3, 2, 1… Allez! Polimoda students give the go ahead for The 100 Days to the Tour de France, whose starting line this year is in Florence itself. Work by second year students from our Undergraduate in Fashion Design course, and Master in Fashion Design course, was the highlight of the afternoon, while giving visibility to this unique occasion hosted by the City of Florence and Piedelibero’s social initiative.
The Palagio di Parte Guelfa buzzed with bodies, the final touches to garments, models being dressed and the excitement of the students filled the spaces of one of the oldest and finest buildings in Florence. Seat of the political faction of the Guelphs in the thirteenth century, and today the home of calcio storico and starting point for the Florentine Republic’s historical costume parade, it was expanded by Brunelleschi. The Hall of Lilies, where the preparations for the students’ presentation were taking place, hosts a beautiful cerulean color on its walls, adorned with golden lilies, a motif of the city’s ancestral link with the reigning house of France, as well as the emblems of the crafts guilds.
The project brief was to research the work of an architect or an artist: the main concepts as well as the elements of their aesthetics. The research phase was then translated and transformed into every aspect of the students’ collection, from the design, to the cuts of the clothes, the choice of fabrics and colors.
Once styled, the students’ looks were ready, the models striding out from the Palagio, across Ponte Vecchio to the final location in Piazza della Repubblica. Accompanied by the bikes of Piedelibero, a social initiative which sees the upcycling of bikes undertaken by local incarcerated individuals, the students’ work exemplified divergent silhouettes, contrasting colors, and phantasmagoric textures: the Renaissance really did meet the contemporary.
In Piazza della Repubblica the journey concluded; student spokesperson Matilde Fabiani took to the stage, introducing hers and her peers’ work, which was inspired by the theme of environmental sustainability with some of the looks involving upcycled pieces. The students’ designs not only promoted an environmentally conscious approach, but in this context, they also offered an opportunity for social inclusion by putting new and different ideas into circulation.
“All the designs are made entirely by the students, from the creative development phase to the prototype design phase, and then going on to sew the final garments” explains Matilde Fabiani, one of the Undergraduate in Fashion Design students. “The most beautiful thing, which I appreciate about this program that Polimoda offers, is that the aim is not to teach you how to create clothes, but to build a collection that reflects your vision in which all aspects of the research come together and reinforce the message behind it that you set out to communicate.”
This endeavor highlights the skills and effort of our second-year Undergraduate in Fashion Design students, and Master in Fashion Design students.
Students
Undergraduate in Fashion Design
- Isabella Alvarino
- Lin Huan En
- Matilde Fabiani
- Giorgia Liu
- Gaia Marighetti
- Elias Matso
- Sofia Popova
- Anja Radovic
- Soichi Takeda
Leading teacher: Filippo Fanini
