Many faces and brands united in a common mission: sustainable fashion. On the 9th November, Cittadellarte hosted a meeting organized by Fashion B.E.S.T. that involved young designers and institutional figures from the fashion world. As mentioned in a previous article, present at the initiative were designers of the calibre of Tiziano Guardini, Flavia La Rocca, Bav Tailor and Silvia Giovanardi, besides Maria Teresa Pisani (Economic Cooperation and Trade Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) and representatives of the Milano Fashion Institute. The exchange was really productive, laying the foundations for the project ‘Sustainable Fashion Best Platform’ (more details to follow). In regard to the initiative, the objective is to support young fashion designers aiming at perfecting sustainability in the fashion industry, inspired by the principles of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Third Paradise and working in line with the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Last week’s meeting was therefore the first chapter of a new journey in the name of sustainability, as inferred by the words of Olga Pirazzi, in charge of Cittadellarte’s Fashion Office: “The young fashion designers are very committed and allow us to envisage a future of sustainable fashion. Cittadellarte can really become an international point of reference whose driving force is art, as a potential ‘means’ of beauty, ethics and communication. The credibility of the project is characterized by a collective who can change the way fashion is made, a group of single individuals working together in synergy”.

Silvia Giovanardi, co-founder and creative director of WRÅD, echoed Pirazzi’s comment: “Words wouldn’t be enough to try and define the magic of being together, whether it is a small nucleus of two or a substantial number of people operating as a single entity in pursuing the same objective. You would need to involve all the arts, – she argues – like Michelangelo Pistoletto magnificently does and like we are called to do as bearers of an honourable manifesto which entails a great responsibility. I am specifically referring to finding a way of making fashion become a means helping us escape the impasse we have ourselves created through it. Deconstructing the system from the inside and using art to grease the wheels of this infernal machine, we can transform it into a machine turning dreams into reality instead. I therefore thank Cittadellarte for making possible what appears to be impossible”.

Highly positive was also the feedback of Maria Teresa Pisani, who said to us: “It was a brainstorming with fashion designers in which we discussed how sustainability can be beautiful and how art can end up constituting an important source of energy. Designers play a relevant part in the issue of sustainability: to make progress in this sector, we have to involve them and work with them as well as with all the other actors in the supply chain. It is very encouraging to see that, despite their young age, they clearly understand the responsibility they have and they are very committed to this cause. The ideas they produced are very promising and, as United Nations, we are expecting their involvement to be dependable and long lasting. We are therefore hoping to have them participating in our projects soon, with an extremely active role.”