We, here. We, now.

Sponsored by Florence Municipality and produced by the creative agency Mirror - who collaborate with the big brands representative of Made in Italy, the video was filmed in May in two days of intense filming: 48 hours night and day to give atmosphere to an almost tribal dance.

In fact, the video was interpreted by 10 professional dancers from the Compagnia Opus Ballett directed by the choreographer and dancer Jari Boldrini, who gave form and movement to the outfits produced by the young designers.

The 36 collections designed and sewn by the students, under the creative guidance of Prof. Marco De’ Micheli, Head of the Fashion Design undergraduate degree program and Prof. Cecilia Rinaldi responsible for the sewing and sartorial courses, interpret four main tendencies: nature, sartorial, street and geometrics.

Four different moods that muddle genres, reinterpreting garments that have made history in fashion by deconstructing and reconstructing them, manipulating the fabrics or utilising alternative weaves.

The students worked a lot on the manipulation of textiles, using prints, embroideries, ecological dyes, patchwork effects.

Sustainability influenced their choice of materials: offcuts were mixed with authentic ethnic fabrics from Ghana, diving suits were disassembled and reassembled in original garments, recycled stockings and metal can rings and bottle caps were transformed into couture accessories.

Another common theme traceable in the collections, the fluidity of the genres: men’s bustiers, interchangeable sporting items designed to be worn by both him or her.

Each collection was placed in its appropriate setting within the three iconic Florentine locations. The geometrics created an unusual contract with the Santa Maria Novella refectory, an example of late Florentine Gothic Renaissance style. The nature mood dialogued with the lush Boboli Gardens transformed at night into a set with dark accents, to host outfits with a decidedly sophisticated character. In this setting, the focus of the shooting was the famous nicknamed horned tree ‘l’albero dei cornuti’, a secular Californian Incense-cedar, recently put under the protection of the Florence Municipality Department of the Environment.

Instead, the sartorial garments were on display at one of the two Accademia Italiana Florentine campuses, gracing the monumental staircase up to the most envied terrace of the Bargagli Palace on Lungarno delle Grazie, from which you can enjoy the surrounding panoramic rooftops.

“We, here. We, now” therefore becomes a statement, a declaration of intent and a profession of awareness towards a fashion industry, that overwhelmed by the pandemic, feels the need to be reborn on new foundations rooted on responsibility, inclusion and a close relationship with nature, that becomes a source of aesthetic and material inspiration.