admin Cartoons, manga and fantasies are usually present in Giuliano Calza’s designs, but not this time. “I am a huge fan of Futurama, and rather than looking at the past with nostalgia, the cartoon looks at the future instead,” he said backstage. With a whole collection based on his hometown, Naples, GCDS brought back memories to create new languages, made of light blue, yellow and wood brown.
There was flat ironed raffia that transformed its texture into 3D logos and printed leather that recalled Calza’s grandmother’s wooden furniture. A telephone she had at home made a comeback in brown, rather than its original transparent version. Ties became denim and shirts were weightlessly evanescent. Accessories featured see-through beads. If pleats work as a reference to waves, chains and hooks are Naples’s bolts, bringing the city into the spotlight. “We created a lurex knit that, with its micro knots, seems spiky, but it is actually very soft, just like my hometown,” said Calza. Asymmetries testified to the distortion of distant memories, bringing exaggerations of classic fits to get closer to a younger audience with relaxed silhouettes. Even the soundtrack was a mixtape of clichéd southern songs, trying to convey Italian-ness within a newly designed future for the brand.
Calza interpreted coming home in more than one way: he staged the show in his headquarters. The set was intimate and covered in plastic, just like when you are ready to move, and was unpacked before the show started. That same space will welcome 100 students tomorrow for another show—a very direct way to bring more young people to the brand.
