Is called “Identity” the international installation which, on the occasion of Pitti Uomo, the IED (European Institute of Design) inaugurated and presented on 12 June in Florence, in the spaces of the former Teatro dell’Oriuolo, closed for almost thirty years, now restored and redeveloped into rooms without dividers, green area and large open spaces, a stone’s throw from Brunelleschi’s dome.
The European Institute of Design presented ten projects by ten young designers selected from all the Group’s offices, between Italy, Spain and Brazil, under the design supervision of Michel Comtemultidisciplinary artist – he is a photographer, filmmaker, photo-journalist – known worldwide for having collaborated with Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair and with brands such as Gianfranco Ferré, Calvin Klein, Dolce and Gabbana.
Precisely on the occasion of Pitti Uomo, Michel Comte accepted the invitation to follow the team of selected IED students who, by presenting their installation works, reflected on the theme of identity, relating it between individual and collective identity, crossing the world of art with that of fashion.
The words of presentation on the inaugural day by the director of IED in Florence, Danilo Venturi, are significant of what the concept of identity means for the Institute: “The installation aims to treat this concept artistically. We come from 30 years of globalization which, despite having some positive sides, has very often flattened the values of individuals. This has also had a huge impact on the fashion world. The new generation gives a lot of hope from a creative point of view; the works made by the students are like contemporary sculptures.”
iDENTITY-CREDITS LAPO PRIAMI
Riccardo Balbo, Academic Director of the IED Group, also stated how the Identity project invites us to reflect on the relationship between individual and collective identity and on how the Institute was born: “IED was born with a sense of a community not formed by roles but with a vision of design that covers and involves all design activities; It is through the convergence of individuals towards an idea of the common good that a community can be built that looks to the future with optimism.”
The theme of the exhibition, identity, invited the artists to reflect on contemporary themes of strong and heartfelt relevance. In times in which we are hyperconnected, in which electronic devices have surpassed fashion in terms of desirability (Comte’s own words) “how can we represent who we are through what we wear? How can we communicate to the outside the messages that our identity contains?”
The team made up of ten designers combined fashion design and styling skills with those of interior design. A mix of conceptual clothing items placed in a context of environments of the former Oriuolo theatre, enriched with contemporary sculptures. Each designer has expressed his own point of view on urgent issues of our contemporaneity with his own work.
These are the projects: “At walking pace”, sensorial installation by Eleonora Gentile (IED Turin), “Etere”, capsule collection of versatile single-piece clothing by Giovanni Toniolo (IED Florence), “Io”, video and outfit by Sabrina Salem (IED Milan), “Venus of Things” multi-material sculpture by Leonardo Fizialetti (IED Rome), “Piccole cose” installation by Alessia Basilico of the Aldo Galli Academy in Como; “Olympia”, dress-sculpture by Gaizka Albizu (IED Bilbao), “Masculinity in Bloom” installation e capsule collection of men’s clothing by Ana Montesa Lopez (IED Madrid), “Jugar a ser dolent no està tan malament” capsule collection by Daniel Barris Sanjaime (IED Barcelona), “Metagnize” capsule collection of no gender clothes and live performance by Anastasia Pandelli (IED Cagliari), “Tramóia” capsule collection of denim dresses inspired byupcycling by Diana Arbex (IED Rio de Janeiro).
Through installations, sculptures, clothes with anthropomorphic figures, recycled denim materials, second-hand yarns, capsule collections of gender-neutral clothes, videos, the artists dialogued with the public, showing their “identity”, verbalizing their inner world, testifying once again how fashion is art.
Article reworked from a press release by Lapo Priami
