Designers To Watch: MRZ & MTF Maria Turri. Winners of Who Is On Next? 2018 Redefines Meaning and Practices of Made in Italy.
With the fast-paced moving culture and trends in fashion, the youngsters of today are making huge influences to the fashion of tomorrow. Legendary editor of Italian Vogue alongside AltaRoma has established Who Is On Next? a competition made to challenge and place young Italian designers in the limelight of fashion. The competition focuses on workshops and training for young local talents in order to project their brands and stories to the international realm.
With the shift in generation, mindset, and ideologies, too, have moved far away from what defines fashion. In today’s culture, much of the social and political issues are imbued onto fashion, redefining what the conversing with the consumers have been all this time. Five local Italian womenswear brands and four accessories brand participated. This year’s Who Is On Next 2018 prizewinners were equally given to Simona Marziali of MRZ and MTF Maria Turri. The notion Made in Italy has never been far from the craftsmanship that combines local traditional practices with timeless sophistication. Both Simon Marzali and Maria Turri brought the Italian practices with their own unique flair, techniques, and qualities.
Simona Marziali who was a designer from Emilia Romagna launches MRZ in honor of her family’s knitwear company, Magnifico Tomas. The designer creates garments that relate greatly to the younger generations that include sporty silhouettes, knitwear pieces on a daily basis. In this particular collection presented, Marziali was inspired by vintage air travel and thus, uses current trends including sports, bold graphics and layering. Everything is packaged in a playful and artsy way. The collection pieces include wrap dress worn over knit pants, which reveals green-and-white side stripe. Others include sweatshirts with its arm pieces created from a vintage-inspired trench.
While Marziali focuses on the traditions of sophistication passed down from her family, Maria Turri Ferro from Verona has an artistic hand that values the art of slow craftsmanship. The former artist pays much attention to a garment made by hand, hence her interest in slow fashion. Ferro has quite a poetic aesthetic where her slow processes, her attention to detail, and imperfections are made beautiful with her hands. Although Ferro’s approach is considered niche and slow in the process, her collection varies and is poetic to its touch. Pieces include full-skirted red midi dress, overalls with crisscrossing straps and others.
Who Is On Next? is a defining platform for the next generational of talented Italian designers. While Ferro and Marziali are looking to take on their next challenges as designers, the redefinition of Made In Italy are in both their hands and the future younger generations to come.