Correspondances - Yohji Yamamoto

Pitti Immagine Uomo N. 67
12 - 15 January 2005
For the first time from Wednesday through Saturday - instead of Thursday through Sunday Florence, Fortezza da Basso



World preview of clothing and accessories collections fall-winter 2005/2006

The event is organized by Pitti Immagine and sponsored by the Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana

The Fair
Pitti Immagine Uomo is the exhibit of men's fashion - clothing, accessories, objects - that every year opens the European and international calendar of trade fairs in the textiles and clothing sector. Now in its 67th season, it provides a world-wide focus among the trade fairs, representing the dynamic reality of contemporary men's fashion. The event presents a cross-section of the market, from the classic to the informal, to the avant-garde, culminating in high-end collections offering both strong images and product content.

At the last winter edition (8 - 11 January 2004), the trade fair, which has shown an uninterrupted growth curve for the last six years, was visited by more than 26,000 operators (17,000 Italian and 9,000 from abroad). The figures also show a continued rise in foreign participation, both in exhibitors (the foreign brands by now have exceeded 35% of the total) and buyers, now also accounting for more than 35% of the total.

The trade fair's major foreign reference markets are Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Greece, and the United States. Of particular note is the great number of buyers from Far-East Asia (Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), from Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary), from the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway), and an already conspicuous advance guard of Chinese buyers. And, finally attendance from Australia, the Mid-East, and South America.

These figures explain the constant increase in participation applications from new brands and companies which, once again this season, have reached the 300 mark, with the informal sector in the lead and a significant percentage of firms heralding from northern Europe.

Pitti Immagine Uomo explores the styles and trends in contemporary men's fashion in 10 sections, divided into three broad categories: Classic (Pitti Uomo, Futuro Maschile, Uppercasual, Affinità Elettive), Informal (Sport & Sport, Ynformal, Urban Panorama), and the Avant-garde (L'Altro Uomo, Fashion/Design).

Confirmed New Beat(s): a special section exclusively devoted to research collections making their debut at Pitti Uomo. Sergio Colantuoni is the curator of this third edition of the area.

The Figures
Here are the show's vital statistics as of today
651 exhibitors
760 brands
268 of which (35,2% of the total) are from abroad

The New Names
Here are the firms that are making their Pitti Immagine Uomo debuts:
Bonne 650 Twin, C'est Ala Bank, Chausser, Christophe Coppens, Cristiano Fissore, Emma Hope's Shoes, Endless, Fred Bare, Gaetano Navarra, Hollywood Trading Company, Iesse, Linda Farrow Vintage, Preview Milano, Riccardo Freccia Bestetti, Stitch's, Twin DdM, Ventcouvert, VGrantham.

The General Exhibit Layout
nce again at this edition, the exhibit layout at the Fortezza da Basso, the trade fair's exposition center, will be dramatise a single theme to focus on the event and its trade proposals. The installation is devised to act as a guide, or path through words, ideas, and feelings by way of huge theatrical flats, like the pages of a book, to depict emotions to accompany the busy visitors to Pitti Immagine Uomo.

WordCity is the title of a project, curated by Cliostraat and Laboratorium, that will provide an abstract frame for all the beautiful, strong images and figures that emerge from each individual pavilion. A reverse perspective that for a few days will involve the word and its evocative capacities in a dialogue on equal terms with images and their absolute power.

The Special Events
On Wednesday, 12 January, the inauguration at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna at Florence's Palazzo Pitti of Correspondences, the exhibit by Yohji Yamamoto (13 January - 6 March), a project by the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery. Correspondences among more than 80 items of clothing that retrace the history of contemporary fashion with the gallery's spaces, paintings, and sculptures. A staccato conversation among different forms of art all united by a common idea of beauty.On the afternoon of 12 January, with a fashion show at the Stazione Leopolda, Yohji Yamamoto will also be presenting the fall-winter 2005/2006 Y's line collection.

The fashion event at Pitti Immagine Uomo N. 67 is signed by Ermanno Scervino. The evening of Thursday, 13 January, the Milanese designer (Florentine by adoption) will present the first live show of his menswear collection during an event-performance at the Stazione Leopolda. Musical entertainment, high impact settings and, naturally, Ermanno Scervino's sport-chic glamour.

The schedule for this edition includes the party-event organized by Levi's on the evening of 13th January to launch the new European campaign for the "Levi's 501 Anti-form" line. Plus events organized for the press and operators by the British Menswear Guild, Mason's and Pal Zileri. And the world preview of Notte 266, the video-installation by the Masbedo group, produced by C.P. Company, on show at the Teatro Rondo di Bacco at Palazzo Pitti with the collaboration of the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery.

THE FONDAZIONE PITTI IMMAGINE DISCOVERY PRESENTS:
CORRESPONDENCES _ YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze 13 January - 6 March 2005 Opening 12 January 2005



Correspondences is the title of the Yohji Yamamoto exhibit that will be presented in Florence on the occasion of Pitti Immagine Uomo n. 67.

Correspondences between over 80 outfits that cover the creativity of one of the most charismatic designers in contemporary fashion, and the rooms, paintings and sculptures of the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Palazzo Pitti. It will be a tightly paced dialogue between different art forms that share a certain idea of beauty.



The clothes to be displayed in the museum's 30 rooms were selected on the basis of their ability to interact with the artworks. The exhibition, art directed by Yohji Yamamoto's long time collaborator Masao Nihei, is characterized by opulent simplicity. The clothes, shown on Stockman forms, blend with the Gallery's permanent collection. Standing free of showcases, the garments can be admired and touched, allowing viewers to appreciate their absolute beauty, the quality of the materials and perfect design. A dialogue is created by the placement of the garments and the artwork; hinting at hypothetical encounters; seeking eye contact with the observer. The subtle light dominating the exhibition is broken by sudden, harsh flashes.



Correspondences is the first part of a collaboration between Florence and Paris that will be followed by a separate Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile of the Louvre from 14 April to 28 August 2005.

The January monograph issue of A Magazine, the six-monthly journal published for the Flanders Fashion Institute of Antwerp, will be dedicated to Yohji Yamamoto. The issue will include coverage of the exhibit.

The Galleria d'Arte Moderna or of Palazzo Pitti hosts a collection of around 4,000 works in its thirty rooms, including sculptures and paintings from the 19th and 20th century. Works can be found by artists such as Canova, Dupré, Fattori, Lega, Signorini and De Nittis. Carlo Sisi is the director of the Modern Art Gallery.

YOHJI YAMAMOTO _ CORRESPONDENCES
Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Palazzo Pitti
Piazza Pitti _ Florence
13 January _ 6 March 2005
Hours 8:15 a.m to 1:50 p.m.
On 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23 January and 2, 3, 4 February
the exhibition will be open from 8:15 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Closed on: 17, 31 January and 7, 21, February
Info _ + 39 055 3693407/211

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