The annual International Talent Support contest celebrated its 15th
anniversary this year and FashionUnited was given access to its Creative
Archive, featuring more than 16,000 portfolios, 220 outfits, 180
accessories and jewellery pieces, as well as 700 digital photography
projects, from more than 80 countries.
Located in the International Talent Support’s Trieste headquarters, the
ITS Creative Archive is a treasure trove of emerging fashion, showcasing
the early portfolios, art works and garments from its past finalists and
winners, including Michael van der Ham, Aitor Throup, Mark Fast, and
Haizhen Wang.
Highlights include Chinese designer Chiaki Moronaga who impressed during
the 2012 event, Swiss designer Jennifer Thévenaz-Burdet who showcased masks
made of cable ties in 2015, and last year’s winner Paula Knorr.
The collection is vast and you could even say that some of the
portfolios are pieces of art, with elaborate, handcrafted covers, and each
one different. Some had images, sketches, sample of fabrics, while others
had poems, technical drawings to describe the inspiration behind their
collections. But it was getting up close to the clothing pieces that really
showcases the incredible talent that enters the International Talent
Support contest each year.
“The ITS archive is unique in that it holds work from multiple designers
at the very start of their careers. These early pieces are fuelled by an
unfettered creativity, not yet honed to the rigorous demands of a
professional career, yet already, showing clear evidence of each designer’s
unique signature,” said Oriole Cullen, senior curator at the Victoria and
Albert Museum, in 2015.
No doubt they are making room for this year’s impressive line-up of
designers, including the winners, British footwear designer , won the ITS Accessories Award, and
New Zealander Mayako Kano, who picked up the main ITS Fashion Award for her
‘Reverse Fade’ collection.
@itsplatform final our UK Editor Danielle visited the #itscontest archives – this incredible gown by Chiaki Moronaga from China was from the 2012 event
A photo posted by FashionUnited (@fashionunitedhq) on Jul 16, 2016 at 1:02am PDT
Image and video: Danielle Wightman-Stone