CoSTUME NATIONAL ®
Ten years after debuting on-line with the first live streamed fashion show, Ennio Capasa pushes Costume National into a new dimension on the Web – a fresh approach to the aesthetics of the brand that in the Nineties launched a new mix of minimalism and tailoring expertise. It all starts with a video interview, during which the designer reveals the DNA of Costume National and its mantra, ‘evolution’. He describes fashion as a daily platform that becomes pure creativity only through its actual expressions. And it is creativity that allows the fashion biz to develop from an exercise in style into a dialogue between the first inspiration of the designer and the interpretation of the wearers.
In 2001, Ennio Capasa first challenged the future with a revolution in communication that kept fashion at centre stage while revealing new collections to the public with an unprecedented immediacy. If fashion is an adventure to be lived day by day, it is essential to document it with the same readiness with which it is worn. «It is imperative that we evolve now», says the designer, and there is nothing like the Web to encompass and keep up with the constant evolution that pervades Costume National.
Evolving while keeping true to the core inspiration: the rock ‘n’ roll of the Seventies – revisited in campaigns starring the children of rock – filtered by the concept of tailoring, which remains crucial for Capasa. In order to maintain this delicate balance – which over the years has developed into an instantly recognizable aesthetics – the designer has delved into technological minimalism with laser-cut fabrics, Pantone colours and futuristic silhouettes.
However, there are no signs of excessive abstraction. According to Ennio Capasa, one of the cardinal rules of fashion is that it should maintain a dialogue with the person who wears it – that it should change according to the needs and desires of the individuals who make a piece of the collection their own. Thus a garment relives thanks to the person who wears it: «Fashion is a form of pleasure, it seduces the self and the others», states the designer. This fashion is more centred on the dialogue with the wearer than on the narcissistic monologue.
«I believe that my aim or ambition has always been creating a style, an aesthetic point of view». The designer of Costume National unveils the story of the brand starting with the declaration of a passion for fashion and for its ability to interpret daily reality and the energy that surrounds us. The world is inspiration but in order to interpret it one needs intuition, «that is, the moment in which, thanks to a secret mechanism, you look around and try to capture certain sensations and objects that hold some freshness, some energy. Then you have to organize your ideas, and turn this intuition into a real design, with fabrics, colours and forms». And you have to go through the effects of this intuitive dream, even when the fabrics and their character impose themselves and require to seek new solutions.