Italian designer Gabriele Colangelo is among the 12 finalists of the LVMH Prize for Fashion Designers. He joins Simone Rocha, Thomas Tait, CG by Chris Gelinas, Shayne Oliver's Hood by Air, Simon Porte Jacquemus, Miuniku by sisters Nikita and Tina Sutradhar, Tillmann Lauterbach, Tim Coppens, Suno by Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis, Vika Gazinskaya, and Atto by Julien Dossena. The winner - who will be announced on May 28 - will receive €300,000 as well as a year of coaching from LVMH.
I spoke to Colangelo while he was in Paris in February to interview him for a fashion and design publication. At the time we talked, the semifinalists had just been selected and he sounded pretty happy because he had met quite a few people who had never been to his shows, so the event had definitely allowed him to get more visibility. Yet he confessed me he really hoped people working in the fashion industry would try and understand a bit better the research that goes through his collections at different levels, especially for what regards textiles and fabrics.
Colangelo is 39 years old but he has been working for 17 years in the fashion business, so he has a long experience behind him. As stated in a previous post, for his A/W 2014 collection the designer moved from Kazimir Malevich’s "Black Square" and Joachim Bandau’s watercolours. Colangelo revisited his main references in interesting ways, creating stratifications of sheer chiffon in gradations that went from black to white passing through grey and adding a sort of Japanese allure to his pieces, also coming up with modern and urban accessories. "My collection is a sort of post-minimalist vision of the Malevich's square, re-elaborated through Bandau's watercolours employing materials with different weights - from heavier neoprene to ethereal silk gazar - to create contrasts and dichotomies, but also structural stratifications of laser-cut wool and organza squares," Colangelo explained me.
The Italian designer has so far been inspired by a wide range of artists, from Japanese painter and Ukiyo-e maker Ando Hiroshige to German artist Gerhard Richter and French photographer Laurent Segretier. "I always reference artists I like and with whom I share an affinity, but I also try and think in which ways their work can offer me innovative inspirations on a material level, because the textile and fabric experimentation remains one of my main interests," Colangelo told me, adding, "creativity is not just about coming up with visually extraordinary garments, it's also about carefully selecting materials, defining the finishings and finding new innovative solutions for details such as seams."
Hopefully from now on the LVMH jury panel, but also the fashion media in general, will start looking at materials and details rather than just at spectacular creations that only last for six months.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments