The soundtrack for the Pitti Filati knitwear installation setting the trends for the Autumn/Winter 2013-14 season may have been Yello's infectious piece of synthpop “The Race”, but the main theme moved from something slightly more arty, the Renaissance.
Originating in Italy in the 14th century and marking the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern World, Renaissance was a dazzling spectacle of extraordinary art, architecture and lavish fashion, a period in which men and women indulged in wordly pleasures, surrounding themselves in the finest art.
Fashion designer Angelo Figus and knitwear expert Nicola Miller took inspiration from this theme to create the knitwear pieces included in the installation at Pitti Filati.
In a way fashion was born in the Renaissance when silks, brocades and laces started being used for dresses, tunics, underwear and accessories, and the various fabrics used in this period of time were also mirrored in the choice of yarns and stitches.
The theme also hinted to a “re-birth” of culture, design and quality: as usual all the yarns - from luxurious cashmere and extrafine merino wool or mohair to silk blends - were supplied by Italian companies and mills, including Cariaggi, Filati Biagioli Modesto, Filmarc, Filpucci, Igea, Lanecardate, Linea Più, Loro Piana and Zegna Baruffa among the others.
Pitti Filati was the ideal place to present this installation since Florence was the cradle of the Renaissance, turning into a model town for the rest of Italy with its revival of interest in the arts and literatures, but also with its rich woollen industry.
In the 1400s the quality and colour of Florentine cloth was world famous: the wool merchant and its bales of wool and woven cloth was a familiar sight in the streets of the city while the Medici family controlled the guild that produced woolen cloth.
Painter, sculptor, goldsmith and decorator Leonardo da Vinci was one of the main figures that inspired Figus and Miller: his multiplicitous skills and his interest in mathematics, mechanics and the human body were represented in multifaceted pieces that combined together different colours and stitches with padded areas, a reference to da Vinci's fascination with muscles.
Renaissance exalted beauty and this was also the main aim of the installation: in some cases the pieces had the consistency of parchments or of the pages of manuscripts preserved in libraries, in others deep burgundy shades called to mind liturgical robes while textures recreated the effects of oil paintings on canvas.
The installation was mainly divided in two sub-themes (approached through a palette of greys, warm naturals, versatile denims and greens), drawing and design.
The former included pieces that moved from the history of drawing in art and architecture with a selection of colours borrowed from da Vinci's sketches of the human body and of machines. References to architectural features included decoratively ornate ceilings and rose windows recreated in the knits through plastic inserts or intarsia techniques.
The latter was instead a way to take traditions into the future with pieces inspired by 20th century Italian designers. These designs displayed some connections in their playful motifs, exaggerated shapes and rubber coatings with the avant-garde creations of Milanese groups such as Studio Alchimia and the Memphis Milan movement.
The future of fashion design was also introduced by new techniques employed in the knits, such as plasticised fabric treatments and laser and thermal bonding by Italian company Bond Factory.
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