After Pitti Uomo, Pitti W and Pitti Bimbo the Florentine fashion calendar provides Pitti Filati and the inevitable appointment at the Stazione Leopolda with the 21st edition of “Vintage Selection”, the famous vintage-fashion trade show open to the public. 
This year, the full program of events goes on until January 27 and in addition to dj-sets, theater performances and workshops concerning the vintage culture, it proposes the official opening of MY VINTAGE ACADEMY by Barbara Ricchi: a web platform which gathers thousands of prototypes, collected for over the 26 years of activity of the Giorgio Linea artisan workshop, which has always teamed up with the most important luxury brands for the accessories development.
The website is easy to use, and through several thematic filters it makes available to designers, researchers and fashion professionals a huge accessory-archive with a click. Once found the accessory you were looking for, you can download detail-photos, take an appointment in the show room or even rent it. A revolutionary idea in the fashion research field, especially if we think of all those freelance figures, who can not easily move and reach the showroom in the Tuscan hills. Talking with Barbara Ricchi and her colleagues, I discovered MVA is the result of four years of cataloging more than 40000 accessories, an “heritage in progress” which couldn’t be wasted. It is a project open to all other artisans, designers and designers who have any kind of archival items, often crammed and maybe forgotten in dusty spaces, which instead should be preserved in order to show the tradition of the Italian high-quality values to the future generations.
For the official opening of MyVintageAcademy.com, Barbara Ricchi wanted to create a unique experience/event, calling the great visual-artist Felice Limosani who made “Tears in Rain”, a site-specific art installation loosely based on the cult movie Blade Runner (1982).
As in Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, Limosani takes the audience in the future, in a dark and foggy space characterized by a constant “acid rain” crossed by beams of light. At the center of the space there is a long catwalk you can run under the umbrella, until you arrive in front of a big screen on which there is a reinterpretation of the famous final phrase of the film (I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…). The Limosani message reports a deficit of our society wich can’t appreciate anymore the passion, the dedication and the love that artisans put into their work.
The several questions based on the concept of copy, work ethic and love, lead the viewers into deep reflections concerning the progressive loss of the craftsmanship, one of the greatest Italian resources and values.
“… What is the boundary between man and machine? Between creation and production? Between original and replica? Between true and false? …” and again “… In a world where the centrality of man is becoming increasingly rare, the concept of love, is likely to get lost like tears in rain.”
This time Limosani has outdone himself, not only amazing and entertaining the viewers, but touching the strings of a common feeling that still hasn’t found a strong voice, of which My Vintage Academy can and will be the bearer.
Alessandro Masetti – The Fashion Commentator
More info:
Eccezionale!!!
Questo sito e l’idea che c’è dietro sono davvero importanti e rivoluzionari.
Hanno trovato un modo ingegnoso per rendere accessibili visivamente e materialmente pezzi d’archivio che altrimenti sarebbero rimasti confinati in un ambito ristretto. Bellissimo!!!
L’installazione di Felice Limosani mi sembra molto profonda e perfetta per inaugurare un progetto del genere. Poi c’è da dire che anche questo post così appassionato e – come sempre – eccellentemente realizzato hanno reso un servizio notevole all’iniziativa.
Per finire, un po’ d’invidia per il fatto che vivi in una città che oltre a essere stupenda dà vita a cose di tale livello.
Ciao Ale e buon weekend. Io darò uno sguardo a My Vintage Academy.
Lo ammetto: avrei voluto esserci e sono invidiosissima 😉
Laura
ohh il vintage, appuntamento a cui non mancare, peccato me lo sia perso, del resto bellissimo post come sempre ale:)
Patchwork à Porter
Mi piace molto la Vintage selection, anche se quest’anno non so se riuscirò a farci un salto!
Il progetto di Limosani sembra una cosa molto particolare, sarebbe da vedere..
XOXO
Cami
http://www.paillettesandchampagne.com
VUOI VEDERE PAILLETTES&CHAMPAGNE NELLA IT.FAMILY DI GRAZIA?’!
VOTACI TUTTI I GIORNI QUI http://blogger.grazia.it/blogger?id=305
BASTA CLICCARE SUL CUORE
GRAZIE!!!!!!!
Spero di poterci fare un salto almeno alla vintage selection dato che ho dovuto saltare pitti.
Intanto se hai 5 minuti passa per il mio blog e dimmi che ne pensi.
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Grazie 🙂
bellissimo post!
Ciao Ale!!! Innanzitutto la nuova veste grafica del blog è stupenda! Adoro il tuo profilo in papillon! C’è da dire che Firenze è una città rica di iniziative ed eventi stupendi, dobbiamo prendere esempio da queste manifestazioni :), tu bravo e professionale, come al solito!
un bacione e buona serata <3
PESCARA LOVES FASHION blog!
Ci devono essere tante cose interessanti alla mostra-mercato del Vintage!
Elena
http://scorzadilimoneblog.wordpress.com