The presentation of Simone Guidarelli’s capsule collection for Cuoio di Toscana during Milan fashion week marks the debut of the leading Consortium of quality sole leather, in fashionable clothing with a project with a green soul created to celebrate the icons of Italian spirit.
Milano, 24 February 2021. Cuoio di Toscana enters womenswear through the main door. Cuoio di Toscana’s new creative project will be unveiled with an evocative event during the next FW21 edition of Milano Moda Donna Twenty21. As creative director of the collaboration, Simone Guidarelli, has designed for the Made in Tuscany brand, an exclusive selection of cool garments, shoes and accessories dedicated to as many noble heroines of recent Italian history, protagonists of the tricolour genius who have left an indelible mark on the cultural, artistic, creative and scientific heritage of the beautiful country: from Oriana Fallaci to Anna Magnani, from Grazia Deledda to Rita Levi Montalcini, including Nilde Iotti and Alda Merini.
The project has a truly innovative scope: for the first time, a naturally green material, usually destined for the manufacture of soles for shoes, becomes a non-woven fabric used to shape practical and refined clothes and accessories. As well as using sole leather in the complex yet typical creation of a sartorial garment, the Marchigiano creative director’s style translates into the creation of a signature print created exclusively for Cuoio di Toscana: a stylised, floral pattern, both chic and playful, transposed onto sole leather where a rooster proudly stands, the symbol of Florence and from now on also of Cuoio di Toscana.
The project has a truly innovative scope: for the first time, a naturally green material, usually destined for the manufacture of soles for shoes, becomes a non-woven fabric used to shape practical and refined clothes and accessories. As well as using sole leather in the complex yet typical creation of a sartorial garment, the Marchigiano creative director’s style translates into the creation of a signature print created exclusively for Cuoio di Toscana: a stylised, floral pattern, both chic and playful, transposed onto sole leather where a rooster proudly stands, the symbol of Florence and from now on also of Cuoio di Toscana.
The revolutionary Cuoio di Toscana capsule includes a small collection of glamorous and sustainable garments, accessories and shoes for men and women, available from March 2021 on prestigious e-shop fashion platforms, and entirely handmade in Tuscany by master craftsmen operating in the circuit of companies participating in the Made in Italy Consortium of sole leather producers. Twenty21 features a soft Seventies-style trench coat, a bold studded leather jacket, a very feminine skirt and an elegant blouse or chemisier which opens up jubilantly around the hips into flat folds, and an original hatbox, iconic glasses with sole leather frames, sophisticated belts, it bags, printed boots and timeless, double buckle monk strap shoes. These are unique and strictly one-of-a-kind items, the result of the manual expertise of the talented Tuscan workers, able to transform an apparently difficult material into an archetype of sensual softness and natural lightness.
“We are honoured to be present on the Milano Moda Donna calendar with an important and highly innovative project focused on sustainability and the enhancement of our manufacturing excellence – states Antonio Quirici, President of Cuoio di Toscana – thanks to Simone Guidarelli and to our wonderful craftsmen, we have made an impossible dream come true by actually applying processes, treatment and printing traditionally reserved for clothing to sole leather, linked to the genius loci. Our mission is to break the mould with original creative solutions in design and of high quality that relaunch the centrality of women as the driving force of our extraordinary country. With this unprecedented capsule, sole leather, a highly sustainable material in itself, reveals potential and qualities never explored before, confirming the commitment of our Consortium to support the female world and to safeguard the crucial role of companies and craftsmen in the rebirth of the most beautiful country in the world where everything is still possible”.
“I am very happy with this collaboration with Cuoio di Toscana – concludes Simone Guidarelli – with whom I share the strong values that have guided our project, craftsmanship and sustainability. I am enthusiastic to have shared my creativity and vision with the excellence of the Consortium, giving life to a capsule with a green soul, a unique expression of design and research”.
| Thrill, glamour and seduction pervade the evocative short film which introduces the viewer to the sophisticated world of Cuoio di Toscana. The video, created by the prestigious sole leather Consortium Made in Italy to illustrate its first fashion capsule collection Twenty21 founded under the creative direction of Simone Guidarelli, almost seems like the first episode of a Netflix series. The plot is one that would have pleased the cursed genius of the Guy Bourdin click, inspired by the Narrative Art lesson of Richard Avedon, when in the ‘70s, he took his shots for Charles Jourdan. Like in a Brian De Palma film, various clues to a mysterious story waiting to be revealed are scattered on the scene. Then she arrives, the protagonist, haughtily and languidly walking in the rooms of a sumptuous mansion, the historic Villa Borsani, loved by Giò Ponti, Ugo Mulas and Fausto Melotti. And so, between a canvas by Fontana and a sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro, the syncopated narration of this surreal journey unfolds, whereby discreet waiters occasionally hand this belle dame sans merci the iconic sole leather it-bag, the object of desire of the new exclusive capsule of Cuoio di Toscana, a talisman of luxury and craftsmanship. In honour of the logic of the freeze-frame typical of Narrative Art, the video leaves the viewer in a state of suspension, awaiting the next episode, the second tranche of a captivating plot steeped in rarefied beauty, talent and passion. And the story of Cuoio di Toscana’s elegance continues… |
| Cuoio di Toscana expresses the excellence of unique sole leather, obtained with slow vegetable tanning, an ancient process based on the use of natural tannins obtained from chestnut, mimosa and quebracho wood. The brand was created with the aim of becoming the spokesperson in the world of one of the leading tanning districts. The companies that are part of the brand are all in the province of Pisa between Santa Croce sull’Arno (Bonistalli and Stefanelli Spa) and San Miniato, locality of Ponte a Egola (Gruppo Conciario CMC International Spa, Conceria Gi-Elle-Emme Spa, Cuoificio Otello , Lamonti Cuoio Spa, Conceria 3S Srl and Volpi Concerie Srl). Simone Guidarelli is visionary, creative and incredibly multi-faceted. Different worlds merge and overlap, in a succession of images, stores and lives. It all starts in Cagli, a small town in the centre of the Marche region, where an inquisitive Simone grows up, constantly seeking beauty. Each extraordinary ability must be cultivated: like in a theatrical play, the person and the character evolve with his move to Milan. On that very stage, Simone assumes the role of fashion editor, artistic director, image consultant and stylist, with over seventy covers between Vanity Fair and Glamor Italia. He is able to read through bodies and interprets the desires of great names in photography, such as David Bailey, Patrick Demarchelier, Giovanni Gastel and Douglas Kirkland. A tailor with a vivid imagination: with his exclusive audacity, he sews his dimension of reality, capable of daring and breaking the mould with lightness and irony. www.simoneguidarellihome.com |
