch bags and shoes.
He therefore decided to employ the funds he was allocated for something more useful such as taking the fashion audience into the recently reopened Niccolini Theatre, the oldest in the city, founded in 1648 (and originally called "Teatro del Cocomero" – Watermelon Theatre – being located in via del Cocomero, now via Ricasoli) and closed for the last 20 years, located just around the corner from Florence's Duomo.
The designer manufactured for this occasion unique pieces that will end up in his archive and came up with an experimental project impossible to put into practice for an emerging designer who may not have a substantial budget (De Vincenzo designs accessories for Fendi and the LVMH group took a sizeable investment in his brand in 2014, but this doesn't guarantee him extra funds to splash on arty projects…).
Definitely more uplifting than Juun.J apocalyptically somber presentation held the previous day at the Stazione Leopolda, De Vincenzo's performance art project followed Thomas Tait's presentation last June deviced as a small exhibition to ponder about the value of slow fashion that included seven designs by Tait reinterpreted in luxurious materials by seven Italian manufacturers.
The Pitti tradeshow has often been a platform for unique presentations and one-offs (though at times there were some major mistakes as well, including an entertaining musical by Band of Outsiders that fashion-wise was a flop…), and maybe keeping on producing special events (that make people think or introduce them to themes and ideas that transcend fashion) rather than entire and often useless collections, could be an antidote to all the depression and the fatigue we are currently seeing in the fashion industry.
There was just a minor detail in De Vincenzo's installation – it would have looked like a great disco, even for one night only. Next time make it more Fiorucci meets an Italian radical disco club à la Space Electronic and just open it to the public.
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