Dear Shaded Viewers,
By now you are totally immersed in Milan fashion week and for sure you have put WHITE MILANO on your agenda. I just wanted to let you know that while you are visiting the immense selection at the fair please do not forget to visit the Basement. That is where you will find brands such as Ermanno Gallamini, Barbara Alan, Pal Offner, Peter Non, Trakatan, Boboutic, Marc Le Bihan and Ulisses by Dimissianos & Miller. The Basement is where you will find innovative collections alongside consolidated brands in the underground scenario by Superstudio Piu.
Emanno Gallamini brand was created in 2013 by Angelo Gallamini, the air of the Gallamini brand well known in the Italian fabric market. Not surprisingly the Gallamini collection uses exclusive and precious fabrics cut with precision. IBRIGU is a ‘tailoring collection’ mixing luxury materials with vintage ones and reinterpreting them to create new vintage with a modern point of view. Barbara Alan is a London based brand by design duo Barbara Amelii and Alan Maughan, hence the name. The design duo deconstructs, cuts, sculpts and reconstructs in order to give their own modern and sleek vision of fashion devoid of any superfluous details. The Anglo Italian line was launched in 2012. Pal Offner responds to the gender issue by totally avoiding it, the garments work on men or on women so in fact they are no gender. Let men and women decide how feminine or masculine they wish to express the wearer’s own individuality. Peter Non designs the ‘non-shoe’ owning a pair I can say they are super comfortable and hand crafted at the foot of the Dolomites in Italy in an eco-friendly way. The name ‘Peter’ comes from the Greek “petros” and means “stone”: aka solid, durable and multifaceted …timeless. The ‘Non’ is an external expression of the concept ‘non-shoe’ and embodies the Venetian origins of the brand. TRAKATAN is a bag and accessory brand designed to satisfy the needs of travellers and aren’t we all travellers in our own way? Signature to the brand are the silk-screen printing, hand sewn seams and fire branding. They are all one of a kind made in Italy and produced in limited editions. Once again, the bags have no gender, as it should be. Simona Tagliaferri comes from an accessorary background and likes to say that she is a cannibal who thrives on research and innovation and a tireless explorer in search of aesthetic purity. What more can you ask for in a brand?
Boboutic is a knitwear brand designed by Michel Bergamo and architect/photographer Cristina Zamagni and was launched in 2000. The brand aims at a mix of traditional knit-and-stitch techniques that they combine with a never-ending research for new materials and production techniques. An interesting note: Michel Bergamo is a fashion designer but also a teacher at IUAV, University in Venice and Cristina Zamagni is an architect and photographer and she also teaches Fashion Design at IUAV University in Venice. Niccolo Magrelli is a fashion designer that joined the brand in 2012. Marc Le Bihan is a French brand that was founded in 1991. Le Bihan has always walked the line between art and fashion. He is fascinated with the play of light and shadows and his garments are timeless and stand out for their exceptional cutting and fluid volumes. Dimissianos & Miller is a leather brand that started back in 1948 when Andreas Dimissianos established his workshop on the island of Corfu. Originally the brand was known for the legendary ‘Tsarouhia’ traditional shoes that originated back in the byzantine time and now are worn by the Greek presidential guard. His craft has been passed on to his son Hector Dimissianos and his wife Carolina Miller. Pushing boundaries, the duo explores the effects of exposing the leather to the elements like water, sunlight, earth, air and high temperatures. Their craftsmanship unveils the process by exposing the traces of shoemaking with the distinguished marks on the insole of the shoes which result in shaping and nailing the leather sole on a shoe last.
Later,
Diane