Born in Trento in 1962, Cesare Maria Cunaccia graduated in Architecture with a focus on history from the IUAV University in Venice, then in Literature with an artistic focus from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, before taking a PhD at the Sorbonne in Paris, investigating mannerist culture and artistic relationships between Italy and Fontainebleau in the era of the last kings of the Valois dynasty. He has authored a substantial number of books about the Italian and European artistic and environmental heritage, the history of fashion, photography and the contemporary semantics of fashion and has curated numerous exhibitions, including the Fashion and Photography section of La Danza delle Avanguardie, at the MART in Rovereto in 2004, together with Franca Sozzani. An outstanding feature of his journalism is his longstanding work with Vogue Italia and l’Uomo Voguemagazines, both of which he served for several years as Editor-at-large, and with AD Italia as Art and Antiques Consultant. He currently contributes to Il Giornale and Giornale Stile and is Senior Editor with Lampoon. He lectures in two Masters courses in fashion and communication at the LUISS University in Rome.

After his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, he started producing images that combined classical techniques with modern digital tools. The study of the “sign” allowed him to operate in various fields in communication: he has illustrated monographic books for publishing houses, self-help manuals for De Agostini, and illustrated catalogues for Sharai. Since 2016, he has been collaborating with Mediaset as a visualizer in the creation of storyboards. At the same time, he collaborates with several advertising agencies and publishes his own underground comic books. In 2017, he met Francesco Vezzoli – a meeting which catapulted him into the world of contemporary art as he lent his hand to the artist in the performance “Take my tears” within the itinerating collective performance “Take me I’m yours” staged in the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca in Milan and repeated in 2018 in Villa Medici in Rome.

Ph.D. in History of European Society, she teaches “Fashion history and documentation” and “Fashion publishing and communication” at the Università degli Studi di Milano. Apart from her expertise in the history of fashion and dress, Canella is also an expert on the history of the city and the territory. Editor of various collections of books and conferences, she also collaborated with many brands in managing their historical archives and enhancing their heritage: Biki, Jole Veneziani, Germana Marucelli, sartoria Franco, Curiel, Giorgio Correggiari, Fiorucci, Missoni, Italo Sport, Sergio Tacchini, conceria Stefania, Andrea Pfister, Calzoleria Rivolta, Sutor Mantellassi, Ferragamo, Barbara Vitti, Pia Soli, Associazione Italiana Pellicceria, Walter Albini, Alberto Lattuada. Among her more recent publications are: Sport e stile. 150 anni d’immagine al femminile (Sport and style. 150 years of the female image), Skira; Dalla sartoria al prêt-à-porter (From tailoring to prêt-à-porter), in Consumi della vita quotidiana, il Mulino; Sant Ambroeus. Il dolce salotto di Milano (Sant Ambroeus. Milan’s sweet “salotto”), Skira; Franco il sarto dalle linee semplici (Franco the tailor of simple lines), Nexo; lR 100 Rinascente Stories of Innovation, Skira; La rivoluzione nei negozi Fiorucci (Revolution in Fiorucci Stores), in Epoca Fiorucci, Musei dei Venezia.

Chiara Orlandini has lived in between Italy and the United States and travelled all over the world. Her studies in Industrial Design were soon combined with her strong interest in Fashion and she started to work for some of the most interesting fashion manufacturers in the Italian market to then move on to professional experiences in several renowned fashion houses. Her knowledge of Made In Italy products, where she matured a particularly significant experience at Giorgio Armani, is combined with her experience on the American scene, where she held the position of Vice President of Design at Calvin Klein. Although her professional experience began in footwear, her career later extended to the complete world of male and female accessories. Her strong interest for the creative phase in fashion design always goes hand in hand with her high attention towards production processes and material research, as her significant experiences at international industrial companies as well as “hand-made” manufacturing enterprises in Europe, Asia and South America clearly show. In recent years, she has shifted her attention towards new technologies and environmental sustainability. In 2016, she founded Chio Resolutions whose mission it is to offer professional expertise to support innovative and high-quality projects.

Visual and interaction designer, Micchichè graduated in Communication Design at the IUAV in Venice. In 2014, he became part of the digital team of Il Sole 24 Ore, where he worked on developing the company’s digital products. In 2016, he started his collaboration with Circular, a well-known communication agency in Milan, where he developed digital projects for brands like Nike, Acer, Timberland and Benetton. His work combines design and technology placing the user and his interactions at the heart of each project. He currently works as a consultant and freelance designer for various brands and agencies.

After graduating from the Academy of Art in Enschede (Netherlands), he left Holland to go to Italy with the dream of working in a fashion design studio. He started with Walter Albini and was later hired as Luciano Soprani’s assistant where he learned to build a fashion collection and had a chance to broaden his knowledge of high-quality made-in-Italy fabrics working back-to-back with the best textile manufacturers. His encounter with Elisabetta Grossi made him decide to share his professional trajectory and to start an entrepreneurial activity opening his own studio with Elisabetta in Milan. He collaborated for several seasons with the associates of the “Ente Comitato Moda” where he was in charge of developing fabric trends. At the same time, he provided the same type of consultancy, with the addition of accessories (buttons, embroideries, trimmings), for Milano Unica – leading international fair in Italian textile manufacturing – and integrated this activity with collaborations as a fashion designer for several Italian and international companies in the fashion industry (Deni Cler, Gruppo Coin, Antonio Fusco, Isaia).

Christian Boaro studied Fashion design in Milan, where he graduated in Fashion Design at the Istituto Marangoni. In 2004 he stood out as the only Italian finalist in the international contest for young talents, ITS Talent. He debuted in his professional career working for fashion brands like Versace and Dolce & Gabbana and then continued his professional growth working alongside Gianfranco Ferré, where he designed the line Gf Ferré. Later, he moved on to MSGM, where he coordinated the menswear and womenswear lines. In 2012, he was appointed head designer at Ports 1961, where he worked on all the womenswear collections. In 2015, the Cadidl group hired him as Art Director to relaunch the historical French brand Philippe & Gaston. In 2018, the PlasMA in Milan hosted his first photography exhibition of polaroid shots. Boaro currently collaborates as a freelance designer with several fashion companies.

His professional career has given him the chance to gain experience in different fields: from communication to financing service. He has successfully developed a new business and at the same time renewed new commercial networks and company organizations. He has a peculiar attitude towards strategic thinking, from team work to talent honing and management. As a Coach Manager, he is truly a remarkable specialist of relationships for the development and acquisition of fundamental self-awareness. He has had numerous managerial roles in important Italian and international companies ranging from Commercial Manager in Mondadori Advertising to General Manager in Cemit Interactive Media, and he has been the General Manager in Condé Nast. After a few years in consulting, he came back to the company field as a Managing Director and as CEO of Cerved's Finservice Group.

After graduating from Istituto Marangoni in Fashion Design, he started his professional career by collaborating on projects for male and female accessories collections with Italian and international Maisons, such as Costume National, Giorgio Armani, Loewe, Tommy Hilfiger. He is currently collaborating with several companies in the industry and working on the launch of his own line of footwear.

In 1988, Fiorenza Spezzapria opened a studio in Milan for collaborations with Italian and international companies. After graduating from IED in Milan with a specialisation in textile design, she started to collaborate with several companies in the industry, such as Callaghan, Basile, Hettabretz, Comitato Moda Italiano, Luciana Zuffi, Brioni, Five Fox Japan, Yinger Group, Nali International, Milano Unica-Boglioli, etc. Her mission is creating “made-to-measure” projects for her clients, from seasonal trends to collection development, all the way to the final presentation, offering the right balance of creativity, market-knowledge, and new technologies.

A photographer in fashion and advertising, specialised in portraits, he has been collaborating since the beginning of his career with international agencies such as Armando Testa, Leo Burnett, Bcube, JWT, and has worked on projects for important brands in fashion and advertising (Versace, Gianfranco Ferré, Fiat, Nara Camicie, Barcklays, Mattel, Sony Italia, Ferrero, Lego, Volkswagen, San Pellegrino, Pepsi Cola, Red Bull, Alfa Romeo) as well as renowned publishers like L’Officiel India , Condé Nast, Mondadori, Rizzoli, Arbiter. He has published four photography books: Nata per Viaggiar (Born to Travel) (2009) is dedicated to Nara Camicie; About Us (2011), a collection of portraits of 70 international protagonists in the world of custom-made Harley Davidsons. Occhio alla moto (Look out for the bike) (2011) portrays famous Italian people as they had never been seen before; and in Beyond the Chef (2013, edizioni Skira), 35 international starred chefs are portrayed in an ironic and surreal manner. For his work in Beyond the Chef, Rizzotti received the Positive Photography Experience Award at the Positive Business Awards organized in the “Scuola di Palo Alto” in Milan in June 2014. In 2015, he presented the exhibition Shapes in action, where he explored naked female art in large-format works.

Fashion designer, after graduating from a scientific High School, she obtained her diploma as fashion designer and pattern maker at Istituto Marangoni in Milan and immediately started to collaborate with various style and design studios in Italy, until she moved to London in 1995. She continued to work on projects as a freelancer and experimented with her own street and clubbing clothing brand. In the late 1990s, she returned to Italy and collaborated for ten years with the style departments of several renowned Italian and international luxury maisons, among which were Anna Molinari-Bluemarine, Prada and Emilio Pucci. In 2012, she took on the creative direction of Dirk Bikkembergs’ womenswear collection. After this experience, she collaborated with Bally and later moved to Thailand to design the new Rtw womenswear collection for Jim Thompson, a local luxury brand. In 2018, she came back to Italy, where she is currently working on a new project for a Rtw womenswear collection.

Pattern maker manager, Barbieri graduated in 1982 as an industrial pattern maker at CFP in Carpi, Italy. For nine years, he collaborated as a manual and CAD industrial pattern maker at Maska, where he was in charge of the plus-size womenswear lines. Later, he entered the Max Mara group, where he managed the pattern making and tailoring departments for thirteen years and was responsible for some of the first womenswear lines of the brand. He then moved on to an experience as Pattern Maker Manager at Liu Jo and currently holds the same position at Twinset Milano. Throughout his career, he has collaborated as a pattern-making and fashion design teacher with the main fashion institutes in Italy.

He took his first professional steps in some wool studios in the Biella area, a worldwide known district for its excellence in the material. In the 90s, he attended Istituto Marangoni in Milan where, in 1994, he graduated in Fashion Design. After his studies, he worked as a designer in Sergio Tacchini, dealing with the male sportswear collection. There, he had the chance to develop an understanding of how an entire collection is created. His next experience was in Versace where worked for four years, and then he moved to Gianfranco Ferré Style Office where, for seven years, he has dealt with raw materials, both men and women product development. Today, he deals with research and development for Made in Italy collections for Asian companies.

After their artistic studies and respective professional experiences in Valentino Couture and Krizia, they established their partnership in Mila Schön in the 90s, working for almost a decade as consultants, first and creative director, then, dealing with prêt-à-porter and haute couture collections’ design, retail management and advertising. Then, they took on the creative directions of many brands, such as Byblos, Blumarine and Anna Molinari and worked in the Style Office of Gianfranco Ferré, one of the best masters of Made in Italy. Their relationship with the stylist was significant both from a professional and human point of view. They were entrusted with the creative direction of man and woman GFFerrè line. After the premature death of Ferrè, they were appointed brand creative directors. Today, Piaggi and Citron still work as freelancers, collaborating with many companies such as Sobia Rykiel, Les Copains, Genny, Peserico, Cruciani and, more recently, Piazza Sempione.

Born and raised in Genoa, Paolo began his career working for Calvin Klein and Versace. In 2000, he moved to Ermenegildo Zegna where he set up Agnona collections. Then, he worked in Roberto Cavalli Group where he designed female collections. In 2003, he graduated in Fashion Design at the University of Urbino. In the same year, he launched the fashion firm with his namesake and, in the following one, he showed his first collection in Milan. Architecture and design are the key sources of inspiration and reference in his work, with the aim to create timeless fashion. Hence, his collections are inspired by the study of primordial geometrical shapes combined with the human body. The result is a multifunctional fashion, with unusual dynamisms and innovative volumes, which design a new female expression and an innovative idea of sensual and plastic elegancy. Today, he lives between London and Paris, working as luxury brand consultant.

He studied in Florence at the Istituto d’arte di Porta Romana di Firenze, Jewellery Faculty, and at ISIA, where he graduated with a final dissertation on a snowboard joint to which he owes the the Compasso d’oro Giovani Prize he has won. His first professional experiences in fashion led him to work with Ermanno Scervino and La Nouvelle bague, where he worked for 7 years as jewelry designer. In 2000, he set up his freelancer activity, which in the years led him to collaborate continuously with the following companies: Damiani, Cartier, Salvatore Ferragamo, Akris, Celine, Maison Margiela and Jil Sander, dealing with both fashion and jewelry. Curiosity and the observation of the phenomena affecting the esthetic perception are the two element that inspire his style. The fusion between handcraft and technological innovation carry a highly personal poetic key: full spaces contrast the empty ones, movement contrasts what is static, and the esthetic research is in constant evolution.

After the diploma in Shoe Design at Politecnico Calzaturiero del Brenta, he began his fashion career in 2003 working for Giorgio Armani and Giorgio Armani Privé. Then, for eight years, he has worked in Sergio Rossi, a globally relevant shoe brand, where he reinforced his skill set and worked for as Creative Director from 2013 to 2016. Then, he worked for prestigious brands such as Tom Ford and for Made in Italy excellences such as Santoni. Femininity, lightness, eclecticism, sublimation for Italian shoe design and passion for workmanship represent the basic elements for his esthetic research.

He began his fashion career in 1982, after studying in Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, working as freelance textile designer. He focused his interest on textile as a way of artistic expression. He became Art Director of Manera, which during that time, was one of the two biggest textile firms in the world and, hence, a good point of view on taste and style evolution. Under this title, he collaborated with Chanel, Dior and SYL. His textile drawings became part of the fashion history of the last thirty-year period. In his work, he has always had a wide and inclusive approach, collaborating with people external to the sector, like Frank Stella and the newspaper Interior Design. In 1995, he took up a professional partnership with Tom Ford for Gucci. Then, he collaborated with Emilio Pucci in Florence and Calvin Klein in New York. From 2006 to 2009, he was Textile and Accessories Designers for Brioni, Klein and Valentino. He is currently collaborating with Bulgari.

An architect, Franco Achilli trained with Alfred Hohenegger, Giorgio Fioravanti and Gianni Sassi, then at the New York School of Visual Arts. After acting as assistant to Emilio Fioravanti at G&R Associati, he opened his own first office in Milan in 1985 with Guglielmo Ghizzardi and Mario Piazza. In 1995, he launched A+G Achilli Ghizzardi Associati, which he still runs today, working in architecture, brand and exhibition design, and publishing graphics. His clients in a career spanning over thirty years have included industrial and commercial groups, publishers and international organisations. He has continuous experience in lecturing in design schools and teaches Visual Identity in Brands at the IULM University in Milan. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Northern Illinois University and had held courses at the University of Palermo, the Art Institute of Chicago, Milan Polytechnic, the IUAV in Venice and other universities. The acknowledgements he has received for his teaching work include ten awards from the Designer & Art Directors Club of London. He has written and edited publications about design and his work has featured in leading international magazines.

After studying at the High School of Art in Venice, her hometown, she began her educational course in fashion at Istituto Marangoni in Milan. After an experience in Dolce and Gabbana, she has been working for eight years in Prada where she gained international fame as designer. Her next step was in Dior under the art direction of John Galliano. In 2007, she was appointed creative director at Roberta di Camerino, a historical Venetian brand known all over the world for its velvet and colorful bags. In 2009, she set up her consultancy studio and started many collaborations with several brands, among which there is Loewe, under JW Anderson direction, Roger Vivier with Bruno Frisoni, Sergio Rossi, Moncler and many others. In 2013, she took up the direction of Zagliani, a prestigious maison from Milan whose creations are handcraft made. Since 2015, she has been dealing with the leather sector of Bulgari, Italian luxury icon.

Born in Syracuse, in Sicily in 1978, Davide Calluori graduated in Art from the DAMS school in Bologna, then moved to Milan, where he took a diploma in Graphic Design from the Accademia di Comunicazione. He started his professional career at DLV BBDO as an art director. He then developed an interest in creating and producing images for printing. He became the manager for the post-production, 3D and illustration department. At the beginning of 2016, he teamed up with Daniele Tribi and Francesco Van Straten to establish B612Studio, a structure that works with illustration, 3D, post-production and photography. The clients he has completed projects for include Yamaha, Freddy, Cam, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Institute, Che Banca!, Bayer, Telecom, Sky and Audi. His work appeared in the 2012, 2014 and 2016 editions of the 200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide Annual Award and of the 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide Annual Award published by Lürzer’s Archive.

Translator, conference interpreter and professor of English language, she graduated in English Language and Literature at the University of Aarhus and accomplished a research PhD in Theory of Translation at the University of Milan. She has been teaching both in Italian and international universities and in corporate contexts for 15 years. This experience gave her the chance to be able to deal with students from different cultures and educational backgrounds, with the aim to make them reach a good language level for several social and professional operating contexts. Besides, she works as Project Manager for important translation assignments and interpreting projects. She released monographies on language didactics and contributed to numerous academic papers in this field.

Documentary-maker and visual sociologist, Rossano deals with visual sociology and anthropology at the University of Barcelona, where he concluded a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2016. In 2002, he graduated in Law at the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and three years later he obtained his Diploma of specialiation in cinema direction at the Centre d’Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya. In 2006, he attended and concluded the Master’s Course in Management for Showbusiness at the SDA Bocconi in Milan. An expert in video-making and in the organisation of cultural and theatre events, he has worked at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano (2006) and at the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia (2009-2010). Rossano is the author of documentaries that have participated in various international festivals and is an arduous writer of academic articles and short stories. His research activity falls within the disciplinary field of Sociology and Anthropology, in connection with audiovisual methodologies and techniques.

After graduating with full marks from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Lia Luzzatto continued her studies, exploring the fields of fashion and specialising in hardcopy and digital chromatic communication. She now works as a colour consultant in many fields, writes books, takes part in seminars and teaches. Because of its symbolic, communicative, psychological and sensory complexity, colour is a vital resource in every visual context. Lia Luzzatto lectures in Colour Theory at the Academy of Communication and the Luxury Lab in the Academy of Luxury in Milan. Writing together with Renata Pompas, whom she met attending Luigi Veronesi’s lectures in chromatology at the Academy, she has published numerous books about colour that are constantly going through reprints for publishers including Hoepli, Il Castello and Bompiani. She is a founder member of the Italian Colour Association’s Colour Group and is a member of its Presidency Council and Scientific Committee. Previously a member of the CISST – Italian Centre for Studying the History of Fabrics – and of ADI, she is currently a member of the ECD Environmental Colour Design of Buenos Aires and of the Stockholm-based Colour Study Group.

A journalist and photography critic who writes for the ViviMilano supplement to the leading national daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, Giovanni Pelloso has worked on publishing projects with Mondadori Portfolio (he was the author of the piece dedicated to Mario De Biasi, Giorgio Lotti and Angelo Cozzi), with Hachette and with Canon Italia. A co-author of the Dizionario mondiale della fotografia (Rizzoli/Contrasto, 2002), he is a contributor to the monthly magazines NPhotography and Photo Professional and is editor in chief of the long-established magazine Il Fotografo. He has held workshops and seminars about photography at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, the Istituto Italiano di Fotografia and the Contrasto agency. His research interests focus on the theory and practice of the sociology of consumption and of advertising. Working as a contract lecturer, he has been teaching and conducting research since 2005 at the Faculty of Communication Sciences and of Entertainment at the IULM University in Milan. He has been lecturing in photography at the LAO since 2013 and is an associate researcher at the Milan Civic Aquarium.

After his humanistic studies, Vergani trained himself as a scholar while he worked in a record shop. A brief experience in the world of design led him to become Luigi Settembrini and Francesca Sorace’s assistant in the year 2000 during their collaboration with the Cosmit for the exhibition “1951-2001, Made in Italy?”. In 2001, he founded Nowhere, the first example of a nomad exhibition space, and organised exhibitions in Milan, Paris, and Florence with this format. In 2003, he opened a permanent office in Milan, thus giving substance to his research activity in the field of contemporary art. During the same year, and until 2006, he worked as an editorial consultant for Skira. From 2007 to 2013 he was the Vice President of Startmilano, a sectorial association for the diffusion of contemporary art and culture. He has been writing about art for the newspaper Il Giorno/QN since 2009.

Julia Kim is a menswear designer in the luxury sector. She was born in Germany to Korean parents. Her multicultural background draw her to one of the most prestigious and international fashion schools: The Royal Academy of fine arts in Antwerp. Under the direction of Walter van Beirendonck she developed her passion for menswear design. During her master year she caught the attention of the design team of Versace and was offered to join the menswear team for the first line of Versace after graduation in 2009. After several years of this beautiful and highly creative experience in Milan, she moved on to become a senior designer at Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence. Working under the creative direction of Massimiliano Giornetti and alongside true Italian artisans of the industries, she continued to deepen her knowledge in menswear. Having a strong connection to Milan she decided to move back to Milan in 2016 where she worked at Bottega Veneta as RTW studio manager under the direction of Tomas Maier. This experience lead her to become head designer of OAMC. Her creativity roots from her deep knowledge of the industry and her multicultural background and environment. Currently she works as a consultant and is in involved in academic work.

Giacomo Luigi Pilato was born in Milan in 1985. He graduated from the scientific high school laying very strong foundations in scientific and analytical skills. He subsequently got a Bachelor degree in Systems Engineering at the Department of Management Engineering of the Politecnico University in Milan. Pilato specialised in Fashion with the Master in Brand, Fashion Design and Product Direction at the Milan Fashion Institute created by the University consortium between Bocconi University, Politecnico of Milan and Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He graduated cum laude and immediately started his professional career in a series of companies focusing on the production of fabrics and materials for luxury goods. Pilato landed his first important role in 2009 at Vivienne Westwood where he stayed for five years overseeing product merchandising in Menswear, Womenswear and coordinating the Accessories collections. He was offered the position of Senior Merchandise & Brand Manager at Neil Barrett in 2014 specialising in Menswear. Giacomo founded his consulting and brand development agency 72mode in 2018 in Milan, enhancing his professional network and establishing collaborative relationships with fashion professionals and the world of production. In 2019 he started working for the N.G.G. streetwear sportswear brands managing all the Menswear & Accessories collections. While pursuing his personal projects Pilato has also been teaching in various Fashion Institutes, including the Accademia del Lusso and the Milan Fashion Institute lecturing and organising workshops in Fashion Merchandising. Teaching is an activity he particularly enjoys because it gives him the opportunity to share his own skills and experiences with those who will be the fashion professionals of the future giving him a great satisfaction and a strong sense of responsibility in return.