Showcase, now in its tenth edition, saw for the first time all the selected designers, 70, exhibit their collections simultaneously for three consecutive days in the spaces of the Ex Barracks. «I find it right, to create a spirit of body and an interesting exchange» says Silvia Venturini Fendi. 13 are from Lazio, all of them are artisanal: «Over the years we have made many projects to bring young people closer to handmade. For a long time it was thought that it was an outdated profession, but today in this virtual and immaterial world in which we have fallen back to professions that have contact and a human touch is very healthy, as well as absolutely cool ».
Ni-Do bags, handcrafted in the province of Bologna (Photo: Ni-Do).
From the laboratory to the catwalk to Instagram
And it is really a trendy air that you breathe especially at Showcase, among very young, already established, or just born brands. Predominant, footwear and accessories, which have always been the coolest elements of wardrobe: like the shoes of Alessandra Milanthe brand of Alessandra Colombo, a young Milanese, former student of Marangoni and Polimoda, who worked in the likes of Bottega Veneta before realizing the dream of her own brand.
The shoes are created in Vigevano, they are called after the most famous cocktails and aim to end up at the feet of the It Girl. A bit like those of Le Mémoiremodern reinterpretations of the infinite collection of Maria Rosaria, a Neapolitan noblewoman: young designers are selected by the daughter-in-law Tullia together with her son Francesco, in order to create timeless trendy pumps.
An image from Le Mémoire SS23 collection (Photo: Le Mémoire).
Are the bags seen at AltaRoma 2022 already popular among trendsetters? Those of Nestbrand born in 2018 from the idea of two lovers, Domiziana and Nicola: Bubble, for many, it is already a cult. As well as the bags “with the lion”, the engraved brass signature of Ledeff, born from an idea of the sisters Barbara and Luigia De Felice. On the subject of jewelry, to stand out Reverse from Maria Clelia Scuteri36, architect and product designer Romanwho works the silver filigree by hand and dusts off old waste materials.
“Male and female, now obsolete concepts”
On the one hand, handmade and upcycling, on the other a natural one no gender vein animated the collective shows reserved for the emerging brands of Rome Is My Runway and those of the brands selected for this season. To stand out, especially the “fluid” proposals of I would love it, Saman Loire And Dadamax.
The finale of the Dadamax SS23 fashion show in AltaRoma (Photo: AltaRoma).
On the other hand, as Silvia Venturini Fendi says, “asking a designer whether he deals with men’s or women’s fashion is now an obsolete question, these distinctions no longer exist”. A hint evident even in the most budding lines, those of fashion schools, predominant in this edition: their final works on the catwalk, from the Academy of Costume and Fashion in Rome to the Naba – New Academy of Fine Arts, to the Accademia del Lusso. All promising: «we must start from the origins, upstream, from the school. These guys must be supported ».
The finale of Saman Loira SS23 (Photo: AltaRoma).
Fendi and AltaRoma, partnership of the future?
The question arises: never thought of a direct involvement of the Fendi brand in AltaRoma? “I think it could be very interesting, not just for us but for every large base Maison in the city. A further way to create an absolutely stimulating humus ».