Martine Rose Named Guest Designer of January’s Pitti Uomo
MILAN — Martine Rose will be the special guest designer at the upcoming edition of Pitti Uomo, which will run from Jan. 10 to 13 at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence.
The British Jamaican designer will parade her fall 2023 men’s collection with a special event in a still-undisclosed location.
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“I’m so honored to be showing as part of Pitti Uomo in January. Pitti has always [been] way ahead of the curve in celebrating men’s design and many of the designers I respect have been a part of it. We are all so excited to come to Florence, a city I love, with our next collection,” Rose said.
The London-based designer has become a cult figure in menswear since launching her eponymous collection with a few shirts in 2007, and has been nominated for the British Fashion Council’s Menswear Designer of Year award three times in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
She is known for seamlessly blending tailoring with streetwear using quintessentially British youth culture references, such as punk and rave movements, and always nodding to her Jamaican heritage to create an explosion of colors and textures.
She’s also become known for her out-of-the-box fashion shows where she’s embraced everything from a South American market to a cul-de-sac in Camden Town. She was a finalist for the ANDAM prize for emerging designers and shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2017.
In recent years, she’s collaborated with Demna to create Balenciaga menswear and on popular capsules and projects with brands including Napapijri, Nike and Tommy Hilfiger.
In 2021, showroom-turned-brand accelerator Tomorrow Ltd. acquired a 60 percent interest in the brand, allowing Rose to invest in building out her London-based studio team, developing new product categories and growing the brand’s international footprint.
“At the first meeting with Martine for the special event in Florence, we ended up talking more about family, schools, daily shopping and cycles of life in popular neighborhoods than about fashion shows,” said Lapo Cianchi, Pitti Immagine’s co-head of special projects.
“It was evident how all this was closely related to her work, a cognitive and emotional baggage blended in with great creative freedom with social and cultural thoughts and that is reflected in her collections, where even the most conflicting inspirations and inclinations come to a solution, at a temporary coexistence and each time to be rebuilt. In short, a sort of inverse canon, a very interesting work of and on fashion,” echoed Francesca Tacconi, Pitti Immagine’s other co-head of special projects.
This marks the first announcement Pitti Uomo organizers have made to build up the hype around the 103rd edition of the trade fair, after June’s event suggested business was back in full force after a few pandemic-disrupted and digital-only editions.
Martine Rose follows in the footsteps of Grace Wales Bonner as special guest of the men’s trade fair.
Incidentally, both were considered likely candidates to take over the creative lead of menswear at Louis Vuitton after the death of Virgil Abloh, according to industry sources.
Speculations intensified around the June edition of the trade show, although Louis Vuitton chief executive officer Michael Burke had told WWD in an exclusive interview last January that the jewel brand within the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton stable was in no rush. A successor to Abloh has yet to be named.
