Dear Shaded Viewers,
Last night I was on the jury for Polimoda in Florence. I have to say this was the most dynamic and efficient school show that I’ve ever attended. It featured 22 collections, 6 looks each and was over in much less than an hour. There were impressive projected digital graphics and an energetic sound design. The jury prize was attributed to Francesco Malandrini for his Herd – La Mandria menswear collection. As with most collections what you see and what you read don’t always connect. The explanation given for the collection: “We sometimes experience sorrow by chance, without any clear reason or trigger; this fragile potential of ours reveals our role and place as animals in the world. This collection aims to be a sort of inquiry about human behavior, where archetypal menswear is twisted around the dualism of compression and expansion. Foam garments become both a protection and an obstacle to movement, while still-life prints reworked in vivid unnatural colors, reind us to belonging to the “herd” and our common fate. A claustrophobic sense of loss and feral melancholy is the main thread. There is dignity in little movements, faith in losing. We are beasts amongst beasts, tamed by everyday interactions and unpredictable losses.”
Below find one piece representing each of the other 21 students
The designers above the jury below
