Next Up: 3 Italian Designers to Watch from Altaroma
Altaroma, Rome’s couture week held in July, is becoming an unlikely launch pad for emerging Italian fashion designers thanks to the talent competition Who Is On Next?. The program has launched the careers of designers Marco de Vincenzo, MSGM’s Massimo Giorgetti, Stella Jean and Arthur Arbesser. Meet this year’s stand-out fashion and accessories designers from the 12th edition of Who Is On Next? here.
Miahatami
Narguess Hatami of women’s wear label Miahatami left her native Iran, where her mother has a clothing brand, at 19-years-old to study costume design and fashion theory in Italy. “I thought I’d return home after university, but I ended up with a job in fashion before I graduated,” she explains. In Italy, she worked for designers Paola Frani, Massimo Giorgetti at MSGM, Marco Morosini and Aviù before launching her own label, which came in second place at the Who Is On Next? competition this year thanks to soft, flowing silhouettes covered with patterns inspired by Persian mosaics. But, the now 35-year-old designer is quick to not be defined by her heritage alone. “I don’t consider my design ethnic,” Hatami says.
Pugnetti Parma
Pugnetti Parma designer Filippo Pugnetti has an untraditional background. Instead of attending a fashion design school, the 32-year-old designer, who won this year’s accessories prize, learned leather bag craft working in a Parma production atelier. This way, he can focus on construction and pragmatism, rather than fantasy. For example, the brand’s first design, the “Lift” bag, was inspired by an Italian elevator repairman’s satchel. “A bag is a woman’s best friend,” Pugnetti says. “It has to carry her secrets and stay by her side.”