Phygital is a neologism obtained from the union of physical and digital. There is no univocal definition, there is no immediate association to a content or an event. Yet it clearly appears to identify the terrain in which fashion is moving in this historical moment.
Alessadro Sartori, creative director of Zegna, has chosen to present the collection inside the Oasi Zegna, a natural park where the headquarters of the historic Trivero company are located, which this year celebrates one hundred and ten years.
A presentation behind closed doors, which physically moves between the slopes of the Biellese Alps and the corridors of the woolen mill. And digitally, thanks to a video that integrates traditional shots and special effects, he creates a new narration that is precisely defined as phygital by Sartori.
In Milan, Prada entitled the latest collection "the show that never happened". The traditional looks are presented through a film where shots are alternated with photos by Juergen Teller, Willy Vanderperre, Joanna Piotrowska, Martine Syms and Terence Nance.
To offer a multitude of points of view for what is defined as the first digital fashion week.
Valentino and Maison Margiela introduced the haute couture collections through videos shot by the famous English photographer Nick Knight. Traditional looks have been replaced by real performances where physical reality takes on such abstract contours as to make a digital dimension prevail.
Differently, Dior and Jacquemus made their own presentations including a few lucky guests. In the first case it is a walkway designed by a serpentine line in the wheat fields, one hour from Paris. Guests sit in small corners created among the ears of wheat, in full compliance with social distancing. However, the video shots offer a restitution from above and below, according to perspectives that do not commonly concern the observer's eye.
Even the Dior fashion show was kept away from the traditional venues, particularly in Puglia, in the historic center of Lecce. A series of videos anticipated the location and its age-old traditions. Afterwards, local dances and songs such as the pizzica and the taranta accompany the models in the setting of Piazza Duomo. The characteristic lights, now reinterpreted by the artist Marinella Senatore, contrast with a semi-deserted place. A place that visually belongs to a metaphysical dimension but which digitally reproduces movements and sounds that belong to a new dimension, the phygital dimension.
Riccardo Bianchin. Born in Treviso, he studied at the Milan Polytechnic where he graduated with honors in Architecture Sciences. Always passionate about iconographic culture in the design, fashion and art sector. Freelancer working in art direction.
