Fashion: Original Alcantara® creations from eight up-and-coming fashion designers and new style suggestions for a truly extraordinary spring/summer 2011
Archive
February 2010At Première Vision and also at Milano Unica the Alcantara S.p.A. booth will be hosting a very special installation: eight young designers, selected by Franca Sozzani from the finalists and winners of the prestigious “Who is on Next?” competition, have created a outfit made completely of Alcantara®, from the garments to the accessories. Contemporary interpretations of a material that’s always in fashion.
Albino, winner of “Who is on Next?” in 2005, presents a trapezoidal dress with a hood, Silvio Betterelli has embellished an original cocktail dress with a necklace-ruff, footwear and handkerchiefs, Gabriele Colangelo has opted for a draped kimono and extra-high sandals, and Marco De Vincenzo has designed a fun little dress in Alcantara® Stretch. And Nicolas Kirkwood, an English designer famous for his imaginative and always-original footwear, surprises with his eccentric minidress with braided handbag and sandals; Sara Lanzi, winner of “Who is on Next?” in 2007, has designed a dress with soft-petal skirt and strappy sandals; Moi Multiple, designer label of Anna Ceccon, offers a total look with oversize jacket, dress and accessories; Ilaria Nistri has chosen a refined print for a dress with delicate tones, accessorised with shoulder bag and sculpted belt.
For spring/summer 2011 there will also be the usual new style ideas combining new fashion trends with technology. First of all we have perforations, which add lightness to the surfaces of the material. The holes are made on a Light base, 0.6 millimetres thick, and the motifs used are predominantly geometric and floral for a crisp and delicate feel, with a tulle effect.
And there’s also embroidery – a real must for the season – applied to the lightest versions of the material, Light and Thin, the latter just 0.4 mm thick. Imagination takes flight and the ideas on show are truly amazing: spirals of leaves, light broderie anglaise edging, sparkling motifs made with Lurex, and meticulous geometric themes.
For those who prefer a vintage look for their creations, there’s the “Namibia” collection of crumpled materials, its name bringing to mind the irregular and rugged surfaces of the desert, and the chiaroscuro effect that this gives the material.
Original and creative, micro-pleatings have gatherings on the Alcantara® surfaces, some softer with a “bark” effect, others more aggressive for an “animal skin” result. Another interesting effect is achieved by applying resins to the material, to make various different motifs that play on the glossy-opaque contrast between the resin and Alcantara®, and also on colours, be they ton-sur-ton or completely different from each other.
Another new development is Pashma Thin: a melange effect on 0.6 mm base, in neutral beige and grey tones, or on denser shades like green and brown. And there’s a comeback: Alcantara® Stretch in a lighter version, high-performance and stretchable, perfect for following the contours of garments and accessories gracefully and with total precision.
