Update of the year-end events press review

The Corriere della Sera (Corriere Fiorentino) published an interview with President Vincenzo Giubba on July 25, 2013 concerning the new projects in the area of fashion and design. He also spoke about the upcoming academic year 2013-14 that will see the schools of fashion, design and photography involved in a series of events proposed for the 30th anniversary of the school.


 

Corriere della Sera Thursday - July 25, 2013
by Laura Antonini

Kids of fashion
They study in Florence, then conquer the catwalks throughout the world
Here are the projects of the Accademia Italiana and its president

From Florence to Nairobi. From Lungarno to Bangkok. It happens like this: you arrive in a city with the desire to become a designer and in three years you really do and perhaps you find yourself, little more than twenty years old, catapulted into discussing with Franca Sozzani and designing collections produced all over the world. All you need is determination, creativity and, obviously, the right school. In thirty years of existence (it was founded in 1984 and soon will celebrate its 30th birthday), the Accademia Italiana continues to convince young high school graduates to attend its courses. "It's enough to think that on a recent Open Day, on July 17, nearly eighty young people arrived from all over Italy" relates the president, Vincenzo Giubba, "they had already gathered information concerning the instructors and the subjects and they made the trip here to verify with their own eyes the formative offerings for the next year, and to understand how to organized their lives, studies and perhaps future work in the city." Many Italians know us thanks to word of mouth, the foreigners arrive thanks to the relationships we've established in these thirty years with universities" he relates on the eve of his summer vacation, while he sums up the academic year rich with satisfaction for his kids. "In 2013 the Accademia Italiana was accredited by the Ministry of Education to award 3-year diplomas equivalent to a bachelor's degree. While we had already been accredited by UK universities and many courses by US universities the Italian Ministry's recognition puts us a step ahead for those who choose us, a growing number who, upon graduating do not delay in finding a job." There is the Palestinian designer Jamal Taslaq, famous on the high fashion runways in Rome, and the Florentine Valentina Cavoli who, newly graduated with a degree in Fashion design has already had the honor (last July 23) of showing her works in Civitavecchia during the "Frammenti sotto le stelle" event. "We prepare each student to cope with the real world", continues Giubba "and we elaborate projects and initiatives that allow them to work using their knowledge, technical abilities, and challenging their aptitude for adaptation."
The confirmation of this strategy is evident by the quality of the collaborations woven by the fashion and design school in Piazza Pitti. There is the Salone del Mobile di Milano (international furniture exhibition) where the students displayed their design works; the participation in the last two editions of "100% Design" fair in London with the "Rethinking the Product" projects. And then there is the traditional year-end fashion show at Obihall where the graduating students show their final collections on the runway, this year a special occasion for visibility and future career possibilities." Five of these students, in fact, were chosen by Franca Sozzani, director of Vogue Italia and by Sudhitham Chirathivat, head of the Central Retail Group, of which the Gruppo Rinascente is a part, to participate in the solidarity project "Fashion 4 Development", designing mini-women's wear collections that will be produced in African artisan laboratories and then displayed and sold in 2014 in the La Rinascente department stores. "A creative and meaningful exercise for our students who are called upon to create contemporary fashion using simple African textiles. A format that under the aegis of F4D I will be taking to Thailand in 2014 to involve local laboratories that produce precious silks."

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The fashion show presenting the works of the graduating students in the Florence fashion design program received extensive media coverage as can be seen in the following articles. The Italian regional news (TG 3 Tuscany) dedicated a special news service to the show on April 27, 2013. The year end event can also be seen on Fashion TV.

Watch the Fashion TV coverage on YouTube.

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Here are some comments taken from the press concerning the events of April 20, a success confirmed by the participation of more than 2,000 guests coming from all over the world.

"Firenze - made in Tuscany" - number 26 (spring 2013)
by Sabrina Bozzoni

Fashion + Art + Design
Accademia Italiana. An international reality

An international event that combines art, fashion and creativity. Important figures in the sector participate every year to evaluate and select future fashion protagonists. A true springboard for future stars of design "Made in Italy". The 2013 edition will be held on Saturday, April 20th, at the Obihall Theatre in Florence where the Accademia Italiana of Art, Fashion, & Design will present its fashion show event. Each year, many important figures related to the world of fashion and design take part in this important event; figures like Sudhitham Chirathivat, the Chief Executive Officer of the Central Retailers Group, to which Gruppo La Rinascente belongs, Franca Sozzani, Goodwill Ambassador of F4D (Fashion for Development), Claudio Luti, president of Kartell, Brunello Cucinelli, owner of the fashion brand bearing his name, Guillermo Mariotto, creative soul of Maison Gattinoni and Michel Adam owner of Fashion TV will attend the fashion show this year and will receive the Premio Piramide dell'Eccellenza in its 9th Edition, an award dedicated to people and brands by the students of the Accademia Italiana of Art, Fashion and Design, whose initiatives and creativity are particularly appreciated. The award is designed by set designer Gianni Quaranta (Oscar for best art direction in the film "A Room with a View"), lecturer and honorary president of the Rome campus of the AI. During the show, the students of the Fashion Design and Costume Design course will show on the catwalk the results of their work, study and research focused on this edition, on the theme of "the journey". Many young and creative proposals for a show where male and female models, selected through international casting interpret the works of young designers, enriched by spectacular music and dancing performances. The event is preceded by the opening of an exhibition dedicated to the works of students of Visual arts and Design.
What is the Accademia Italiana? A place where tradition and modernity coexist harmoniously looking for new languages, languages of the future that will involve borders to be crossed and arts to be protected as the most valuable heritage. It is an international institute of higher and post-secondary education of art, fashion and design, counting every year more than 1,000 students coming from all over Italy and all over the world. This new generation school boasts three operational hubs: Florence, Rome and the latest, Bangkok. The historic headquarters of the Accademia Italiana are located in Florence, at no. 15 of Piazza Pitti, housed in a 19th century building, the so called "Palazzo Temple Leader", placed at the center of a square that experienced the most vibrant artistic renaissance in history, just opposite to the main entrance of Palazzo Pitti and the Giardino di Boboli, while the historic Palazzo Bargagli of Lungarno alle Grazie houses the Spazio Workshop destined to the laboratories, that boasts a spectacular view on the city and its surrounding hills. With almost thirty years of experience, the Accademia Italiana, founded in 1984 by architect Vincenzo Giubba, current President, is today considered in Italy and abroad, an important reference point for education made in Italy and for the study and research activity in the fashion and design fields. Recently recognized by the "Miur" (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research), it is authorized to issue bachelor's degrees for the following three-year courses: Design, Fashion Design, Photography, and Graphic Design in Florence, and Design and Fashion Design in Rome.
Many former students are currently holding prominent positions within companies and have achieved great successes in the professional and artistic fields worldwide. Over the last decade the Accademia Italiana has also welcomed students coming from over 200 important US universities and more recently, it opened a branch in Bangkok where the Institute has become the reference point for all Southeast Asia. The summer courses and masters complete the range of technical and aesthetic experiences offered by the Institute, the latter dedicated to advanced research and innovation in the furnishings and design field. Accademia Italiana - an excellent example of a dynamic evolving reality.

Quotidiano Nazionale (Il Giorno - Il Resto del Carlino - La Nazione) - March 28, 2013
by Laura Cinelli

How talents are born
"
The Accademia Italiana, a school that creates jobs".

It is one of the few realities capable of creating an exchange between the school and the working world. The Accademia Italiana of Florence and Rome is 29 years old but it doesn't show. "Because from the time the school was born - explains the president, architect Vincenzo Giubba - it has been in constant growth, never showing a moment of crisis."
A thousand students each year, one hundred specialized instructors, 90 percent of the graduates who find work. "Maybe with one year contracts or in internships - adds Giubba - but with good prospects."
The Accademia Italiana has been recently recognized by the Miur, the Italian ministry of education, university and research, authorizing the awarding of bachelor's degrees for the 3-year programs of Design, Fashion Design and Graphic Design in Florence and for Design and Fashion Design in Rome. And as if that wasn't enough, the international bachelor's degree in Photography also arrived "we scarcely dared hope - says Giubba - but the Minister made it and for us it is a further reason for excellence."
The students of the Accademia will be present at the International Furniture Fair in Milan (Salone del mobile) in the "Satellite" section as well as an "off-Salone" project in collaboration with the historic company Jannelli&Volpi that produces wallpaper. All of this thanks to the continual exchange between the school and the industries in particular, in this case, in the area of interior and product design.
But among the many initiatives that each year are underway there is also the awarding of the Pyramid of Excellence, a curious and rather intelligent award that the students decide to assign to important names in the world of fashion and design in general. This time the students have decided to honor, among others, Brunello Cucinelli, Guillermo Mariotto and Franca Sozzani. It will also be an occasion for the presentation of the final projects of the students, three hundred pieces entirely designed and created by them. The appointment is for April 20 at the Obihall theater in Florence.

 

Economic weekly magazine "Il Mondo" No.15, 19th April 2013 
by Ettore Tamos

Luxury 2 Agreement between Chirathivat (CRC) and the fashion university
Mr. Rinascente goes to the Accademia Italiana

The agreement will be revealed on Saturday 20th April when Sudhitham Chirathivat, President of La Rinascente and Executive Chairman of the head company, the Thai Central Retails Corporation (Crc) will announce on occasion of the Pyramid Award that will be given to him by the students of the Accademia Italiana during the fashion show at the Obihall Theater in Florence. The intention of Chirathivat (in the photo on the left) and of the colossal distribution chain in Thailand, China and Europe, where he has just taken over through La Rinascente, the Illum chain store in Copenhagen (6,5 million visitors) is to also invest in Italy and in the Old Continent and to characterise them with a strong fashion component. This is the first step: a collaboration agreement with one of the Italian fashion universities, the Accademia Italiana to be precise, founded by Vincenzo Giubba (in the photo on the right) in Florence and accredited by Miur, where the fashion and design companies look for new talents. The other award winners will be Brunello Cuccinelli, Claudio Luti (Kartell) Giullermo Mariotto (designer for Gattinoni), Michel Adam (owner of Fashion TV) and Franca Sozzani (Fashion for Devlopment).

La Nazione - May 7, 2013
by Laura Tabegna

Trendy & Fashion
Creativity? Necessary to create transformable objects

"Don't stop at the concept of creativity for its own sake, but create transformable things, with which you can play without the presumption of imposing a style, but suggesting a lifestyle". Professor Marco de'Micheli, head of the fashion design department at the Accademia Italiana in Florence, relates the style of the future according to his students. Three hundred garments, all designed and produced by the graduating designers of the Accademia were shown in Florence at the end of the academic year. The initiative was entitled "The Journey". For the occasion important names in the fashion industry arrived from the Far East, including the magnate of Fashion Tv, and among the other big names was also Franca Sozzani with the project Accademia Italiana for Africa. "Our young designers - explained de'Micheli - have done a lot of research on the materials, which they then modified, aging them, waterproofing them." With an eye towards ecology the students have played with recycled elements, but also with the flexibility of the creations and their use. Someone interpreted the idea of the Journey as a fusion of cultures, as space exploration or in a noir key. On the catwalk garments were shown that could be transformed into suitcases, accessories created out of bicycles inner tubes. Among the most innovative and extravagant ideas were jackets made of silicone, that take on the anatomical form of the arm without needing to sew. A journey into the future without forgetting the practicality and ability to surprise.