Altaroma: Made In Italy, the Search for New Talents and New Sustainable Fashion

One of the main characteristics written in the DNA of italian people is undoubtedly creativity, the search for beauty seen as an absolute value. Italian fashion is recognized worldwide as an expression of excellence that parades on the catwalks during fashion events; thanks to the repositioning carried out by Altaroma, the Rome Fashion Week has established itself as a forge of new talents and independent fashion, which here find expressive space and important opportunities in a program full of shows, fashion talk and presentations. 

Altaroma - Fashion Runway's mission is to discover and support promising young designers and new brands. These representatives of Made in Italy are given important tools and opportunities for promotion through dedicated projects: Fashion Hub, Who Is On Next?, Showcase and Portfolio Review. Let's see them in detail. 

Fashion Hub is a space created for designers from Fashion Academies, Institutes and Universities of Fashion to which Altaroma provides its know-how, a network of professionals and an important list of contacts, as well as a press office and a showroom. Here they can present their collections to an audience of trade journalists. 

Who Is On Next? is the scouting project in collaboration with Vogue Italia that has launched internationally renowned names over the years. This space combines new experimental approaches to design with traditional craftsmanship, and here too it is clear that fashion is increasingly sensitive to issues such as gender fluidity, inclusion and sustainability seen as necessities of our times. Emerging brands are given the important chance to exhibit their work in front of a jury of experts and the opportunity to find support to consolidate their names in the national and international market. The final of the Who is on Next? project is one of the scheduled events of Rome Fashion Week.

Showcase is a project dedicated to Italian fashion brands that produce in their country and is reserved for young designers and independent Made in Italy brands. The initiative is possible thanks to the support of the Ministry for Economic Development and the ICE Agency (Agency for the promotion abroad and the internationalisation of Italian companies). Showcase is part of the Rome Fashion Week, where, within the Altaroma exhibition, designers can present their clothing and accessories collections to an audience of experts to create business relationships and B2B contacts with national and international buyers. To date, the project has been launched in Rome and London, but will soon involve the world's main fashion capitals. 

Portfolio Review, finally, is thought for fashion designers and illustrators who have developed sustainable fashion projects, but also for students of schools, universities and academies, and provides a day dedicated to the review of their portfolio with the Deputy Editor of Vogue Italia and Head of Vogue Talents Sara Sozzani Maino and with the Fashion Consultant & Talent Scout, Head of Project of Who Is On Next? Altaroma Simonetta Gianfelici. 

Fashion yes, but only if it is responsible. The world is changing and with it people's sensitivity to certain issues. In this context, the fashion system cannot fail to take into account a new demand from the consumer, who is much more attentive than in the past to the repercussions that man's activities can have on the environment in which we live and hence on our health, an awareness accelerated by the pandemic. Applying a sustainable approach in the fashion sector has a double advantage, namely reducing pollution but also amortising the costs of raw materials and production. In addition, many brands rely on countries with cheap labour, and it is, therefore, necessary to spread a culture of labour protection. 

In this perspective, it is essential to understand how craftsmanship can be important and how it has positive repercussions that most of us had never thought of. As well as representing one of the core values of Made in Italy, craftsmanship produces a smaller quantity of garments than fast fashion but with a higher quality, which allows them to last longer, thus turning into waste to be disposed of much more rarely and later. This logic is further reinforced by the attention that many luxury brands pay to the choice of recyclable raw materials, thus further extending the life cycle of the product which, once thrown away, can be transformed and put to new uses. It’s a double advantage, therefore, both for the consumer, who can enjoy more beautiful, valuable and long-lasting products, and for the brand, which saves on annual turnover as well as reducing environmental pressure. 

This is the firm belief of Silvia Venturini Fendi, president of Altaroma, who has been a supporter of this sustainability ideology for several years, so much so that she wants Altaroma to be "the cradle of ethical and sustainable brands".

"Phygital" is a neologism indicating the fusion of physical and digital. This is the formula adopted for the new Roman Fashion Week, which combines events in presence to other appointments to be followed online, thanks to the digital platform Altaroma Digital Runway and a new App for tablets and smartphones; here the insiders can access restricted areas in which to interact with the designers even after the days of the event. The last edition, held from 7th to 10th July 2021 in the Cinecittà studios, saw the collections of Annagiulia Firenze, Casa Preti, Caterina Moro, Dalpaos, Edoardo Gallorini, Gretel Z., Roi du Lac and Vescovo on the catwalk, together with the three collective fashion shows of Rome is my Runway. It was a real success that surpassed all previous editions, thanks also to the contribution of streaming on the digital platform.

Here is the programme of the event in more detail. On 7 and 8 July, the Fashion Talks opened the dances, where topics and different points of view on the fashion scene were discussed. July 7 was the day dedicated to the Academies, to reiterate the importance of training; July 8 started with a presentation of the twelve finalists of Who is on Next? and the fashion show that announced the winning brands in the ready-to-wear and accessories sections. From the morning of 8th to 10th July 72 brands divided into 3 days participated in Showcase. 

Altaroma also includes an In Town section, with a network of fashion-related initiatives and activities in various locations around the city, organised in a busy calendar of presentations, exhibitions and events. 

All this has been made possible thanks to the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and the Lazio Region, with the support of the ICE Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. 

Today's new fashion speaks of ethics and sustainability (just think that 70% of the 89 brands produced by Altaroma boast sustainable production), of inclusion and gender equality. In a city as rich in history, beauty and contrasts as Rome, creativity finds inspiration and fashion an ideal setting to bring new talents among the stars who will sign new dreams made of fabric.