Introducing another new addition to the FW 2023-24 season: DAWEI. The eponymous brand of the young Paris-based designer, Dawei Sun, was launched in 2016 after his graduation from the École de la Chambre Syndicale de La Couture. He gained experience as a collaborator with Balenciaga and John Galliano, and later served as the artistic director of Maison Cacharel.

He was a finalist in the prestigious Andam Fashion Award, the foremost French fashion competition founded in 1989 and initially won by Martin Margiela. He officially joined the Paris Fashion Week schedule in 2019, showcasing his designs on the runway.

Strongly influenced by French couture and the bold expressions of the Japanese school, Dawei provides a personal reinterpretation, bridging the unattainable refinement of the former with the more creatively rugged aspects of the latter. The result is a sophisticated synthesis of textile experiments, where fibers blend to simulate traditional fabrics. For instance, the chevron pattern is adapted to significantly more comfortable solutions, allowing for feminine silhouettes, sometimes embracing, as seen in bustiers. Similarly, wool jersey, guided by skillfully executed stitches, attains an elegance not commonly associated with it.

Wide or fitted lines, shorter of longer lengths, all skillfully measured and in constant balance.

His decorative choices act as dynamic structures that breathe life into character and originality without imposing themselves through excessive force.

The entire collection exudes a promising freshness, making it both wearable and feminine. Even in its more explicit expressions, there’s a refined and evolved quality that evokes a forgotten memory.

We have already had the opportunity to meet Shu Moriyama before, and those who visited our store in Padua in the last years could know his work, his textile and styling know-how originating from his experience at the unique ateliers of Yohji Yamamoto, whom he cooperated with before launching his own collection, under his own name.

As a generous participant in this transitioning moment in our working experience, Shu shows us his S/S 2021 suggestions.

With a typical Japanese approach, the horizon from which he gets his own inspiration is far away from the influences of western fashion, more focused on commercial inputs and linked to seasonal trends bringing to fast obsolescence. Shu’s view melts with trees, flowers and fruits, in an effort of abstraction which gives origin to the pleats of his comfortable crinkled fabrics, with small dots recalling petals, some times tone on tone, some others more showy.

The wide spaces of Normandy, his land of adoption, are the background where his delicate clothes take form, designed with hidden elegance, more to put people at ease than to surprise in an impressive way. Poetry is not showed off, but it’s outlined with soft tones in fabric shades, in the embrace of shawl collars, in drop sleeves usually narrower at the bottom, in the chance of wearing many coats upside down, changing the final look.

Dresses, jackets, coats, skirts, and trousers, are all designed with comfort and pragmatism in mind, thanks to the elasticity of a polyester that keeps the crinkled effect in time and warrants excellent fit performance, and, more simply, to very easy maintenance, since they can be washed in washing machine with no ironing.

An alternative – less explicit and identifiable – to the more popular plated fabric of Issey Miyake, with a more reserved and calm accent, the one of Shu Moriyama, a visionary artisan to the utmost extremes for France and fashion.

Find the collection on our website!

Many thanks to Shu Moriyama for pictures and drawings and to Sari for the photograph shooting.

It’s Norway the homeland of a brand that, even in its name, reveals without surprises its undoubted roots: Norwegian Rain!

An unisex product, which in the apparent classicism of the forms combines basic features for both cold and rainy climates. The canvases, strictly made of recycled Japanese polyester, are simulating the typical texture of traditional materials, such as wool gabardine, and do not reveal highly sophisticated and modern properties, such as the inner diaphragm, which guarantees to each raincoat to be both breathable and waterproof. The sealed seams prevent the water from intruding into the fearsome joints, allowing a peaceful freedom, regardless the worst downpours.

It lies precisely in this discrete translation of the high-tech garment, usually characterized by colored zippers or improbable reflective graphics and relegated to the most technical sportswear sector, in an elegant outwear, the most fascinating aspect of this Norwegian reality.

Is the modernity of a northern European language sensitive to aesthetics, grateful to the Japanese formal knowledge which is easily traced in the ongoing article, the Raincho, a garment halfway between the cape and the development of the kimono. Contribute to the complexity of the calm lines, details such as generous interior pockets, with the purpose of sheltering the vulnerable accessories, from wallets to phones, adjustable caps in amplitude with composed webbing and buttons, small panels that can replace bulky scarves, concealed zip pockets, always useful to not soak the necessary and in case you want to give up the use of the bag.

Norwegian Rain faces the everyday life with real prospects, but also with an original determination to integrate with the most complex and creative proposals of the great contemporary designers!

Wide Norwegian Rain waterproof coat with the shape of a cape in recycled polyester cloth, lined in viscose and polyester cloth

Hip-lenght A punto B sweater in cashmere cloth

Wide lined Comme des Garçons skirt in polyester matelassè with floral tapestry

Mascha ‘classic Trippen’ ankle boot in cowhide leather

Altalen hat in felt 100% lapin

Knee-lenght Norwegian Rain waterproof coat in recycled cloth lined in viscose and polyester cloth

Long and wide Boboutic cardigan in polyamide and extra fine merinos wool cloth worked with irregular knots

Classic Comme des Garçons man shirt in cotton poplin

Classic Comme des Garçons – Comme des Garçons man trousers in wool gabardine, cupro lined

Dippy Trippen Shoe in smooth cowhide leather

Knee-lenght Norwegian Rain waterproof coat in recycled polyester cloth, lined in viscose and polyester cloth

Zucca longuette dress in stretch, nylon and alpaca

Mascha ‘classic Trippen’ ankle boot in cowhide leather

Abirinzà, a sound more than a word, coming from the recurrent Earth cadences from which Daniela Gregis draw the inspiration for this spring/summer 2016, brings us important clues about the construction of a collection particularly full of ornamental patterns. The designer with this sound expression, probably invented, evokes the Sardinia, with its rooted and complex textile traditions, the extensive and expertise use of the loom, but also with its rich heritage of memories and nostalgia.

Abirinzà broods over the memories of hard work laying them down as poetic logos in unexpected positions, becoming systematic patchwork gussets, where two different possibilities combine themselves together: fragments saved from the past and reassembled in canvas next to a painting or more slow and difficult weaving, nets and gauzes, loom and crochet, embracing each other in perfect harmony.

The designer from Bergamo certifies in this way each piece, claiming an authenticity in the acrobatic vicissitudes of the paintbrush, that stains and gives new life to the linen nets, joint with their negatives in cotton poplin, because the process should be watched in its integrity, combining itself with the first work. The silks, in the slippery brightness of the crêpe de chine, become bright palettes of strained colour, in the more contrasting red-blue shades, but also in the less radical blue-pastel light blue and white. Or the vichy, quoted also in other seasons, widen themselves becoming definite squares with more and more large spaces, always treated with the washing to contain the cotton strict rigidity.

Abirinzà are the open doors of the memory silos, abirinzà are the surprises regenerate in the changes of thinking, abirinzà is the just started spring, abirinzà are the fresh starts and the promises of staying well.

Discover the full ‘Abirinzà’ collection on our online catalogue…

As many of you know, IVO MILAN of Padua had the honour of hosting the first exhibition by the Friulian designer Lucia Venturini from 5 to 18 June this year.

It was an exciting experience, not just for the visionary beauty of the models on display, but also thanks to the energetic participation and the rich exchange of opinions in the lively gathering of old and newfound friends, all united by their curiosity for the event and an undeniable and deep-rooted passion for experimental clothing styles.

Here, a little late perhaps, we are pleased to feature a brief presentation of Elle Venturini‘s proposals as a small thank you to those who were kind enough to visit us and give those who could not enjoy it live a glimpse of what they missed.

Flowers and Terracotta…

Cultural encounters and events allow us to remember that IVO MILAN is more than just an online catalogue available anywhere in the world and that it is first and foremost an actual store, located in the historical centre of Padua, Italy. The store’s location makes it a highly visible meeting point that lends itself to exchanges between people from diverse backgrounds, united by a strong aesthetic sense and the desire to share their work with the public.

Here are some pictures taken last Friday evening, when a show by the sculptor Elio Armano graced the locations of ALBERO DEI FIORI, MARIJKE STUDIO – Fine jewellery and IVO MILAN.

The three different shops are not simply linked by their locations next to the intersection of Via Boccalerie and Via Santa Lucia, but mainly by their close professional affinity. MARJIKE STUDIO and its showcase display avant-garde contemporary art jewellery,

ALBERO DEI FIORI has endless and suggestive flower arrangements that colour and perfume the narrow porticoes of the street

and the shops nearby.

These three different shops are united by friendship and, on this occasion, by the works of Elio Armano. The recent birthday celebration for Simonetta (Albero dei Fiori) provided an excellent chance to get together and play host to as well as work around a shared idea of ​​beauty… a festive event that we celebrated in the style ​​that we adore and that exemplifies us the most!

Photographs by Sari Milan

The IVO MILAN shop in Padua is currently presenting an exhibition entitled:

REDEEMING VALUE

The exhibition will be on display until Wednesday, December 13, 2012. A space has been set up for the exhibition/installation of works by: Laura Stefani and Eva Franceschini.

Admission is free.

Below is a brief presentation of the event, the two artists and news from the event’s inauguration on Wednesday, December 5

Padua, the world capital of contemporary art jewelry, is home to a continuum of creative personalities who interact with and influence each other, giving rise to friendships and frequent rivalries among the many different artists in this very special artistic segment. It is truly a Renaissance-like atmosphere, where competition spurs experimentation with new, and often completely unfamiliar, expressive forms ​​and materials. Jewels are no longer only items to be laid up in sumptuous royal treasuries full of precious goods of inestimable value.

Padua possesses the freedom of imagination and technical skills to endow objects with value.

Without going into lengthy detail about things that have already been widely discussed elsewhere and certainly with greater insight by other writers, we are now pleased to present in our space the paradox of these jewels from Laura Stefani and Eva Franceschini. Why the paradox? Because what one usually finds in jewelry is precious metal acting as a support to a stone of greater value, which is the real investment that determines the final price of the object.

In our case, Laura is the person who processes the “gems”, and cuts the “diamonds” that shape and colour these extremely light creations. The refined material would meet a very different fate without her, because the processing and cleverly intertwined embroidery are nothing more than thin strips of plastic bottles, the kinds that contain mineral water.

True, the material used to support these “gems” is silver, but Eva‘s simulation work renders the material unimportant by changing its appearance through oxidation or reflections to reduce it to a simple base that brings out the “stones” in all their [shameless] opulence.

Laura Stefani - was born in Padua, where she graduated from the university with a degree in General Linguistics, and where she still lives and works.
She is self-taught and, since discovering the potential uses of plastic waste materials in 2007, she has taken part in several exhibitions. Among some of the most recent: “Tosco Veneto” exhibition of jewelry and objects by Giampaolo Babetto (Arquà Petrarca, PD, May 28, 2011), “I colori delle donne” (two person show, Marco Querin/Laura Stefani, Padua, Ars Now Serragiotto Gallery, September 27 – October 2011), “Un pomeriggio dedicato al gioello contemporaneo” (Genoa, Guidi & Schoen Gallery of Contemporary Art, December 3, 2011).

Eva Franceschini – was born in Padua, since 2000 she has been a teacher of Sculpture at the Pietro Selvatico Art Institute of Padua. She graduated with a degree in Chemistry of Art Restoration from the Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice in 2010.

In 2004 she studied under Lucia Davanzo, who was in turn a pupil of Francesco Pavan.

She has participated in several selections and competitions, including: The Game Show, Lucca Preziosa Young in 2008, Filo Rosso and Schmuck 2009. Her jewelry is on display in the permanent collections of different European art galleries.

And if anyone has been wondering what happened to our clothes, don’t worry, you can still see them at our store or in our catalogue…enjoy!

Photographs by Sari Milan

Coat Issey Miyake

Our new collections come from these countries, places that produce excellent clothes that are usually assembled in various places and have a small distribution, therefore can only be found in a few boutiques in the world.

These are days of hard work, but also of great enthusiasm, curiosity and devotion, in order to keep our online catalogue updated with the pictures of all the new pieces, as soon as we receive them.

Being IVO MILAN a family business, there is an inevitable delay between the arrival of the supplies and the update of the catalogue.

We really hope you will understand that this is a complex, gigantic activity, that is carried out by a very small number of people.

Whilst we are doing our best to keep up, you can have a look at our shop and at the online catalogue; it shows the preview of some of the new clothes that have not been published yet in the fall-winter 2011-2012 catalogue.

Dress Pleats Please

Dress Sacai Luck, boot Trippen

Boot Marsell Goccia, bag Pleats Please, hat Scha

Shirt Comme des Garçons-Comme des Garçons

This piece was thinked to be published in a kind of magazine such as ELLE UK, one of the best fashion magazine, where articles used to talk about fashion differently from the ordinary publications. It is a magazine that keeps an eye on the most innovative trends and on the most particulare personalities.

This piece could be relevant for the reader to see how in Italy the attention is not focused only on the Italian fashion that everybody knows, but it is possible to find “fashion researchers” that really believe that fashion is not only buisness but, first of all, a non-stop innovation-seeking.

The Radical Fashion Shop

by Francesca Ferlin

Orlando Milan has always believed that, in order to dress someone’s body, you first have to dress his mind. This is one of the first things you should know when you visit his shop in Padua. IVO MILAN is located in the central Via Santa Lucia in a striking Romanesque house, currently the oldest civil standing building in town; even a quick first glance at the window reveals that this is no ordinary shop: dim lights illuminate a precious dress and suddenly it feels like being in a museum admiring a scuplture in a casket. The way that the windows are settled, the use of the lights, the mixture of the colours for the background, used to enhance the shapes and the shades of fabrics, are all clues that this is no mere fashion, as the attention is drawn to the art that springs from fashion.

In 1945 Ivo Milan, Orlando’s father, following his family tradition, opened his fabrics shop, manufactured clothes and named it after himself to distinguish it from his brothers’ businesses which bore the same family name. In 1967 Orlando joined the father’s company as a co-worker, and after his death, started the long work that made IVO MILAN the shop that is known nowadays. So this is supposed to be a traditional family-run business, where family values have gone from generation to generation and time seems to stand still. But Orlando Milan is not of this opinion: “Through these years we have always tried to maintain the values that my father taught me, the importance of the manufacture and the indispensable quality of the fabrics, but nowadays the guidelines of the shop are something new that I have built during this forty years of experience inside the fashion industry.”

Milan’s experience is a long path that has experimented various forms of fashion and arts, through the first Versace and Armani collections at the end of the 70′s (IVO MILAN was one of the first shops in Italy that started to sell these brands) to Japanese fashion, which in the last twenty years has distinguished this retailer from the others. Key brands that make this shop unique in its kind are Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Martin Margiela, Shu Moriyama, Jun Takhashi and Comme des Garçons, the brand that best embodies the philosophy of the shop. Rei Kawakubo is a fervid supporter of trying to know what “has never been seen before”, and this is the most important guideline that Mr Milan wants his shop to follow: nothing must be mass-produced and everything must be different from what one usually sees. This principle is applied to everything that concerns the shop, from its furniture to the selection process that goes on behind the displaying of clothes. In fact, the limited production and circulation of the labels sold in the shop exists alongside a specific principle which determines how to choose everything that will be sold. “This principle is one which takes into account the requirements of a very well-educated, niche Paduan clientele, whose taste has not been shaped by the influences of media and television, and whose interests lie in those very special purchases – in authentically creative ones, if not in ones with a strong artistic value” says the shop owner.

So the customers have to be open-minded and be endowed with a marked inclination for artistic values to understand IVO MILAN’s fashion. Radical Fashion, as Mr Milan used to call it. This name has been adopted after the Radical Fashion Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2002, where the designers that Orlando Milan loves the most and has chosen to sell, were displayed in a collective exhibition, from Yohji Yamamoto to Comme des Garçons. “This exhibition really reflects my idea of fashion and these designers are, to me, the real essence of this concept.” he states. “They are “radical” in the full sense of the word: they are “revolutionary” and they are “rooted” in the art. They cut through ideas as well as fabric. Challenging established views, they have committed their lives to seeking ever more demanding expressions of “beauty”, with diverse and often provocative results”.

But which is his conception of beauty? Again, the inspiration comes from Japan: “The guideline that always has inspired me comes from the Japanese concept of beauty, that is “the aesthetics of imperfection” (wabi-sabi). I am against the logic of homologation and of display of wealth that inspires great European fashion, especially in these last years. I prefer to give my customers the possibility to portray themselves through an “understatement style” or with an idea-dress that draws the attention to the originality and to the independent spirit of the person wearing it.”

For IVO MILAN, fashion is something far from the conventional concept that everybody is accustomed to. First and foremost, fashion is research, is an exploration of the unknown. Here ideas come first, the most interesting part of a dress is not how it was made but why. What is it that lays behind the creation? How can a designer elaborate an idea and transform it into something that everybody can wear? These are only a few of the questions that Mr Milan wants customers to ask themselves as they wander around the shop. Because the most important thing is not to sell a dress but to make customers aware of what they are going to buy, something that stands over the trends, something that will rest forever as a unique work of art. And how is it possible to make the right choice, to find the piece that will fit perfectly and will be always with you? “Know yourself and let the dress be simply a continuation of your person”.

In fact, it is hard to expect that a package, that is often neglected and made banal with impersonal papers and ribbons, might be conceived as something poetic, that is able to cause pleasure and emotion in the person who receives it.

Sari’s hands and dreams turn the box to unwrap into a canvas where imaginative drifts can be painted, art performances to be admired and photographed… because their life is really short, they will be unwrapped in a few minutes.

A new service that might be considered useless, that is nevertheless a generous expression of kindness. Such kindness is shown through a completely unknown language, that is able to enhance the real value of the gift.

Since 16 years ago, when she joined the family’s company, Sari Milan has been able to adapt her inventiveness to the strongly innovative spirit of the company, by devoting herself to the tasks that agree with her self-expression: shop windows, communication and installations.

Of course, if requested, she will wrap your gift.