PROTEIFORME UNITARIO INSIEME - REMIXED (Vol.1) - #0001
Music is an essential part of my work, be it an endless source of inspiration or just a faithful companion through the days. I think there are strong similarities in the process of composing a song - or an album - and that of putting together a collection. The main reason I think is that both are somehow forms of storytelling.
I started thinking about this collection in 2020 (yep!), a few months after I published, just a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit late, my IUAV end-of-MA collection (now in the Highlights on the IG profile if you want). It took me a while to get back to work, partly because my eyes didn't want to see those same things one minute longer (other creative colleagues might relate to this). As we know though, 2020 has given us time, maybe even too much time.
However, I can count myself among those who are grateful for all that time. The initial fatigue in the (non)work, for reasons that were greater than ourselves, did not get the upper hand for too long though. Accustomed but also very at ease with staying at home, can't deny it, I spent a few days draining my eyes and my mind from the work I had just completed, but I couldn't ignore the conspicuous amount of material around me. Going into "Marie Kondo mode" and putting everything in separate bags and boxes wasn't going to be enough; those bags would have kept looking at me with their big googly eyes as if to say "please don't abandon us here!".
And they were right! They turned into the real driving force that eventually made me decide to pursue the path that, until then, was only in my head.
It's a risk, for sure, but I believe that any choice you make involves risks, so this is one I am willing to take. Then, surrounded by various scraps of the fabrics used for the "Collection Zero", I started again. After all, that's exactly what fascinated me the most during my years at university and I would like that to increasingly inform my work, whether it be fashion or design in a broader sense, without reducing everything simply to a few hashtags under a post on social media.
I believe that creativity is also about avoiding harmful and unnecessary waste. Starting from what you have around and reworking it, can reserve wonderful surprises.
And here we get to the musical parallel with the "remix". Some pieces in the collection are re-proposed as they were in the "Zero" one, while others are the result of cut-outs, changes dictated by afterthoughts about certain designs (oh, the afterthoughts!), or even made from scratch with the remaining fabrics.
I also chose to put myself to the test a bit more and not start with a blank piece of paper and a pencil. This time the blank page was the fabric. A more instinctive approach than I'm used to. In some cases, such as a jacket in a Bonotto jacquard fabric with lurex accents, I started by assembling small pieces that were different from each other and waited to see what those shapes suggested me.
The result is a story that takes its cue from the original but develops and evolves into different nuances.
In fact, there are not exactly the same themes and references that informed the original collection. The materials and their re-use are the key elements of this collection.
The title is still the same, however, not only to justify a continuity of meaning.
To briefly recap, in order to better understand: "PROTEIFORME" is a term used by Silvia Giacomoni to define the "Italian look" in her book "l'Italia della moda" (1984, Milan, Mazzotta) and it means protean, mutable. Here's her quote (translated):
"The Italian look is protean. It addresses different strata of the market, it touches all sectors of clothing in succession. Every year it changes. It owes its success to an image of Italy that often appears elusive and bizarre to us Italians".
"UNITARIO" on the other hand refers to the term used by Walter Albini for his collections first presented in Milan in 1971.
In the end, "INSIEME" is the title of one of the most famous songs written by the singer-songwriter duo Battisti-Mogol for another Italian music icon, Mina Mazzini. Battisti and Mina sang the song during their historic yet unique, tv duet during the 1972 edition of the Rai variety show "Teatro 10".
A few weeks ago, reflecting on the work I had done, on these three words, their multiple meanings, and wondering if they still made sense for this new proposal, I stopped for a second and thought: "These words don't only have to do with these clothes. These words describe myself, who I am. I feel like a 'protean unitary whole'. I know that may seem far too personal as a thought about a work, but I believe that the personal can also be universal, and relate to a collective.
In the end, what I hope to communicate through my work is that each person is a beautiful, complex and protean whole, with many facets, and I hope there are other people out there who feel described by this.
Giovanni
