The Italian Fashion Manifesto

Rediscovering the pleasure of wearing

There is another way of dressing, far removed from the big shopping centres and the imported disposable clothing that is invading the market.

Every day in Italy hundreds of small businesses still invest artisanal care and passion in making tailored clothes, knitwear, fabrics, leather accessories and costume jewellery, far from the spotlights of the catwalk and often also from the shop windows.

Dressing well is not just an economic factor:the work of the artisans – true ambassadors of Italian products – is underpinned by manual skills and innovative stylistic insights, technological knowhow and plenty of good taste, often passed down through the generations from workshop to workshop.This heritage of values belongs to the Italian culture as much as the nation’s literature or food and wine, and has always distinguished Italian taste in the world.They are values that, more than ever today, risk being overwhelmed by the disposable fashion fuelled by the impulse buying of many consumers. However, they deserve to be rediscovered, with the slow pace that beautiful things merit, and defended with pride to be passed on to the future generations.

What we have gradually lost over the past few decades is the pleasure of wearing; a pleasure that necessarily commences with the attention with which we choose a silk dress, a necklace of semi-precious stones, a cashmere scarf, a pair of gloves or a handbag. It is a pleasure that has the flavour of a journey that commences on entering a craft workshop, breathing in the atmosphere, listening to the advice of those who work there, touching the natural fabrics or hides dyed without harmful chemicals, choosing the most beautiful colours of silk, cashmere, vicuña, cotton, linen or even hemp, seeking the best matches for ourselves and our lifestyles, and requesting the most exclusive customisations that best fit our way of being.

This, in two words, is Slow Fashion:quality fashion – leaving aside designer labels – that always focuses on the person and is removed from mass produced and low-quality items and from the impulse buying often induced by advertising. It is exclusive fashion in every single detail, 100 per cent Italian, which is the result of the slow, meticulous work of artisan hands and it cries out to be worn with the awareness of its value, in order to contribute to our everyday joie de vivre.Because dressing well is a pleasure to be slowly savoured, like reading a good book or enjoying a fine wine.