Patience pays off—that’s the case at least with this year’s winners of the Who Is on Next? Talent Comeptition Franca Sozzani Award. ATXV’s Antonio Tarantini, Niccolò Pasqualetti, and Piferi’s Alfredo Piferi each spent years working for others until they were compelled, and able, to speak in their own voices and develop their own languages.
The drive behind this need is more than aesthetic; rather it’s a manifestation of their world views and thus highly personal. Take Piferi, for example; having transformed his own life by going vegan, he’s trying to guide the shoe industry in the same direction by using vegan leather to realize elevated designs.
Tarantini—who worked for Versace and Dolce Gabbana, among others—gave up ornamentation almost exclusively when he launched ATXV. More importantly, in the cause of unity, he abandoned gender binaries, a concept that is only now gaining traction in the industry. For now he’s focusing on tops (with a sort of dancer-in-the-studio vibe) and intricately draped and twisted dresses. He works in jersey on a form, manipulating the material in ways that display the body—the most essential building block. “It’s time to be ourselves,” the designer said.
Pasqualetti—who has worked with Aligheri, The Row, and Loewe—has always rejected boxes. Placed in the womens wear course at Central Saint Martins, they insisted they were really designing for “wo/men.” Pasqualetti’s jewelry collection is made in Tuscany by local artisans using leftover stones from the luxury interior-decor industry or found objects. The designer says they know the provenance of all the material. The shapes are organic, incorporating masculine and feminine elements in keeping with Pasqualetti’s fluid way of looking at the world.
The Manteco Award was presented to Alessandro Vigilante, whose collections are inspired by his background as a dancer. The recipients of Pitti Immagine’s tutoring and consulting award are Gabriele Santriello of Italian Family, who is interested in taking the stuffing out of the Neapolitan tailoring tradition, and Id.Eight’s Giuliana Borzillo and Dong Seon, who design sustainable, unisex, made-in-Italy sneakers.
