The link between ‘made in Italy and San Remo’
As a non-Italian living in Italy, I did not understand the hype around the music festival, San Remo. I sat in front of the tv five days in a row to listen to artists I had no idea existed, and given that the music is not that great, I focused on the thing I like the most, clothes. I was surprised by the level of costume design that every artist or special guest was wearing. From Achille Lauro and his extravagant costumes to the perfectly fitted tuxedos, Zlatan Ibrahimovic wore in his special appearances. To my surprise, used to seeing international gala events where people wear a selection of designers and brands from all around the world, when I went to Instagram to see what people were wearing, almost all of them were wearing Italian designers and I don’t think it was just a random occurrence of life.
Seeing things from a different perspective, I don’t think Italians really understand the importance of Italian fashion. The made-in Italy and Italian tailoring were the novelty and the fashion engine of the world in the 80s, but we will leave that for another occasion. The fact that almost every artist in San Remo was wearing Italian fashion may be the result of the sudden appreciation of Italian brands but also the result of political factors.
COVID started almost a year ago, in the same period Milan’s biggest brands were preparing for women’s fashion week. Most of those shows were unable to be presented or had to adapt to the governments' measures. Given the state of the country, the engines of the fashion industry like Armani, Gucci, Ferragamo, and more somehow aided the country either in the form of donations to hospitals, by producing face masks or sanitizing gel and promising to help the government in reconstructing the country’s economy. Of course, they had their intentions in mind. With exports to a minimum and the lack of tourists, mostly coming from Asia, fashion houses had to count on the local market.
In order to gain back the hearts of Italians, Valentino for example decided to bring back their runway to Milan. Giorgio Armani decided to invest in the city of Milan and fill its city with billboards with encouraging messages, and Gucci and Camera Nazionale Della Moda Italiana set up scholarships for students studying fashion degrees. All of this to gain back the Italian market they have forgotten about a while back. Now, a year later, I can see how either the brands had approached the artists of San Remo, the most followed televised event of the country to show Italians their latest collections, or artists and guests getting in contact with the brands in order to proudly wear Made in Italy. This is a way of brands saying to Italians, ‘we are here for you.
Of course, as always, there were winners and losers. The big winner, because they literally dressed the winners of the festival was Etro, the Milanese brand founded in 1968. They really chose perfectly which artists to wear their clothes because Maneskin represented the aesthetic the brand has been trying to communicate in the last years. Youth, youth, and youth. I really think their decision to dress only one artist was really smart. The second winner was Gucci. To continue their long-lasting collaboration, Achille Lauro was the flagship artist that wore Gucci this year. Besides the classic 70s style suits, Lauro wore dresses that looked more like designs for theatre than for a festival broadcasted on tv. A special mention to Giorgio Armani that did what they do best. All of the artists and guests that wore Armani to the theatre in San Remo, were polished and elegant. Impossible not to miss when wearing Armani. For me, the loser of San Remo was both Dolce e Gabbana and Versace. Both brands have been struggling lately to get out there. D&G on their side, dressed a lot of male artists in simple tuxedos that neither communicated the brands' identity nor the artists' identity. Versace on the other hand dressed only one artist, Fedez, and even though it wasn’t that bad, I think they wasted an opportunity to dress more artists and to show their latest collection presented last week.
I think San Remo was an excellent opportunity for brands to show their latest collections presented less than a month ago in Milan, and it was really interesting to see both up and rising brands sharing the scenario with much more established brands, both representing the artists that better adapt to their image.
