18/05/2015
ITC ETHICAL FASHION INITIATIVE:a special edition of the Guest Nation Project.The spotlight will shine on Africa’s talentswith the “Constellation Africa” show at Pitti Uomo 88To confirm the vastness and quality of international participants in Pitti Uomo, over the past few seasons the Fondazione Pitti Discovery has been setting aside a special area for the rising stars on the world’s economic and creative stage with the Guest Nation project. This edition, in cooperation with the ITC ETHICAL FASHION INITIATIVE, will focus on fashion from Africa with the special event “Constellation Africa”, to promote young and talented designers from the continent.A runway show scheduled for Thursday, 18 June at the Dogana (Via Valfonda) will feature four brands that privilege manufacturing in their home countries and are already known on the international market. Dent de Man, MaXhosa by Laduma, Orange Culture and Projecto Mental will present their men’s collections.“I believe that Pitti Uomo is the best platform to showcase these innovative designers from Africa, the continent which hosts the future of fashion and couture“, says Simone Cipriani, Head and Founder of the ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative. “The richness of materials and the beauty of their designs are truly unique. This is where our global society is going: interconnectedness. Global and local dimensions brought together through fashion“.Ethical Fashion Initiative is a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. The Initiative links the world’s top fashion talents to marginalised artisans - the majority of them women - in East and West Africa, Haiti and the West Bank. Active since 2009, the Initiative enables artisans living in urban and rural poverty to connect with the global fashion chain. The Ethical Fashion Initiative also enables Africa’s rising generation of fashion talent to forge environmentally sound, sustainable and fulfilling creative collaborations with local artisans.Under its slogan, “NOT CHARITY, JUST WORK.” the Ethical Fashion Initiative advocates a fairer global fashion industry.And here are the four participating brands:ORANGE CULTURE // Adebayo Oke-Lawal from NigeriaOrange Culture is a contemporary menswear brand created by Nigerian designer Adebayo Oke- Lawal in 2011. The brand combines classic and contemporary western silhouettes with an African edge. Orange Culture fuses Nigerian silhouettes, print fabrics and contemporary urban streetwear. Orange Culture is more than a clothing line, it is a “movement” for a creative class of men that are “self-aware, expressive, explorative and art-loving nomads”. Orange culture has been featured by top fashion magazines and was recently shortlisted by Vogue Talents for Africa and LVMH’s 2014 Young Fashion Designer Prize.MaXhosa by Laduma // Laduma Ngxokolo from South AfricaMaXhosa by Laduma is a South African knitwear brand founded in 2010 by Laduma Ngxokolo. The South African Xhosa manhood initiation ritual practiced by amakrwala was behind the launch of the brand as Laduma sought to create Xhosa-inspired modern knitwear that would be suitable for this tradition. Since, the Xhosa aesthetic has come to be part of the DNA of the knitwear brand as Laduma has explored and reinterpreted traditional Xhosa beadwork, patterns, symbolism and colours to inspire his modern knitwear line. Through his work, Laduma is an agent of change, shifting and evolving with the changing times and further engaging in the dialogue that keeps pushing traditional culture toward the future.
