STA Collaboration
It is always people that make the difference. It is the people who make the high school of fashion and design STA a sort of big family as well as being the best fashion design school in Switzerland. It is a place where I always felt safe and I could go back. This is also the reason why the collaboration with Far was born. It all started when I contacted Valeria Gilardi in a very particular time, during the so-called pandemic. Valeria is a teacher, we’re nearly the same age and attended school together. I asked her to help me with digital technical sketches. From a phone call we set up a meeting, and in March 2021 a visit in school with an introduction of the Far project. I therefore became the bearer of those values in which I believe so much: love for nature, environmental sustainability and the recovery of materials soaked with meanings. This collaboration made me honored and proud at the same time. Valeria has a great creative mind and, as happens when two minds of this type meet, projects and new ideas are generated … many new ideas…
The main idea was about developing of a new garment. We described this project to be “social inclusive” since solving social and environmental issues can lead to a liveable planet, happy people, and economic resilience.
Through this partnership the students felt involved and engaged into a real project that allowed them to meet in school, avoiding the social distances forced by the pandemics.
We thought about creating a very versatile and adaptible garment that could suit both men and women.
The process was perfect, just like in real fashion houses. As a first step, the students collected ideas, making a careful analysis of trends, designing the sketches while remaining true to those that are the characteristics of the brand. Then I was able to see the sketches made by the students. I was pleasantly struck by their great creativity and the countless ideas that have sprung from their moodboards. The results surprised me so much that I decided not to choose a single draft, but to bring together the ideas in a single garment as much as possible, a garment that can harmonize them and contain the different aspects of each one. So the competition turned out to be a real collaboration!
After months of working on this idea it turned out in 9 garments (one made by each student) that were presented for the first time in Silvaplana for the Engadinwind contest.
The resulti s the Silvaplana Gilet, a super versatile garment that turns into a backpack when not worn. I’m incredibly thankful to all the teachers and the students for the incredible work they realized.
I want to mention each of them.
Students:
Michelle Akaoui
Giulia D’Errico
Marie France Flury
Natali Hamawi
Vivian Hamawi
Alessandra Panizzolo
Raissa Previtali
Alessia Serratore
Corinne Stecher
Tamara Tronchet
Teachers:
Valeria Gilardi, Fashion Design CAD
Virna Basile, patternmaking
Svetlana Laudano, preofessional product knowledge and development
Roberto Calzolaro, prototype development