Marble Sculptures by Aquilano.Rimondi

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Aquilano.Rimondi Spring/Summer 2012


Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi are giving a lot of thought to the Renaissance - both the fifteenth-century art era and the decade they consider to be the renaissance of Italian fashion: the 1980s. (Important distincton: They said Italian fashion specifically, not fashion in general, calling out Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, and Gianfranco Ferré). Anyway, the two have been researching artisanal application techniques for their prints inspired by the marble columns in St. Peters's Basilica in Rome and are using a palette of pastels in the tones of faded frescoes.

If you're wondering about that eighties comment, Aquilano's explanation is that he reveres it as a time when Italian fashion simply felt, well, Italian. "It's the craftsmanship and the quality of fabric," he said, "the sense of color, sense of art."

The tale of Roberto Rimondi and Tomasso Aquilano, better known as Aquilano.Rimondi, is one of both hope and caution. The upbeat part we'll  get to in a minute, but before that, the downside. This talented twosome have, even before their own show already made two appearances, moonlighting as the designers behind Fay, the Tod's-owned outerwear label, and creating a 20th-anniversary collection for Piazza Sempione that's now to become a full-time gig. They joked that they weren't trying to give that multitasker extraordinaire Karl Lagerfeld a run for his money, but clearly they're going to need Lagerfeldian reserves of energy to handle everything on their plate. Non of this, incidentally, is intended as a critisism of the Aquilano.Rimondi boys. It's just recognition of the harsh realities that younger independent designers are faced with, to nurture and sustain their own labels, especially when they might have gotten entangled with previous working relationships that rapidly and unfortunately went south - and how.

Aquilano.Rimondi - a collection that contained many gorgeous, and gorgeously rich in artisanal detail, looks. These two have learned to exploit the best handwork that Italy has to offer, taking a youthful glee in pushing themselves to experiment with the trickiest and most elaborate techniques. Spring is no different. They took as their starting point the Renaissance, and another high point in Italian culture - that would be eighties fashion, the era of Ferré and Versace, what resulted was a silhouette both sculpted and sensual, whether it was their dresses or separate pieces: molded tops with skirts that were short and curved, long and lean, or exploded in panels or tiers of pleats.

They brought originality to the plentitude of digitalized photo prints we've already seen all season, with draping and shadows the recalled marble sculptures printed on the likes of pearl gray or parchment creamy gazar, or as gleaming gilded swirls on silk. Then they went crazy with the embellishments, lavishing 3-D beading on their slim skirts worn with crisp short-sleeved shirts, and edging the seams of the dresses with hand-sewn pearls that echoed the graphic banding of seafoam green, lavender, and taupe. The standouts, though, were all those pleated pieces, expertly cut to swing with a grown-up sensuality, and which caught the fluidity and movement that has been one of the most appealing developments of Milan.

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: VOGUE

Photography by Marcio Madeira/firstVIEW


Enjoy my previous Aquilano.Rimondi-post - 


'Artisanal Luxury by Aquilano.Rimondi'

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