MILAN — Milan designers concluded six days of runway womenswear previews with a lavish award event at Milan’s renowned Teatro Alla Scala to recognize sustainable ideas.
The first incarnation of the awards was introduced in 2017 to recognise green innovation in an industry traditionally associated with excess, as well as improve brand communication about efforts being taken to reduce their carbon footprint.
This week also celebrated the second annual Black Carpet Awards, which recognize excellence among people of color living and working in Italy as a method of fostering equity.
Black Carpet Awards Return
British fashion designer Ib Kamara and Angolan supermodel Maria Borges presented awards at the second edition of the Black Carpet Awards, which recognize the contributions of people of color working in Italy across a variety of sectors.
Honourees included shot-putter Danielle Madam, actor Alberto Malachino, educator Cinzia Adanna Ebonine, who founded a platform to promote inclusive education, Justin Randolph Thompson, the founder of Black History Month Florence, and Alice Edun, the founder of Italy’s first curly haircare brand.
Despite the multinational audience, many of the prize recipients delivered their speeches in Italian, seeing it as a political decision to highlight their full integration and self-identification as Italians.
Milan Fashion Week Closes With A Gala Promoting Sustainability
“It remains correct to bet on the competencies of young Italians of foreign origin, in a context like Italy that too often marginalises or seeks to make us invisible,” Adanna Ebonine remarked. “This award makes me seen in my entirety, not just as a Black person who works in a prevalently white context, but as professional who tries to make a difference in her own way.”
Anna Wintour went by to meet the honourees before the evening ceremony.
Afro Fashion Week founder Michelle Francine Ngonmo, who launched the rewards, expressed her hope that additional sponsors will come forward so that future editions can include prize money.
Fashion-forward Ferrari
Ferrari’s fashion division uses automotive advancements to create luxury garment collections aimed at brand enthusiasts.
Rocco Iannone, Ferrari Style’s creative director, presents supple leather looks inspired by racing vehicle interiors. This season’s innovations include treated leather for a worn-in, grease-monkey look and denim with fibres pulled in lines to produce tactile pinstripes. The preferred attachment remains the hard-case clutch fashioned like a sports vehicle.
“Performance for us is craftsmanship, and it is conveyed through fabrics,” Iannone explained.
Tokyo James promotes imperfection.
Tokyo James, a British-Nigerian designer, mocked the fashion industry’s pursuit of perfection with a collection featuring minor misalignments, such as faulty seams.
“We have to stop pursuing perfection all the time,” he stated. “It’s a fight against the way the industry operates. “We need to be more fluid.”
Tokyo James made his Milan debut a few seasons ago, during what appeared to be a Renaissance of Black designers on the Italian fashion scene. He is one of the few that remain.
“I hope for better days,” James admitted backstage.
Milan Fashion Week Closes With A Gala Promoting Sustainability
Francesca Liberatore provides sculptured looks.
Francesca Liberatore pays tribute to her father, artist Bruno Liberatore, with a collection featuring his pyramidal forms as the leitmotif.
Models wore stylised bell skirts with jutting pyramids over knitwear for a lively, playful style that evolved into a more serious and wearable tiny version with pink cotton panels. Liberatore created flower motifs that were stitched white-on-white “to highlight the significance of roots.”
“It was a personal story, with my father,” Liberatore explained.
SOURCE | AP
