Let's close the future thread that started on Thursday looking at a project that was presented during the latest edition of yarn fair Pitti Filati, at the beginning of July. Entitled "Moda Futuribile" (Future Fashion), the project focused on innovative capsule collections developed by several creative minds and industries.
Milan-based Dyloan Studio co-ordinated the research behind the project, putting together four designers – Edward Buchanan, Vito Colacurcio, Kristy Krivak and Carlo Volpi – knitwear companies (Clouds, Mely's, SMT and Sterne International) and yarn producers (Filpucci, Lanecardate, Millefili, Zegna Baruffa/Lane Borgosesia).
All the collections were developed with the help of companies that employ the latest technologies available: Bond Factory specialises in thermowelding, melting for construction, ultrasound melting, taping, press bonding and laser cutting; Manifatture Mediterraneo mainly develops double face fabrics, while Santoni focused in the latest 20 years on developing circular electronic knitting machines to create seamless garments.
Sansovino 6's Creative Director Edward Buchanan moved in his creations from very simple principles: his designs, he stated, must be wearable and durable, exactly like a Bauhaus chair.
The two ensembles he created for this project (a man's sporty blazer with matching trousers and a woman's long skirt with a blouse and a sleeveless jacket) were made with cashmere, wool and cotton yarns (Baruffa, Botto Poala and Chiavazza), and were characterised by loose and relaxed silhouettes.
Fashion and interior designer Vito Colacurcio moved from technologies employed in other disciplines and fields such as architecture and high-tech in his capsule collection.
The latter included outerwear characterised by details created by using aluminium foil and electric resistance on leather, and a classic jumper with a trompe l'oeil braided motif that wasn't knitted but embossed on leather.
The collection also featured a classic man's bag incorporating a LED strip, this was actually the most banal and easy piece to reproduce considering also that these LED components are widely available on the Internet and at electronics fairs.
Kristy Krivak's collection was inspired by a visit to Manifatture Mediterraneo where she explored the possibilities that double finish could offer her when combined with ultrasonic welding, bonding, and laser cutting by Bond Factory.
The results were displayed in her capsule collection that comprised a cape, and two dresses - one in a powdery pink with a double printed leaf detail, the other in a bright violet shade decorated with a lattice-like laser-cut motif.
The most desirable piece on display was the leather coat with an embossed panel and a metallic belt.
Colour-wise Carlo Volpi's designs were the strongest pieces of the presentation. Volpi moved from traditions and religion: knit-wise he opted to shatter traditional motifs from Aran and Fair Isle jumpers with tape to create a sort of stained glass effect.
He then recreated images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on two brightly coloured jumpers that also incorporated neoprene and polyurethane (the jumper with the face of Jesus actually looked as if it had been made by passing knitted wool strips in and out of garden mesh or plastic netting...).
In his pieces in which he crafted religious images with "profane" materials for purely aesthetic purposes, Volpi claimed he was hinting at Eve's curiosity to experiment and explore the laws governing the universe, a metaphor used by the late Italian astrophysicist and scientist Margherita Hack to juxtapose the curiosity of science and the acceptance of faith.
It remains to be seen if in future we will go around clad in baggy jumpers knitted with religious figures in acid colours. It must be said though that, at times, the supposedly tech elements employed in some of the current collections or the LED details integrated in garments and accessories seem to be more apt from for raves than for futurescapes.
Time will tell then if this is truly the future of fashion, but, in the meantime, keeping on experimenting and researching may be the way towards developing not only innovative techniques, but also genuinely futuristic (and at times less tacky...) designs.
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