ITS#SIX PRESELECTIONS
April 16, 2007
| To discover the names of the finalists for ITS#FASHION & ITS#ACCESSORIES and ITS#PHOTO come back online on www.itsweb.org on the 25 of April...
On April 23 -24 the pre-selection jurors - fashion and accessories - will gather in EVE headquarter to examine the impressive amount of portfolios submitted to ITS#SIX and select the finalists who will reach Trieste for the final event in July, from 12th to 14th of July. |
| ITS#FASHION&ACCESSORIES JURY WILBERT DAS -Diesel Creative Director- Diesel Creative Director Wilbert Das was born in Holland in 1963. He grew up on his family's dairy farm, where he worked a year before departing in 1983 to study fashion design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem, Holland.Upon completing his degree in 1988 Wilbert was interviewed for a job at Diesel and hired on-the-spot literally interviewed one Autumn morning and began work that very afternoon. He started as a designer on the Male, Accessories, Leather, and Kids lines. Wilbert soon rose to head the style office of Diesel, and in 1993 was given the official title of Creative Director, with responsibilities ranging from clothing & accessory design to advertising & communications, merchandising, retail & interior design (including showrooms & even hotels), planning of fashion shows &events, as well as working on new businesses. Literally all aspects of the Diesel brand's style and image have fallen under Wilbert's responsibility. Wilbert's legacy as creative director has featured a concentration on constant innovation, both in clothing and communications. The defining aspects of his personality are humility and a quiet, low-key approach to the industry. Wilbert stays largely out of the fashion spotlight, focusing instead on creating a harmonious creative culture within his team, a structure based on collaboration and nurturing rather than individualism and competition. Participation in events such as ITS and other programs to support young, unproven creatives are a natural extension to this. Wilbert was a founding member of ITS and is now is in his 5th year on the jury. DEANNA FERRETTI -Entrepreneur- Deanna Ferretti Veroni started her career in Reggio Emilia, Italy more than 30 years ago. She has since then successfully collaborated with some of the most important designers of this past century. She met Kenzo when she was barely 25 years old and with him she worked successfully for over 20 years. During the 70's she collaborated with Yves Saint Laurent (Tricot e Variation), Rena Kraft, Chiwitt, Frapp, Luis London, Blaky Dress, Giorgio Correggiari, Popy Moreni and Michelle Bruyere.In the 80's she started to have her first licences with Adrienne Vittadini, Armani and Joseph. Their collections were drawn by John Galliano and John Richmond.In the 90's, she worked for Martin Margiela, Gai Mattiolo, Valentino, Neil Barret and for many others brands. She has a wide experience in textiles and knitwear but she cannot be called neither a fashion designer nor simply a business woman. Actually, she is an atypical figure born for realise almost every designer's dream. Now, every three or four years her company supports a new young talent, because Miss Deanna is a symbol of originality and quality. BARBARA FRANCHIN -Talent Scout- She was born in Trieste, Italy, and living in a border zone has led to her openness and curiosity in terms of interfusion in all its forms. She took her first steps in the fashion world establishing an atelier with a friend aimed to the creation of extravagant womenswear clothing. Her propensity for exchange, comparison, curiosity and the search for the creative spark lead her to create and organise in 1993 Mittelmoda, a projects created to provide space for the elaboration and search for talent within the fashion world. Barbara left it after the 2000 edition to launch a new and autonomous entrepreneurial project in Trieste; an agency, EVE, of which she is Director & Project Supervisor. As director of EVE she has been organising ITS - International Talent Support since the very beginning. |
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| MARIA LUISA FRISA -Curator & Journalist- Especially interested in the phenomenon of overlapping in the arts, fashion and design, Maria Luisa Frisa studies the complexity of the contemporary imagination in her transdisciplinary projects. She curated (with Francesco Bonami, Stefano Tonchi) the exhibitions: Uniform: Order and Disorder, at the Stazione Leopolda of Florence and at the New York's PS1 (2001); (with Stefano Tonchi) Excess. Fashion and the Underground in the 80's at the Stazione Leopolda of Florence (2004); Italian eyes. Fashion photography from 1951 to today, at the Rotonda di via Besana in Milan (2005). She is the fashion curator for the editorial and communications projects of the Fondazione Pitti Discovery of Florence. With Mario Lupano and Stefano Tonchi she co-authored Total Living (2002), and with Raf Simons and Francesco Bonami, The Fourth Sex. Adolescent Extremes (2003). With Francesco Bonami, she edited the catalogue of the Biennale di Venezia entitled Dreams and Conflicts. The Viewer's Dictatorship (Marsilio, 2003). She directs Mode (Marsilio Editore), a publishing project focusing on the ideas and figures in fashion. Since 2003 she has been working on the nomad project Laboratorium, a name for a variable nucleus of people from different professions experimenting strategies in visual communications processes. She chairs the Degree course in Fashion Design at the Art and Design Faculty of the "Università di Venezia" (IUAV). KEI KAGAMI -Fashion Designer- Kei Kagami initially studied architecture and worked as studio assistant to the pre-eminent figurehead of Twentieth Century Japanese building design, Kenzo Tange. During this period Kagami realised his true vocation and promptly enrolled at Tokyo's Bunka College to study tailoring. Building a bridge between the two disciplines, the move into fashion was a sort of logical progression. In 1989 Arriving on the doorstep of John Galliano's studio in London his talent and determination were instantly recognised and Galliano put him to work without hesitation, and he remained there as Galliano's studio assistant for three seasons working very closely with his mentor. In 1990 with the help of Sisheido, Kagami enrolled at the prestigious Central Saint Martins. In 2001, his first catwalk show was held off-schedule at The Bulgarian Embassy in London. He has shown in London for several seasons and now presents his catwalk show in Milan. Kagami's first shoe-exhibition was held at a gallery in Milan in 2003. Transcending fashion, Kagami's intricate, structural designs have been displayed in museums and galleries across the world including the Museum of Modern Art (Belgrade), Au Musée du Textile et des Costumes de Wesserling (France), Design 21 exhibition ( New York), triennale (Milano ), Rooms (Tokyo) 'The Fashion of Architecture ' (London and New York), 'Body Extensions' (Switzerland). ELISA PALOMINO -John Galliano, Head of the Studio- Born in Valencia, Spain, she leaves for London in 1989 to study at Central Saint Martins (MA Fashion and Textiles). She started her profesional carreer in New York in 1992, soon she moved back to London to work for Liberty and Timney Fowler. In 1995 she joined Moschino and designed for the "cheap & chic" line. In 2000 Elisa moved to Paris at John Galliano as the head of the studio. In the same year, she started a collaboration with Christian Dior. She is also an external teacher at Central St Martins. MARIA LUISA POUMAILLOU -Founder and Buyer for Maria Luisa Boutiques- Maria Luisa's adventure began in 1988 with the opening of her first boutique in Paris in a very unconventional street - 2, rue cambon - as unconventional were at that time the fashion designers' collections that she had chosen to launch: John Galliano, Helmut Lang, Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela to name just a few! These almost unknown fashion designers were to become fashion icons quite immediately. In the years to follow Maria Luisa's fame as a visionary woman spotting the most-famous-to-become designers has never stopped growing. Maria Luisa now owns and directs 4 boutiques where some of the most innovative and outstanding fashion designers from Balenciaga, Rick Owens, Rochas to Charles Anastase or Nicolas Andreas Taralis. At 38, rue du Mont Thabor, the 'mixte' shop, focused on younger and emerging talents It will welcome the collection of the winner of the Maria Luisa Award in the form of a dedicated shop-window. PAOLO RIVA -Head of Ladies' Shoes Division of Ferragamo- Paolo. Born at midnigh of a 1973 summer in the flat lands of northern Italy. He discovers Milano when he joins a Business School. Passionate about strategies and marketing he spent 5 years of fun and learning in New York, Bruxelles, Paris and Luxembourg for an American consulting company. In 2002 fall in love with the fashion world and join a Master in Fashion Management in Milano. In 2003 Salvatore Ferragamo hires him as Marketing expert and after 2 years he becomes the guy in charge of the ladies shoes business for the brand. |
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| AITOR THROUP(>) -ITS#FIVE Winner, Fashion Designer- Aitor Throup was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1980. He moved to England when he was twelve. In 2001 he took a BA in Fashion at Manchester Metropolitan University graduating with first class honours. In 2006, he completed an MA Postgraduate Degree in menswear fashion at Royal College of Art. Aitor is fascinated with anatomy. His main interest is drawing where he explores the human body in continuous motion, constantly attempting to capture a linear aesthetic balance. Aitor's hand drawn characters become the primary tool in the exploration of his "justified design" philosophy, which highlights the necessity of a reason or function behind all design features. The starting point does not involve the final garment. Aitor's design process utilises innovative methods of design and construction, in particular a three stage construction process. This three-stage process of Drawing, Sculpture and Garment was recently showcased at MAN during London Fashion Week (February 2007), where he showed an exclusive preview of his new seasonal tailoring concept. He won two awards in ITS#FIVE: Collection of the Year and i-D Styling Award mainly thanks to his personal approach to design: Story Telling (rather than the three-stage sculpture), creating garments with transformable features, all of which are directly informed and justified by the narrative/story of the collection. As part of the main award, he is back at ITS as a member of the jury. HEATHER BLAKE(>) -shoe designer and winner of Accessories Collection of the Year- I have been making clothes and accessories for as long as I can remember. Luckily my parents were very supportive and they usually let me go out in my odd creations. While doing an art foundation course I became fascinated by the process of printmaking and went on to do a degree in fine art. After 12 years in art education and community arts in Spain, London and Hong Kong, I went to visit an old student who was studying footwear design at Cordwainers college in London. I knew as soon as I entered the building that I wanted to make shoes. I returned to London from Hong Kong and spent a year at Cordwainers learning how to make shoes, followed by a year at a Bespoke shoemakers in London. I then went on to do an MA in footwear design at the Royal College of Art finishing in Summer 2006. Since then I have taught footwear design at Cordwainers (now part of London College of Fashion). I am currently living in Italy, working on a design placement for Salvatore Ferragamo, as well as working on my next collection for ITS#SIX. |
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| Some days before, on April 20th ITS#PHOTO projects will be reviewed by the president of ITS#PHOTO jury and artistic director of the photo exhibition Denis Curti. ITS#PHOTO JURY DENIS CURTI -Photographic critic and Director of Contrasto, Milano- Denis Curti in the last fifteen years has been involved in many of the most important Italian institutions and projects regarding photography. He has been for ten years, from 1992 to 2002, director of "Fondazione Italiana Per la Fotografia" in Turin and took care from 1995 to 2001 of the "Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia". Â In 2000 he became a member of the international comittee of critics which organized the first edition of "BIG, International Biennale of young artists"; in Turin. He collaborated as photography critic for Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera and weekly magazine VIVIMILANO from 1990 to 2004. In 2002 and 2003 he has been curator of photography auctions for Sotheby's, Milan. |
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