THE “NEW FASHION CONTAINER” PROJECT
THE “CRITICAL” CONTAINER – A ZOOM CONVERSATION JANUARY 14, 2021
LINDA LOPPA
Good morning, Anna, Good morning Angelo. I’m so happy to have you both here because you’re both writers and also in publishing. One of you is in fashion the other in architecture, but I feel that we have to discuss away from fashion weeks and away from fashion design weeks and talk about how life is now and how we are enjoying life and what is actually the main purpose of our lives today. So, we have to be critical and you, Angelo, are the critic of fashion. You have a pen that is full of spirit and critiques and therefore I want to start with you, Angelo. How are you feeling today and how is life without all those difficult and horrible fashion weeks?
ANGELO FLACCAVENTO
I’ve been mumbling on about this all these months. For so long I was writing a lot about how unnecessary sometimes fashion travels seem to be for the system and for the whole ecosystem of fashion. Most of the time they were just a display of wealth by the fashion houses. I was just reflecting that exactly one year ago, I took my last intercontinental flight to Miami where I attended both the Miami design and the Dior Homme fashion shows. And at the time, I mean, December 2019, we didn’t have any idea of what was going to happen in just a couple of months. And it was like, okay, we are just traveling to the end of the world for another show. And in fact, I think that the whole system was a little bit redundant. It was just a display from the big groups of what big budgets they had. But for me as a writer and as a critic, however, I keep reflecting on how I greatly enjoy traveling because apart from the show that you’re attending, you’re coming into contact with other realities, with other ways to use clothing or to see fashion and to live in general. So, right now I’m missing my work done on the road in the sense that I miss witnessing something live because actually, as a fashion critic, I always say that it’s a bit like an art critic mixed with a theatre or cinema critic. You’re not just judging the manufacturing, the clothing, you’re judging basically the whole performance, the whole thing. And sometimes the narrative comes – nowadays more than in the past – from the package more than the clothing. So, I miss that part, but I know that when we will go back to normal, if there is something normal, it won’t be the same thing. Something will change. For the moment I’m very worried because what I see is that the big groups are getting bigger and more powerful than ever. And the whole thing that is happening is just putting the small brands into the corner. They are either super smart and come with some genius ideas with zero budget, or they’re just being swallowed up by the big brands. Tonight, after this conversation, I will “attend” the Chanel show as they’re broadcasting their Metiers d’art collection. And then there is Dior in a few days and Balenciaga on Sunday. I mean, the big groups are doing whatever they like whenever they like. Gucci did the TV programme two weeks ago. Which is fine, but if fashion weeks come to an end, I will be seriously worried. A fashion week is an ecosystem that supports the small through the big, because when we are in Paris for ten days, you attend Chanel, Vuitton and Balenciaga and whatever else, but you also see, in between, the smaller shows that sometimes are also the most interesting. If the whole ecosystem of a fashion week disintegrates into something like I do whatever I please, however I please, how will the smaller brands survive? How will the young up-and-coming designers have an opportunity to show to the fashion system at the peak moment of fashion? The other thing that I really miss is the interaction with my colleagues because fashion weeks are the General States of fashion: a global gathering moment. Basically, Linda, I started talking to you because I saw you at the Y/Project show or at Raf Simon show. Otherwise, it was always very formal. You just say hi, but then once you sit one next to the other and you just start chatting it’s very fluid and very democratic: all of a sudden hierarchies collapse. And you can talk with whoever you like and have an interesting conversation. I miss that a lot because basically now I am alone in front of the phone or the computer.
LINDA LOPPA
I see. Is that the same for you Anna? Do you miss also the architects around you, the performances, writing and making books, your editing, how do you feel today? Is it also a lonely feeling?
