The Slow Food movement was founded in Italy almost thirty years ago, in 1986. Thomas Tait's presentation staged a week ago at the Limonaia di Zanobi del Rosso at the Boboli Gardens in Florence may have been about fashion rather than food, but it moved from the same principles that prompted Italian activists to promote a slow pace of life.
The event revolved indeed around the idea of slow fashion: rather than presenting an entirely new collection, Tait took his chance of being Pitti guest designer for women's wear to come up with a small exhibition in which seven Italian manufacturers reinterpreted seven designs he created for his previous collections.
Among the pieces there were coats, clutch bags and earrings, all of them re-imagined employing different materials or techniques. A navy cashmere coat with silk-twill lining from the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection was transformed into a fully reversible piece in a black and navy virgin wool knit (manufactured by knitwear company G.P. SAS); his yellow and clear filament yarn jumper from the Spring/Summer 2015 collection was turned into a white cashmere and celluloide knit jumper (again manufactured by G.P. SAS) and the nude lycra boots from the S/S 13 collection found a new luxury life as purple stretch thigh high boots with sculpted heels (Mario Di Castri in collaboration with Tacchificio Del Brenta).
In most cases the pieces displayed a new desirability and a new level of luxury (think about the resin mould LED earrings that were turned by the Forlioro group into elegant silver plated crescent LED earrings) or the white leather biker jacket from the S/S 12 collection recreated as a double-faced bonded patent leather lined in plongé.
Infusing the spaces with a custom-made fragrance by Lyn Harris, the winner of the first LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize invited visitors to touch the items and think about all the challenges young designers go through. Financial constraints aren't indeed the only problem: the fashion rhythms are proving to be relentlessly unstoppable to the point that you may have a greatly innovative idea about a fabric, but you will never manage to develop it and eventually patent for shortage of time.
Indeed, many young designers, as highlighted in many previous posts on Irenebrination, do not have the time to explore the possibilities that certain manufacturers may offer them or develop solid relationships with them, something that results in a very limited knowledge of materials and techniques and in disastrous sales.
The Pitti performance gave Tait the chance to step out of a cycle that is proving stressful for him and create better products with a timeless frame around them rather than a collection with a precise expiry date and with disappointing financial results (his one and only pre-collection wasn't successful).
Though the pieces won't be produced for sale, Tait learnt new lessons form their creation, but you hope he is not the only one to have done so. Hopefully the fashion media - from fashion critics to bloggers (and the Pitti organisers as well...) - relentlessly looking for the next big thing, calling a young designer a genius after one collection, only to abandon them the next season in search of something more visually striking to post on their Instagram accounts, will have learnt something.
After all, they were given further space to think and ponder in the eighth section of the presentation, a space dedicated to a video in which Tait was engaged in conversations with critic Cathy Horyn, stylist Beth Fenton and architect Mehrnoosh Khadivi (Irenebrination readers will definitely remember him from previous posts about his designs for Nicholas Kirkwood's stores, or installations for Pollini). Khadivi came up with the mirror set for this installation, a sort of infinity space that could be interpreted as a critique of the infinity process going on behind the fashion scene and a chance for reflection.
When did you and Thomas Tait meet?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: We met through a mutual friend when Thomas was studying with her for his Masters at Central Saint Martins and, almost instantly, we became firm friends.
How did it work about the spaces regarding this event, did you have to go to Florence prior to the Pitti and check out the location before working on the installation?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: Yes, the location for the project was key and we chose the venue very specifically after seeing several locations in Florence. The space is the Limonaia building, a beautiful winter garden for the lemon trees in the Boboli Gardens. The Limonaia is a vastly long building with an impressive frontage which one gently approaches through the gardens. The context, contrast and the unusual proportions of the space were key elements in us choosing it as our the location for this project. The 100m length of the building allowed for a journey through the installation to be spread out and for a very subtle narrative to evolve. Whilst the eight separate all mirror installation modules managed to comfortably occupy the huge interior, there was still lots of space between the individual spaces allowing viewers to reflect and ponder on the products on display and the project as a whole.
Were the mirrors a way to invite the visitors to ponder about their role in the fashion industry or a way for the fashion industry to stop and ponder about itself?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: The modules contained pieces from previous collections which were reworked over a longer period of time with access to better manufacturing through Pitti. This is obviously a luxury as designers are often unable to create and develop unique pieces with the current pace of the fashion industry. The two pieces on show in each module were in a sort of dialogue with one another; with the new works Thomas was finally able to fully realise the ambition he had in mind for certain pieces. The mirror clad modules housing both versions of the collection pieces both reflected the location of the Limonaia and, within their interiors, created infinity reflections of both the objects on display and the viewers within them. We wanted people to have fun, contemplate and connect, touch and get a feel of the products. It obviously takes time to conceive a design, source manufacturers who can develop the ideas and bring a vision to life, while fashion's unrelenting pace pushes back creativity. Of course it could have been a showcase for a new pre-collection, but, to his credit, in Thomas' case the Pitti project was just a very exciting opportunity to have the time to review those pieces and rework them, because he is a meticulously passionate creative who strives for excellence.
How would you consider the event, as a presentation or a fashion installation with an architectural side to it?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: It was really more of a fashion installation via an architectural intervention although of course it was a presentation to invited guests within a set period of time. We did not do a show or present with models, but decided to put the products out on display, set a context for them and then let the viewers individually engage with the pieces on a more personal level.
You were also involved in the video interview - which were the themes you tackled in it and would you say that this is a step towards a further interaction between architecture and fashion?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: The themes we predominantly spoke about in the interview were really about how I came into fashion with my architectural background and the challenges to the design process and development in creativity which can sometimes be compromised by the pace of the fashion industry. Thomas and I have a common ground in this respect as he trained at a technical school before studying for his masters at CSM, therefore he actually knows how garments are really constructed and the time, care and attention required to create beautiful pieces. Architectural time and fashion time are often running at very different paces and it is always going to be a challenge for this type of interaction (outside of the retail context), but we did aim for that with this project.
All images in this post Courtesy Pitti Immagine; photographs by Vanni Bassetti.
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