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)

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG WILL BE THE STAR OF THE PITTI W SPECIAL EVENT

Diane von Furstenberg  will be the special guest at the second edition of Pitti W _ Woman Precollection, the Pitti Immagine project dedicated to women’s pre-collections. On the evening of Wednesday, 18 June the extraordinary Giardino Torrigiani in the heart of Florence will be the stunning en plein air backdrop for an elegant, glamour-filled event featuring the world première of Diane von Furstenberg’s Cruise / Pre-Spring Collection 2008 – 2009

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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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 All the info about Pitti Uomo 74 and Pitti W are coming soon…

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.

Click here for more info

We created a collection of photo albums named Pitti Uomo 2008 that includes several photo albums (sets), including those from the Adam Kimmel photo shooting and dining event  and a live concert from the NY-based experimental indie rock band Gang Gang Band. If You want to hear their sound, we also have a video of Gang Gang Band live on our space on YouTube (youtube.com/pittimmagine).

More photo sets on Flickr, as the one dedicated to the 6267 precollection presentation, an overlook to the exhibitors’ stands an the installations that interacted with the indoor and outdoor spaces at Fortezza da Basso, a photo album of the Donna Simonetta exhibition, and more pictures that we keep uploading and adding to the Pitti 2008/73 Photo collection.

You can download images from Flickr.com in several available sizes – see next image for hints on where to click. If you intend republish one or some of the images, just remind to attribute copyright info to Pitti Immagine and to the individual photographer quoted in each photo set.

If you need extra or special formats for publishing needs, get in touch with Francesca Di Stefano at the Pitti Immagine Press office, sending an email to distefano@pittimmagine.com.

We started the upload of pictures from the 73rd edition of Pitti Uomo at our new Account on Flickr.com – we invite you to come have a look, download and leave comments at flickr.com/pitti-immagine.

We already posted a number of photo albums, including pictures of the exhibitors’ stands at both Pitti Uomo and Pitti W, plus some pictures from Pitti Immagine’s collateral events. We’ll post some more as soon as we get hold of more pictures.