Italian designer Luca Larenza will present his spring/summer 2021 collection in July 2020 as an Instagram livestream fashion show in an unreleased format.
He founded his own brand in Milan in 2011 and likes to infuse sportswear and contemporary menswear pieces with inspiration taken from the 20th century painters’ sense for color and bohemian attitudes. He also recently started offering a selection of his spring/summer 2020 collection through the e-commerce The Rake channel.
Why did you decide to present you fashion show via Instagram? Could digital events replace physical ones in the long term?
For several seasons I have been presenting collections, ideas and projects outside of the box and away from official calendar dates. I preferred to relieve myself from the pressure of the system by giving more importance to my times, my spaces and my personal and artistic growth.
I have already been very active on Instagram for several years. For me it represents a very immediate and fast way to get in touch with both consumers and professionals. The idea to present my spring/summer ’21 collection was born during the lockdown, and it will certainly be a more comfortable– but above all accessible–way for everyone to get to know my work. It will be a test for me. Being an independent designer I can afford to communicate more freely and in unconventional ways. Digital will surely be a valid support for physical presentations, precisely because of its accessibility. In the long term, I do not believe at all that will replace the moment of physical presentation of a collection, but it will go alongside it. For us designers, touch is a very important element, and however high the resolution of a video, nothing can ever replace feeling a precious fabric or yarn.
Since it is the first time that I present a live on Instagram collection, I could not choose a classic format. So I thought of something alternative to do in a special place that represented me a lot, and above all to something that keeps users' attention alive. How long they want to stay connected live will depend only on them, however, the event will then be saved on the Instagram TV of my @lucalarenza account and can be reviewed at any time. Another feature of the new format will be inclusivity. Everyone will have access to the event and will be able to ask questions that I will be happy to answer live.
As for practical everyday work, not much has changed. I have always been used to working in a "smart" way and especially from home. Clearly the workshops have stopped for a while, but I have not had any major problems since for several seasons I have focused more on e-commerce than on the traditional wholesale strategy. So I had no problems with stores that did not collect orders, or stopped production…none of these.
My agility has been rather rewarded. It was a productive lockdown as I focused on creative work, researches and on new communication strategies. The thing I missed most was traveling!
It is very difficult to make predictions. I just hope there is a collective awareness from an ethical point of view regarding our work and the various timelines that concern it. In short, what happened is not just something passing. Surely people who were not used to buying online will have a different approach after the lockdown, which is positive.
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