PROENZA SCHOULER will be the special guest at the fourth edition of the Pitti W_Woman Precollection event, taking place in Florence on 16-19 June 2009. The event is held concurrently with the Pitti Immagine Uomo 76 fair.

Launched in New York in 2002 by the designer duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Proenza Schouler will take the stage in a special event in Florence, at a unique location, to celebrate the opening of the spring/summer 2010 season. This will also mark the very first time that Proenza Schouler will show their collection in Europe.

The designers are among the biggest names in the international fashion scene, and the Proenza Schouler brand, named after the designers’ mothers’ maiden names, has quickly become a key player in New York Fashion Week. Known for creating a style that explores contrasts in poetry and pragmatism, their collections blend a variety of disparate influences from 1960’s American art to post-minimalism, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn to Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, always reinterpreted in their striking, contemporary vision. 

The performance will exemplify the spirit of creative experimentation and understated luxury that has become the Proenza Schouler signature. An important event for the city of Florence, this also proves once again that the Pitti Immagine trade fairs are the platform of choice for the best fashion brands, with worldwide launches and other events by the biggest names in fashion today.

Quotes for Proenza Schouler:

“Jack and Lazaro have established a signature…they have an incredible talent and a real sense of how their generation wants to dress, they have a great sense of proportion; they’re in tune with what’s happening in fashion globally.” (Sally Singer, Vogue USA, Summer 2008 issue of 10 Magazine)

“Proenza Schouler has, from the start, represented sharp-edged contrasts: an uptown sensibility but with a raw energy and dense decoration contained in a taut silhouette”. (Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune, September 9, 2007)

“Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, of Proenza Schouler, represent the next generation of American talent.” (Cathy Horyn, New York Times, September 9, 2008)

Pitti Uomo 74 is inspired to the topic of environmentally sustainability mobility, where the lead player in Free Cycle – Free Mobility is the bicycle, a constantly stronger symbol of a daily aesthetic, a cult object for a worldwide clan and also the key element in a series of global “trends”, from the New York Bicycle Film Festival to Critical Mass, to the repair shops in Brussels or the British attempt to redesign London with cycling paths to slim it down and combat obesity among the population.

At Pitti Uomo 74 the bicycle is everywhere: an impressive installation, a series of enormous pictures specially designed by Oliviero Baldini, and bicycle parts that became graphic elements throughout all the sections of the fair – and, of course, the newly launched city bike line by Pitti Immagine.

One the the Pitti Immagine bikes presented at Pitti Uomo 74, the Bike Number Zero of the limited, numbered edition, is now auctioned for charity on Ebay, with profits benefiting the Meyer Children Hospital of Florence, a pioneer in child care and treatment in Italy.

Click this link to visit the Ebay charity auction - get the hottest city bike around while doing some good. Buy on Ebay with confidence, and bid with your heart!

PITTI UOMO 74

Pitti Uomo, the international platform that has succeeded in bringing together attention for established names – the most product and marketing-oriented firms – with the finest selection of niche labels and young research projects. Detail

WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK

The special guest at this edition of Pitti Uomo is the Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck
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FREE CYCLE – FREE MOBILITY IS THE NEW THEME-LAYOUT FOR PITTI-UOMO 74

Pitti Uomo drew its inspiration for this edition’s layout from a very current topic: environmentally sustainability mobility.
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“THE CLOUD”: PITTI IMMAGINE AND MIT PRESENT THE INTERACTIVE CLOUD

Inside the Fortezza da Basso reception area visitors to Pitti Uomo will see “The Cloud”. It is a curved sculpture and an icon of the modern approach to organizing fashion fairs that Pitti Immagine is developing in conjunction with MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Modaprima n. 64 will be premiering ready-made men’s and women’s fashion and accessory collections created-for-large-scale-distribution for the 2009 spring-summer season and sneak-peeks of the 2008-2009 fall-winter collections from 24-26 May at the MIC_Milano Convention Center, fieramilanocity (Via Gattamelata 5).
Over 150 collections will be presented at the next edition by around 70 companies specialized in private label and ready-made products for medium and large scale distribution.
Alongside the already well-known names such as Ann Max, Banana Moon, Bernardini, Creazioni Rosanna, Maglificio Venezia, Nuovi Sarti, Plissé, V.T., Zanetti Moda; there will be newcomers to the event, along with some comebacks: Calzificio Franzoni, GI.P.T., Guerzon, Hazard Couture, Kinky Star, Magnum, Manifattura Nocese, Noblesse Oblige, Paco e Ruan, Veronica Effe.

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MILAN: FROM 24 TO 26 NOVEMBER, PITTI IMMAGINE PRESENTS MODAPRIMA: THE INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE FEATURING CLOTHING AND ACCESSORY COLLECTIONS OF MEDIUM AND LARGE RETAILERS

The fourth Pitti Immagine signature event in Milan dedicated to large-scale retail organizations.

The 63rd edition of Modaprima will be held at the MIC – Milano Convention Center, Fieramilanocity (Via Gattamelata 5). The fair, produced by Pitti Immagine will feature about 200 Made in Italy collections - and selected foreign firms – for the private label, ready-made areas for medium-and-large-scale retailers.
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FROM 14 to 16 SEPTEMBER, THE GARDENS OF PALAZZO CORSINI IN FLORENCE WILL HOST FRAGRANZE N.5: TIMELESS PERFUMES, THE MOST EXCLUSIVE ESSENCES, THE GREAT LEADERS IN ARTISTIC PERFUME-MAKING

Pitti Immagine presents the fifth edition of Fragranze, the only event of its kind in Europe dedicated to the world of artistic and selective perfume-making.

Open to the public on SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER.