Artist Maria Lai loved books and fairy tales and had a passion for rediscovering legends from her native Sardinia and telling stories with fabric, using a humble needle and threads rather than pen and ink.
The process of telling a story is always intriguing, no matter the means employed to recount it. Fashion designers usually weave a narrative to create coherent collections and runways.
Fashion designer Antonio Marras often takes inspiration from his native Sardinia and, for his Spring/Summer 2020 collection, he moved from a story that combined two different worlds and cultures and a fantasy theme.
Entitled "The True Story of Shiro and Baingio" the collection was showcased during Milan Fashion Week in September at the Teatro Puccini. Performers in high geta sandals carrying parasols introduced a story divided in three parts.
The tale told about the vicissitudes of a 17-year-old Japanese princess, Shiro, and of Sardinian shepherd, Baingio. The former manages to escape an arranged marriage with an 80-year-old hermit in a magical way, transporting herself from Japan to Sardinia where she meets Baingio. The two fall in love, but they are separated and eventually reunited by Sardinian spirits.
Maria Lai (who used to collaborate with Marras) told her stories with fabric and thread, and Marras did the same with a wide range of textiles: vintage kimonos were upcycled, raw and coarse fabrics or more functional textiles like denim (another reference to Lai and in particular to her artworks made with this fabric) were covered in fine embroideries, beaded and sequinned elements and brocaded appliqued motifs. The dichotomy (refined/raw, soft/hard) in the use of fabrics symbolised the meeting of two cultures in the story.
The tale developed in this way through the clothes that during the runway went from elegant kimonos to more functional and practical garments - including pieces inspired by sportswear, college apparel and military uniforms, matched with large and weathered military bags. This transition hinted at the new life of the princess of the fairy tale on an island characterised by a landscape that can be inhospitable and wild.
While at times the mood was fragmented, the collection was punctuated by blue elements (stockings and accessories) that seemed to keep together the duality in the designs, just like Maria Lai's blue ribbon in her living installation "Legarsi alla montagna" wrapped and kept together the village of Ulassai.
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