‘An investigation into the concept of the classic which applies to everything as an absolute rule and yet remains absolutely reversible at the same time,’ is how Luca Magliano coined his A/W 2024 collection shown at Pitti Uomo on Wednesday evening in Florence.
It’s a summary that neatly encapsulates the young Italian designer’s approach to being a part of the fashion system on his own terms and one that has made him a breakout star since he launched his namesake brand, Magliano, in 2017.
Magliano A/W 2024 at Pitti Uomo
‘It is about treating with a wild irony a stereotypical ideal of manhood by messing with the fundamentals of a classic wardrobe,’ Magliano told Wallpaper*. ‘That is why we started from the very beginning, to play with the rules in a very irreverent way.’
Magliano has repeatedly challenged binary and societal stereotypes through the platform his brand provides him with. ‘Gender is an open conversation that needs as many representations as human beings are,’ he says simply.
For this collection, his ripping up of the conventional rulebook took on something of an intimate, urban ethereality. Staged in the Nelson Mandela Forum arena (that can be more frequently found floodlit for sports events and corporate events) the lights were intimately low with the auditorium seating dramatically pulled apart up to make way for an imposing carpeted staircase from which the models of all ages descended.
Magliano said it was ‘to create a moment that reminds of cinema more so than reality,’ resembling ‘a device of strain and an impromptu occasion for glamour; a vertical structure that unites top and bottom, in a cruel political metaphor, or queer re-match.’
His clothes took on the same oxymoronic approach. Tailoring was sculpturally twisted and pinned, appearing inside out with external silk pockets; knitwear came layered and cinched with tight leather belts; and sweaters were oversized and enveloping (an ode to the signature style of the feminist poet Patrizia Cavalli who died last year).
Suits and hats were made in collaboration with fellow Italian brands Kiton and Borsalino, safety footwear came from U-Power and slippers courtesy of a partnership with Ugg, while binders were made in collaboration with Amsterdam-based Untag. Elsewhere, studded leather handbags swung in tandem with plastic shoppers.
‘It’s the process of synthesis to give as many evocations as possible through design,’ he said. ‘We used to say that designing was like surgically creating this new monstrous creature where allergic universes were joined together: this is both an aesthetic and an ethic rule.’
This show was a return to where it started for Magliano, who made his debut at the showcase five years ago in 2018. In the time since, Magliano has both consistently raised the bar and moved the needle, a momentum that resulted in him being awarded joint winner of the Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize at the 2023 LVMH Award (alongside Julie Pelipas’ brand Bettter). With a grant of 200,000 euros and a one-year mentorship program from the LVMH Group under his belt, his victorious return to Florence was akin to ‘coming back home,’ he told Wallpaper*.
Home for Magliano is actually Bologna, a city that fuels both the designer’s personal identity and that of his brand. ‘I love the underground scenario that historically takes place,’ he says. ‘Bologna brings more “provincia” to my narrative, a strong magic realism.’
As his models assembled to ascend the stairs for the finale in Florence, it was his narrative of cohesion and community that was most palpable; quite possibly Magliano’s most successful creation of all.
