Does Made in Italy Still Have a Contemporary Creative Language?

The peacoat in front of us was not Italian. It was a 1950s British Navy coat, found during one of our research trips to A.N.G.E.L.O. in Lugo di Romagna, when I was working at Guru.

It was heavy, designed to protect sailors from wind and cold, not to become a fashion object. We studied its volume, double-breasted construction, collar and the way the fabric gave structure to the shoulders. Our aim was not to reproduce it.

That garment was a starting point.

We reworked it with more comfortable materials, proportions suited to the present and prints and embroideries that brought it into Guru’s language. The peacoat then generated sweatshirts, T-shirts and trousers. A military reference became a coherent family of products without remaining trapped in the original.

The archive piece was British. The way we observed it, took it apart and brought it back into circulation belonged to Italian design culture.

That experience contains an important part of the answer to the question: does Made in Italy still have a contemporary creative language?

Yes, when it transforms what it knows. Much less so when it merely displays its history.

What Do We Recognise Before Reading the Label?

Made in Italy indicates a place of origin governed by specific production and customs regulations. It is a necessary definition, but it is not enough to describe a product’s identity.

A garment should communicate its culture before anyone looks for the label inside. It does so through the way it falls on the body, the relationship between volume and material, the construction of a shoulder, the position of a pocket, the weight of a lining and the line of a seam.

The wearer does not perceive these decisions one by one. They feel that the garment has been considered, tested and corrected. That someone has watched how it moves, not only how it appears in a photograph.

Italian recognisability does not depend on a single aesthetic code. It includes rigorous elegance, the ease of deconstructed tailoring, colour, irony, sensuality and industrial precision. What connects them is a particularly Italian ability to hold construction and naturalness together, high culture and everyday life, technical discipline and freedom.

The problem begins when Made in Italy is reduced to a few easily communicated symbols: the atelier, the archive, the artisan’s gesture, the Italian landscape. These images are real, but they describe the origin of the knowledge. They do not prove that this knowledge is still creatively alive.

Contemporary relevance requires a position on the present.

Construction Without Rigidity

I have always loved the Italian ability to transform a material without suffocating it.

A fabric is not selected only because it feels beautiful or has a precious composition. You need to understand what it can become. How much volume it can support, how it reacts to seams, whether it follows the body or restricts it, whether its weight makes sense for the way the garment will actually be worn.

Proportion grows out of this dialogue. It is not an abstract drawing imposed on the material.

Even a small adjustment can change everything: a slightly softer shoulder, more freedom in the sleeve, a reduced collar, a length that shifts the balance of the figure. Sometimes a few millimetres are enough to make a garment feel natural or rigid, current or already familiar.

This work is built on fittings, samples and corrections. The first version is rarely the right one. The garment must be worn and observed in motion, open, closed and layered. It has to work when someone walks, sits down, raises an arm or puts their hands in the pockets.

This attention makes it possible to explore new volumes without turning them into a caricature of a trend. It also allows designers to work on the surface while maintaining control of the form.

A recent example comes from the Prada Autumn/Winter 2026 Menswear collection, titled Before and Next. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented shirts, jackets and knitwear with stained and streaked cuffs, creased fabrics and surfaces that appeared to have already been marked by time. At first glance, they might have looked dirty or worn. In reality, these were precise treatments applied to elongated silhouettes, reduced constructions and carefully controlled tailoring details. Prada described them as “impressions of life”, marks that spoke of duration and memory. AnOther noted how the stained cuffs disrupted the purity of the tailoring, suggesting the passage of time.

The interesting part is not the idea of turning a dirty garment into luxury. It is the precision with which an apparently compromised surface is supported by proportion, material and construction. Without that control, the treatment would remain an effect. With it, the treatment becomes Prada language, recognisable before the logo.

It also offers a clear example of how Made in Italy can work with contemporary contrast. Elegance is not protected inside a glass case. It is challenged by a trace of wear, a crease, a material that appears to have already lived.

Manufacturing expertise makes this possible. It provides enough knowledge of the rules to shift them: lightening a tailored construction, introducing a technical finish to a precious material, leaving one detail deliberately rougher or bringing a functional element into an elegant garment.

The result must be worn, not simply admired from a distance.

Luxury, Contemporary and Streetwear: Closer Than They Appear

Luxury, contemporary and streetwear have different economies, timelines and audiences. They can still meet through product culture.

Luxury brings material research, complex workmanship and a level of quality that often extends to the invisible parts of a garment. Contemporary must translate research into a wardrobe that is understandable, versatile and sustainable in terms of price. Streetwear introduces belonging, graphics, everyday use and volumes that originate on the street before they reach the tailoring room.

None of these worlds works well without expertise.

A streetwear garment is not simply a surface on which to place a print. A sweatshirt has its own architecture: weight, hand feel, width through the body, the relationship between shoulder and sleeve, the structure of the neckline and cuffs. Trousers need to shape the figure while allowing freedom of movement. Even an apparently simple T-shirt requires a precise choice of jersey, proportion and treatment.

At Guru, the military peacoat did not remain an isolated reference. Its codes were translated across other categories. A detail, a volume or a graphic theme could move from outerwear to a sweatshirt, from the sweatshirt to a T-shirt and eventually to trousers.

This is one of streetwear’s most interesting possibilities: turning a historic garment into a collection vocabulary. Not copying its shape, but extracting an attitude from it.

Manufacturing culture prevents the process from remaining superficial. An embroidery must have a density, position and scale that work with the fabric. A print must respond to the shape of the garment. A more comfortable material cannot erase the character of the original reference. Functionality enters the project from the beginning.

The contemporary contrast of Made in Italy grows out of these encounters: a tailored detail on a streetwear volume, a precious material used in an everyday construction, an archive reference worn with sneakers and technical garments.

The archive provides depth, but it should not dictate the styling.

When Craftsmanship Becomes Scenery

I love archives, workshops, cutting tables, the sound of machinery and the hands of someone who can recognise a problem before measuring it. I have seen how much knowledge can be contained in a gesture that appears simple from the outside.

That is precisely why I find the transformation of craftsmanship into scenery so dangerous.

Fashion communication often shows hands sewing slowly, warm light and tools worn by time. Meanwhile, the product is developed within compressed calendars, increasingly rigid margins and continuous requests for changes. The artisan becomes a reassuring image, while the time and economic value required by the work disappear from the story.

Manufacturing knowledge survives when it is involved in the project.

A supplier should not be called only to execute a solution that has already been decided. They can suggest a different construction, point out that a material will not react as expected or propose a cleaner, more durable finish. Through that exchange, technique becomes part of the product’s identity.

Even artisanal imperfection is sometimes reproduced industrially. Irregular marks, visible stitching, apparently raw edges and washes that simulate years of wear. They work when they genuinely change the perception of the material and are consistent with the brand’s language. When applied merely to evoke a generic sense of “handmade” or “lived-in”, they become costume.

The Prada collection makes this boundary visible. A constructed stain can be a powerful creative decision, but it requires technical control and a reason to exist within the product. Copied simply because it worked on the runway, it would risk becoming the next finish added to every colour card.

Craftsmanship deals with concrete problems. It requires time to test, make mistakes and correct them. It also needs continuity, because expertise activated only for a celebratory capsule is unlikely to be passed on.

Without stable work, training and fair economic recognition, the story may remain full of beautiful images while the skills themselves disappear.

Tell the Decisions, Not Only the Origin

To restore strength to Made in Italy, we need to change the way we talk about it.

I want to know which decisions shaped a garment. Why that particular material was selected. Which proportion changed after the fitting. What the pattern cutter suggested. Why a pocket was moved or a construction made lighter. Which practical problem led to a different fastening, lining or treatment.

These details are far more interesting than a generic declaration of excellence.

Talking about quality in use also means discussing comfort, care, durability and repairability. A product proves its value after the purchase, once it enters the life of the person who chose it.

Technology can help make supply chains, workmanship and production stages more legible. Transparency certifies what happened. Fashion still has to explain why those decisions produced something relevant.

I think again of that military peacoat found in the archive. It was neither a model to celebrate nor an image to use as a backdrop. It was an object to question: what should we preserve, what needed to change, what could grow from that construction?

The answers became a new piece of outerwear, then sweatshirts, T-shirts and trousers. Not a replica of the 1950s, but a collection capable of speaking to its own time.

The contemporary creative language of Made in Italy still lives in the quality of that transformation.

Romina Tosi

www.linkedin.com/in/romina-tosi-tatastyle

Disclaimer

The views expressed above represent my personal interpretation of publicly available information and, like any interpretation, may be shared, debated, or challenged.

The information referenced comes from public sources available at the time of publication, including official documents, union communications, press articles, and materials accessible to anyone. I do not disclose confidential information or facts learned through privileged access. I do not reveal protected information, nor do I attribute unlawful conduct to individuals or companies.

Any reference to specific cases is intended solely to provide context and analyze dynamics affecting the broader industry. It is not intended to target individuals or particular businesses.

Observations regarding industrial strategies, financial decisions, and production models fall within the right to express opinions and commentary on matters of public interest. They remain personal assessments, not definitive judgments.

Not all companies operate in the same way. Alongside businesses that may deserve criticism, there are many others that work with seriousness, consistency, and long-term vision.

If you notice any errors or inaccuracies, please let me know. I will be happy to review and correct them where necessary.

The purpose of this reflection is to encourage discussion and debate, not to cause harm to individuals, companies, or organizations.