IS from the 1965 that the Italian textile company Benetton is known for its collections dedicated to all ages, its inclusive advertising campaigns signed by Oliviero Toscani and its multicolor collections. Today United Colors of Benetton marks another important milestone with the appointment of a new stylist to the creative direction: and not just any one. To develop the lines woman, man and child it will indeed Andrea Dating. An arrival that “will bring new energy” according to Massimo Renon, CEO of Benetton Group. The purpose of this choice, stated in a note by the company? “Making a generational change in the wake of tradition, precisely in these years when the redefinition of the social role of fashion and clothing appears urgent“.
The stylist Andrea Incontri, new creative director of Benetton.
The debut in September 2022 with a show in the store in Milan
The debut, a September 2022 on the occasion of the Milan Fashion Weekwith a fashion show that will be staged in the Milanese store in Corso Buenos Aires, which for the occasion will undergo a thorough restyling and will present part of the in-store collection in see-now buy-now mode – he specifies Wwd.
A look from the first United Colors Of Benetton Fall-Winter 2019/2020 show at Milan Fashion Week (Photo: Getty Images).
Who is Andrea Incontri?
Originally from Mantua, mother teacher from Milan, studied Architecture at the Polytechnic in the Lombard capital but arrives in fashion after an experience in a leather goods factory. A apprenticeship that earned him, in 2010, the victory in the accessories sector of the AltaRoma competition Who is on Next?shortly followed by the expansion of the line that bears his name, born in 2009, with men and women (2012).
A brand that will continue to follow even with the entry into the ranks of Benetton: even if it is not the first time for Incontri in the ranks of a brand belonging to a large group. From 2014 to 2019 the stylist held the role of creative director of Tod’s menswearwhile in the past he has also worked in the design field with partners of the caliber of Alessi and, during the pandemic, with Seletti, in order to design objects of use. The latest effort before Benetton, together with her friend Fiammetta Cicogna, a new line of sustainable jewelry, Poised.
Design background, transversal vision, creativity and sensitivity are his figures, all aimed at the creation of essential garments, mainly to wear. Simple products that contain a certain complexity, just as Benetton’s ungo heritage teaches: “A company, a brand, a creative and product philosophy whose history means a lot both for my personal and professional training and for Italian history, and not just the industrial and of fashion. I accept the appointment with great pride because it allows me to participate in a project of values that involves not only clothing but all the cultural issues that concern the variable aspects of a modern humanism “, he declared. Just a week ago, the designer posted a photo on his Instagram profile with the caption colors.
Benetton, the meeting with Incontri. And all the other creative directors
For the group, an all-Italian fixed point from which to start again: in the past the brand had focused on different personalities. Suffice it to recall the appointment in 2011 of You Nguyen, formerly Levi’sas creative director of United Colors of Benetton, replaced by the French Jean-Charles de Castelbajac in the 2018. A year of restart, with the return of Luciano Benetton as president – one of the founders of the company with his brothers Giuliana, Gilberto and Carlo, who passed away in 2018.
In the 2019, the first fashion show of the brand, the Italian forerunner of low cost. Hoping that the meeting with Incontri opens up new, stimulating opportunities for growth.
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