Paolo Franzo

Il libro sfida la comprensione dualistica dominante della moda come fantasia al servizio dell’industria e indaga, per la prima volta in Italia, il panorama emergente delle mode sperimentali e speculative, termine con cui si intendono le mode votate più all’indagine e alla conoscenza che al prodotto e che rispondono alla domanda What If? del titolo. Nel volume sono documentati e analizzati gli esiti del ciclo di conversazioni collaborative e del workshop svolti nell’estate del 2020 all’Università Iuav di Venezia nell’ambito della ricerca Fashion Futuring e delle attività del corso di Laurea magistrale in Arti visive e Moda. Al ciclo hanno preso parte in qualità di relatori fashion designer emergenti e portatori di una visione radicale della moda, curatori, professionisti ed esperti di sostenibilità ambientale, di mode digitali e di intelligenza artificiale. Come la maggior parte delle domande, anche quelle lanciate durante gli incontri di What If? non prevedevano una risposta univoca, lasciando ai partecipanti del workshop, e ai lettori del libro, la possibilità di immaginare la propria risposta.

Il libro considera il portfolio come un progetto complesso che consente al suo autore di definire una propria identità professionale. Attraverso un lavoro di ricerca sul campo che ha coinvolto i corsi di laurea in design della moda di tre università, sono analizzati i processi coinvolti nell’ideazione e realizzazione del portfolio, le tensioni tra dimensione materiale e immateriale, le traiettorie temporali, le interazioni tra studente e ambiente formativo. Portando al centro della ricerca un oggetto finora trascurato e superando l’idea che sia un riassunto di esperienze concluse, questo lavoro interpreta il portfolio come un luogo in cui progettare se stessi, il proprio futuro, gli obiettivi da raggiungere, il percorso da compiere e i contesti in cui agire.

The essay addresses the reasons why fashion design is manifesting an increasing interest in the marine environment as a context where to identify new materials for fashion, focusing on the particular case of seaweed. Through a field research, which involved MA fashion students at Università Iuav di Venezia, it is possible to demonstrate how an object such as seaweed fabric is not only a response to the need for new sustainable materials for fashion, but it is also interpretable through the framework of new materialism in a posthuman perspective. These fabrics, perceived as vibrant, represent a stimulus to redefine fashion design and its relations with environment, territories, people, and bodies. In the experimentation with seaweed, nature becomes raw material for constructing aesthetic and cultural imagery in a multispecies landscape.

The contribution questions the possibility that fashion and its objects can be interpreted as a practice of care, agents capable of stimulating a positive change in the relationship between people, environment and territories. Within the theoretical framework of fashion futuring, the design and social innovation workshop Talking Hands is analysed as a case study of redirection practices, which are expressed in participatory design dynamics, relationships between the subjects of creative and production processes, new narratives and synergies between people and communities.

The essay addresses the reasons why fashion design is manifesting an increasing interest in the marine environment as a context where to identify new sustainable materials for fashion, focusing on the particular case of seaweeds. Through the analysis of some significant international case studies, the recent applications of a variety of biomaterials derived from algae are observed. This phenomenon is interpreted not only as a response to the emergencies of innovation and sustainability in fashion design, but also confirms the framework of ​​a new materialism according to a posthuman perspective. Water shifts from being perceived as a natural element exploited and polluted by fashion into a place of making kin between human and non-human through the use of seaweeds. This is possible thanks to the collaboration of design, chemistry, biology and technology, that are orchestrated to redefine the expressive codes of contemporary fashion within a multispecies landscape.

Il contributo costituisce l'introduzione al numero 41 di OFFICINA* che è stato curato dai due autori sul tema "Corpi e Cura". Corpi e cura si intrecciano all’interno del numero attraverso vari saggi che coinvolgono diversi territori del progetto, dalla moda allo spazio pubblico, dal design di prodotto all’architettura degli interni, mettendo in luce nuovi approcci alle teorie e pratiche della contemporaneità. La dimensione a cui si fa riferimento è multispecie, postdigitale e transdisciplinare: si tratta di un corpo che non teme il confronto con l’alterità, di una cura che si espande oltre l’umano.

The contribution is the introduction to the Issue 41 of OFFICINA*, curated by the two authors on the theme "Bodies and Care". Bodies and care are interwoven within the issue through various essays involving different design territories, from fashion to public space, from product design to interior architecture, highlighting new approaches to contemporary theories and practices. The dimension referred to is multispecies, postdigital, and transdisciplinary: it is about a body that is not afraid of confrontation with otherness, about a caring that expands beyond the human.

Il Fashion Design sta manifestando un crescente interesse per l’ambiente marino, contesto nel quale individuare nuovi materiali per la moda. Attraverso l’analisi di alcuni casi studio internazionali, sono osservate le recenti applicazioni di biomateriali ricavati dalle alghe marine in una prospettiva qui definita Blue Fashion. Un fenomeno che non solo risponde alle urgenze di innovazione e sostenibilità della moda, quanto suggerisce l’idea di un nuovo materialismo in una prospettiva postumana. L’acqua si sta trasformando da elemento naturale sfruttato e inquinato in luogo del making kin tra umano e non-umano attraverso la collaborazione di design, chimica, biologia e tecnologia, ridefinendo i codici espressivi della moda contemporanea. ________ Fashion Design is showing a growing interest in the marine environment as a context in which to identify new materials for fashion. Through the analysis of some international case studies, the recent applications of biomaterials derived from seaweed are observed in a perspective defined here as Blue Fashion. This phenomenon it’s not only a response to the emergencies of innovation and sustainability in fashion, but suggests the idea of a new materialism in a posthuman perspective. Water shifts from being perceived as a natural element exploited and polluted into a place of making kin between human and non-human through the collaboration of design, chemistry, biology and technology, redefining the expressive codes of contemporary fashion.

La moda è un ambito di indagine particolarmente rilevante nella contemporaneità per la sua collocazione all’intersezione tra le discipline progettuali, artistiche, storiche, sociologiche ed economiche. È una lente attraverso cui è possibile osservare il mondo e le sue evoluzioni, è un sistema complesso in grado di agire sul presente e modificarlo. Uno degli aspetti di maggiore interesse per i fashion studies è il ruolo diretto e indiretto della moda nel dare forma ad architetture, città e territori (Vaccari 2016). Fashion is a particularly relevant field of investigation in the contemporary world because of its position at the intersection of design, artistic, historical, sociological, and economic disciplines. It is a lens through which the world and its evolutions can be observed, it is a complex system capable of acting on and modifying the present. One of the most interesting aspects for fashion studies is the direct and indirect role of fashion in shaping architectures, cities, and territories (Vaccari 2016). Urban centres and peripheral areas throughout history have become part of fashion, which, in turn, has characterised them with its own material dimension and imagery. In the processes of conception, production and consumption, this ever-changing, two-way relationship manifests itself.

Il contributo indaga come molti marchi internazionali del lusso abbiano contribuito negli ultimi quindici anni a definire nuove identità della moda e dei suoi luoghi, riconfigurando in particolare quelli legati alla produzione manifatturiera. Questi fenomeni non vanno però interpretati come uno sguardo nostalgico al passato o come visione stereotipata dell’identità artigianale del Made in Italy. Viene qui proposto, invece, di inserirli nel framework teorico del nuovo materialismo, concetto sviluppato da Anneke Smelik secondo il quale tutto è fatto di materia: «cose, oggetti, arte, moda e persone […] tutto è un misto di materiali organici, minarli, vegetali e sintetici» (Smelik, 2020). The contribution investigates how many international luxury brands have contributed in the last fifteen years to defining new identities of fashion and its places, reconfiguring in particular those linked to manufacturing. However, these phenomena should not be interpreted through a nostalgic glance at the past or as a stereotype of the craft identity of Made in Italy. Instead, it is proposed here to place them within the theoretical framework of the new materialism, a concept developed by Anneke Smelik according to which everything is made of matter: «things, objects, art, fashion and people […] are all mixtures of organic, mineral, vegetable and synthetic materials» (Smelik, 2020).

Il contributo intende dimostrare, attraverso l'analisi dei casi studio Bottega Veneta e Lanificio Paoletti, come gli spazi tradizionali per la produzione di moda siano stati trasformati in luoghi per l'apprendimento formale e informale, aumentando le sinergie con le istituzioni educative locali e incoraggiando eventi pubblici all'interno delle fabbriche. I distretti industriali della provincia italiana, in declino dal punto di vista produttivo, si stanno rivelando un territorio ideale per generare il cambiamento cercando una maggiore trasparenza e apertura con il territorio. The contribution aims to demonstrate, through the analysis of the case studies Bottega Veneta and Lanificio Paoletti how traditional spaces for fashion production have been transformed into places for formal and informal learning increasing synergies with local educational institutions and encouraging public events inside the factories. The industrial districts of the Italian province, in decline from a production point of view, are proving to be an ideal territory for generating change by seeking greater transparency and openness with the territory.

Venice is one of the most investigated city in tourism studies for reasons that include overtourism, ecological survival, and housing exodus. Conversely, fashion studies are hardly interested in the relationship between this city and fashion in the 21st century. This article aims to fill this gap by investigating the relationships of fashion with tourism and urban space in Venice, through the eyes of those who are active in the conception, production and sale of fashion in the lagoon city. Can fashion be part of a new idea of the city? Can it represent a redirective practice, which stimulates compatible and sustainable relations between residential and tourist areas? The cases analysed in this article tell of experiencing access to fashion in a dimension that is defined here as one on one, in which the human and urban bodies are taken care of through a tailor-made approach. They represent an instrument of integration between local and global dimensions, capable of living with stereotypes, finding a new normality in the extraordinary of Venice, a daily life, as opposed to a rapid and temporary consumption of the city.

The article investigates the 21st-century fashion through the theoretical lens of the mise en abyme, focusing on the mixed reality as an extended panorama between physical and digital. Four case studies were chosen within the Italian context, deemed as a place of experimentation and interaction between digital innovation and manufacturing tradition. Those cases have developed projects in mixed reality during the months of social distancing imposed by Covid-19, with significant consequences on creative processes, production, distribution, communication and consumption of fashion. In this scenario, the article questions the expansion of fashion experience, the ongoing transformation of the digital object, the conception and perception of time and the idea of intimacy at the time of Covid.

Change is at the heart of the definition of fashion, as many theorists, designers and cultural analysts have shown. This article takes up this perspective to question the role of fashion design in the 21st century in the relation to cultural, media and technological changes. Adopting a field research approach, the paper analyses the interaction between fashion, designers and digital technologies that are emerging in Italy in order to re-grasp Made in Italy in a futuring perspective. The case studies were selected for their relevance to the digital in terms of design, production, and display. The paper analyses how the pandemic crisis is affecting the Made in Italy, stimulating new ways of designing, understanding, producing, and consuming fashion.

Il contributo si interroga sulla possibilità che il “Designed & Made in Italy”, in particolare nell’ambito della moda, superi la prospettiva storica, per configurarsi come incubatore di scenari innovativi in grado di sostenere un futuro, anche attraverso nuove modalità di relazione tra i protagonisti del progetto creativo e dei processi produttivi. All’interno della riflessione teorica sul Fashion Futuring e sul Laboratorio Italia, il progetto Talking Hands viene analizzato come modello di innovative pratiche di redirezione, che si esprimono in dinamiche di design partecipativo, relazioni con il territorio, nuove narrazioni e sinergie tra persone e comunità. Questi primi segnali di transizione verso nuovi modi di concepire il design della moda, la manifattura e i suoi protagonisti richiedono un’adeguata analisi in ambito accademico. _____ The contribution questions the possibility that “Designed & Made in Italy”, in particular in fashion, goes beyond the historical perspective, to be an incubator of innovative scenarios able to sustain a future, also through new ways of relationship between the protagonists of the creative project and production processes. Within the theoretical reflection on Fashion Futuring and the Laboratory Italy, Talking Hands project is analyzed as a model of innovative redirection practices, which are expressed in participatory design dynamics, relationships with the territory, new narratives and synergies between people and communities. These first signs of transition towards new ways of conceiving fashion design, manufacturing and its protagonists require an adequate analysis in the academic field.

In the fashion system the portfolio is an essential tool, required at every application, presented at every interview, and it is often the only element available to the evaluators for selection among different subjects. However the theoretical reflection developed in academic research around this object is still very limited and this contribution aims to fill at least part of the gap. The paper presents the results of a field research carried out in three international fashion schools - Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Università Iuav di Venezia (Italy) and Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny of Alcoi (Spain) - to investigate the fashion portfolio as a tool to build the identity of its author. A workshop has been designed and carried out, which the paper describes and analyses in its different phases, with the aim of simulating a part of the process of portfolio realisation and carrying out an exploratory investigation, documenting the students' considerations, their perception of this tool, the problems encountered, the methods of realisation, the influence of the context and the relationship with the author's identity.

I social network e, in particolare, Instagram rappresentano in questi anni efficaci strumenti per definire e comunicare l’identità di un fashion designer; la reazione istantanea del pubblico, che osserva e giudica i contenuti pubblicati, trasforma il singolo in un autore collettivo, dotato di un’identità plurale e polifonica, sviluppando una fluidificazione identitaria che decentra l’io e lo frammenta.

This contribution investigates two major perspectives that characterise the fashion industry in the twenty-first century and the relationship between humans, nature and technology. The first perspective has to do with the centring of humans and their needs in design, in a systemic and holistic way, leading to the evolution of Industry 4.0 into 5.0; the other perspective is an awareness of the limits of an anthropocentric vision and the need to look beyond the human in search of collaborations with the non-human, nature and technology. Through a literature review and a discussion of some case studies, this contribution explores these two perspectives and their interrelationships. These two trajectories are not alternatives, however, but instead intertwine, thus bringing to the attention of contemporary fashion design an ecosystem composed of humans, plants, animals and technologies.

Nella moda il materiale e il simbolico convergono con approcci fortemente interdisciplinari, che spesso si esprimono sui confini dei saperi con contrazioni e dilatazioni. Quella della formazione universitaria nel fashion design rappresenta una sfida sempre più complessa, specialmente alla luce del carattere trasformativo cui i fenomeni del contemporaneo sono e saranno soggetti nel prossimo futuro. La transizione ecologica e quella digitale, infatti, si pongono quali elementi imprescindibili che scuotono le dimensioni fisiche e materiali della realtà, innescando trasformazioni reciproche tanto profonde da influire sul modo di fare e studiare la moda.

This contribution explores the unique combinations and interdependencies that emerge in current fashion design in Italy. The paper focuses on the encounter between technology and biology to experiment with textiles and materials for the fashion industry. The theoretical framework draws on Donna Haraway’s concepts of making kin as generating new collaborations and staying with the trouble. It brings these concepts together with Tony Fry’s definition of futuring and Alice Payne’s fashion futuring. We applied these ideas to the analysis of four Italian case studies illustrating how four companies use agri-food waste: Orange Fiber from citrus, Grado Zero Innovation from fungi, Frumat from apples, the latter used by Womsh for the production of sneakers. Building new relationships between humans and nonhumans, in this case between companies, agri-food processing waste, new materials, and consumers represent a possibility to work towards a more sustainable future starting from the dynamics of the present. The paper presents findings on redirective practices as a way to stay with the trouble from initial research on fashion, and reports on new alliances and collaborations between people, business, waste, territory, technology and biology.

Il contributo intende analizzare le prime esperienze di distretti produttivi virtuali italiani in ambito moda, rappresentate da progetti online e siti internet che cambiano le dinamiche tra le fasi di progettazione, produzione, distribuzione e acquisto. Secondo l’ipotesi qui proposta si tratta di esperienze che superano il modello tradizionale di distretto, costituito da reti di aziende connesse geograficamente su territori circoscritti, per giungere a modalità diffuse di connessione delle realtà manifatturiere sul territorio nazionale attraverso piattaforme digitali.

The contribution aims to analyse an innovative university didactic experience centred on the fashion portfolio, designed to integrate more consolidated methodologies linked to graphic design with experimentation on the process of constructing the student's identity. The portfolio is a central tool in the definition of the educational and professional path of a fashion designer, but it has so far remained at the margins of academic research. The reasons for this gap are also to be found in a misinterpretation of it, which has led to it being considered only as a tool for summarising and communicating completed experiences, neglecting instead its design power in constructing the identity of the author. As part of a PhD research conducted at Università Iuav di Venezia and developed through fieldwork, a workshop was organised at the Politecnico di Milano in May 2018, involving five third-year students of the BA degree course in Fashion Design. The monodisciplinary course of “Portfolio and project presentation”, within which the didactic experimentation was developed, included an approach linked to the traditional methodologies of visual design. The focus was on the management of the tools of communication design, a complex field of competence that implies extensive knowledge, such as the laws of perception, the methodologies, tools and practices of visual design, the production systems and processes that manage the results. The design of the portfolio was based on the management of colours, images, typography, and layout, applied according to the aesthetic and functional requirements of the visual project, and calibrated to the needs of the material and immaterial channels through which fashion design communication is realised. The didactic experimentation, conducted by the Iuav researcher, was designed as a three meetings workshop to experiment with a different perspective on the fashion portfolio and to observe the results of the intersection between the different methodologies. During the first meeting, students presented an initial version of the portfolio made during the course, developing a reflection on the process followed, the difficulties encountered, and the purposes for which it was made. The second meeting focused on how to create a portfolio through the phases of collection, selection, connection, direction and publication. The choices made by the subjects regarding which images to consider and which to exclude, which key words could summarise the characteristics and methodologies of the project, the perception of the other subjects regarding the action of the individual, and the influence of the point of view of others in the work of constructing their own identity were observed. During the third meeting, the students presented a new version of the portfolio, through which it was possible to analyse the results of the experimentation. The experience analysed makes it possible to observe how a fashion student's portfolio is an expression of the continuous conflict between rule and creativity, between standards and uniqueness, between desire and discipline. The idea proposed is that the portfolio does not limit its action to its author, but conditions all the interlocutors involved during the phases of realisation and presentation of the work. Finally, the close connection between the material dimension and immaterial issues and the relationship between the portfolio project and time emerge.

This contribution aims to present the first results of a research in progress at the Iuav University of Venice on emerging ‘futuring’ practices in fashion design in Italy, helping to redefine this discipline and the role of its actors, in their cultural, environmental, educational, economic and social implications. The purpose is to identify, map and analyze with a qualitative approach a first group of case studies, consisting of companies, brands, designers, associations, Fab Labs, online platforms and startups that are characterized by a new vision of practices, processes and products in different aspects of fashion design: materials, manufacturing, patterns, prototyping, retail, communication. This research represents a real development opportunity for fashion system, encouraging the spread of sustainable models and the networking of innovative practices, which can become an example for everyone.

Il contributo vuole delineare e descrivere le metodologie adottate nel corso della
ricerca sul portfolio degli studenti di fashion design, indagato come dispositivo
relazionale che contribuisce alla definizione dell’identità culturale e progettuale
dell’autore. Non può essere considerato solo come una sequenza cronologica di
progetti o una visualizzazione del curriculum, ma uno strumento di mediazione
tra studente, scuola e realtà esterne.
Se l’oggetto della ricerca appare chiaro, meno immediata è l’individuazione delle
metodologie più efficaci per indagarlo. Come studiare un dispositivo così complesso?
In che modo analizzare uno strumento vivo, personale e unico, fortemente
legato all’approccio progettuale di un designer? Il design può fornire gli
strumenti metodologici necessari alla ricerca o è opportuno ricorrere a quelli
propri di altre discipline?
Le prime fasi del lavoro sono caratterizzate da un approccio deduttivo, dalla
mappatura cioè della letteratura esistente sull’oggetto di studio e dalla verifica
di eventuali teorie già prodotte, in modo da precisare l’ambito d’indagine, le domande
della ricerca, il framework teorico da verificare, le questioni già affrontate
e le mancanze su cui provare a intervenire.
Successivamente diventa necessario spostarsi su metodologie induttive, indagando
l’oggetto di studio in relazione ai soggetti coinvolti e al contesto in cui è
inserito. Per questo motivo sembra molto utile adottare alcuni strumenti della
ricerca etnografica per sviluppare la ricerca; dato che l’indagine interessa il portfolio
degli studenti di fashion design, la ricerca si sviluppa all’interno di alcuni
corsi di laurea in design della moda utilizzando strumenti metodologici quali
l’osservazione partecipante e le interviste, in grado di documentare sul campo le
dinamiche e le riflessioni attive attorno all’oggetto di indagine.

This research examines the portfolio of fashion design students, an object which involves the collection, selection and narrative of designs and projects developed during over the course of an educational or professional career.
According to this thesis, the portfolio is a complex device: it is more than just a chronological sequence of different projects or a visual CV; it is a tool used to define and narrate its owner’s cultural and design identity.
If the object of the research appears to be clear, less obvious is how to identify the most effective methodologies in order to reach the stated aim. How is it possible to study such a complex device? In what way can we analyse a tool which is alive, personal and unique, strongly tied to the personal approach of the designer? Can design provide the methodological instruments necessary for the research, or is it necessary to turn to other
disciplines?
This research makes evident the importance of investigating an object, namely the fashion portfolio, through various methodological lenses; being a complex device, on which there have been few theories produced until now, it is necessary to import tools from other disciplines and adapt them to the needs of the research. The start of the investigation was necessarily featured the mapping of the current situation in order to outline a theoretical framework with which to position the object in question; then, a fieldwork project was defined through the use of sociological and ethnographical methodologies in order to analyse the portfolio in relation to context and the subjects involved. The work is still in the development phase and it is possible that the research plan may be modified based on the results collected during the upcoming stages and new points of reflection.

Tra il 2008 e il 2009, per un insieme di fattori tra cui l’avvio della crisi finanziaria mondiale, alcuni fashion brand del lusso internazionali, in modo particolare quelli di proprietà delle due holding LVMH e Kering, hanno cominciato a porre sempre più l’attenzione all’artigianato – al lavoro lento, manuale e non in serie – che per molti anni è rimasto nascosto all’interno degli atelier. Le città della moda che mostrano e vendono le collezioni dei brand tornano a essere luoghi dove è visibile il processo produttivo. Viene evocato un modello pre-industriale, caratterizzato dalla compresenza tra il fare artigianale e la vendita, superato in seguito dalla separazione tra i processi produttivi – spostati fuori dalla città in edifici anonimi e nascosti al pubblico – e le dinamiche commerciali – accolte dall’Ottocento in architetture imponenti, uniche e innovative. In questi ultimi anni, dopo una fase di delocalizzazione produttiva e accelerazione dei tempi di realizzazione, il legame tra il prodotto e la persona che lo crea sembra riacquistare nuovo valore.

Corpi e cura si intrecciano all’interno del numero attraverso vari saggi che coinvolgono diversi territori del progetto, dalla moda allo spazio pubblico, dal design di prodotto all’architettura degli interni, mettendo in luce nuovi approcci alle teorie e pratiche della contemporaneità. La dimensione a cui si fa riferimento è multispecie, postdigitale e transdisciplinare: si tratta di un corpo che non teme il confronto con l’alterità, di una cura che si espande oltre l’umano. Bodies and care are interwoven within the issue through various essays involving different design territories, from fashion to public space, from product design to interior architecture, highlighting new approaches to contemporary theories and practices. The dimension referred to is multispecies, postdigital, and transdisciplinary: it is about a body that is not afraid of confrontation with otherness, about a caring that expands beyond the human.