Showing His Metal: Giuseppe Di Morabito’s MFW Debut Combines Ancient Armor and AI Robots

“Ameca? Ameca, wake up! The show is about to start,” echoed a video recording of designer Giuseppe Di Morabito from some scattered screens set in front of the public attending his show this afternoon. The murmur went suddenly quiet while a robotic presence conquering center stage slowly started breathing. Ameca is, in fact, the most advanced humanoid robot in the world and represents, with its gestures and integrated artificial intelligence, the speed at which society is rushing toward the future, often without pausing to reflect on itself. Acting as Di Morabito’s alter ego, the robot led the show only after quoting from Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartu, an 1830s book theorizing fashion while reflecting on mankind’s loneliness.

On the catwalk, within the white luminous spaces of Spazio Maiocchi, Amelia Gray Hamlin opened the show wearing an all-black look made of manually gnarled leather. Titled ‘Alone with the Stars,’ Di Morabito s Fall collection was his answer to a post-traumatic disorder syndrome he experienced after a mishap when traveling to Namibia, Africa. “I talk quite frankly about this as I believe it kills the stigma,” said the designer. “I had to deeply work on myself to discard the repression of the past. With this collection I did the exact same: I looked into the history of costume to find elements able to convey a strong sense of protection, finding in Middle Ages armor the perfect symbol of strength.”

With warped dark leathers depicting Di Morabito’s oil-dirty stormy sea of gloomy emotions, iron defenses made by blacksmiths grew on models’ bodies, following at times the wearer’s shape. Some three-dimensional metallic roses grew on their shiny reflective surfaces, with an important symbolism that served as a fit rouge for the entire collection: as fragile objects suddenly petrified, their hardened fragility was the designer’s own. The corsetry with its 18th-century baschina and some French lace used as a catsuit with bustier structures were then rebalanced through the use of Georgette drapes and trompe-l’oeil embroideries of body shapes. Crinolines were hidden under garments to add a little structure; lasered denim in the form of statue drapes gave breadth. Finally, Di Morabito’s negative emotions eventually turned into light via glass elements and crystals of different sizes, with a touch of naked sheerness conveying vulnerability.

The designer’s debut runway collection played more with shapes and textiles than colors, keeping a very basic palette. From the darkness of graphic black and mixed gray, tones of brown made their appearance, nodding to Namibia’s red desert, where Di Morabito’s accident took place. Crystals represented many little stars.

Along with Elisabetta Dessy and Valeria Buldini on the runway, some male models carried Di Morabito’s first few menswear pieces. “I wouldn’t define it as a co-ed show though, it’s just a sentiment,” he said. “I often create my structured tailoring as opposed to evening dresses starting with men’s fits. It was enough for me to change the size, without ever touching the garments.” Although it was Di Morabito’s runway debut within the official Milan Fashion Week calendar, the designer has been building his name since the brand’s foundation in 2016, thanks to celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Zendaya. Guarded by his armor, his future seems to shine as brightly as his sparkling dresses.