The Tamesis
Inspired by TS Eliot wildernessThis poem by Giuseppe Di Morabito, written during the poet’s period of psychosis, imagines his collection as a collection of fragments: “I was struck by how this beauty could come from a place that was in deep crisis,” he said. “It made me think of something beautiful, even if you can’t explain it.” The lookbook merges opposing forces: AI-generated images juxtaposed with analog photos he shot with a Leica. “I wanted to break the artificiality,” the designer said. “The clothes and memories are very real: there are photos of Namibia, Stromboli, Botswana, Ibiza, Sri Lanka, etc.”
This duality is echoed in the wardrobes designed by Di Morabito: “There is a romanticism but also a sense of distance. This tension is what interests me,” he says. Capes in pinstriped jacquard or plastic-bonded lace alternate with trench coats in python-print leather and shearling with animal prints, introducing new material explorations. The silhouettes are roomy but sharp, with military-style closures and fitted waists, as the brand has become accustomed to: “The starting point was always menswear, but then I softened it for the modern woman, although I started to like seeing men wearing these clothes as well,” says the designer.
The collection exudes protection and seduction, including jersey bustiers, feather-embellished capes and short coats with bold front pockets. Accessories extend this metaphor, with rhinestone hairpins turning into fasteners, silk organza flowers blooming from collars and heels, organically shaped perforations twisting open into functional closures, and his signature rose brooch returning. “Nothing is decorated for the sake of decoration,” said the designer. “Each piece is a memory, or a tool that holds something in place.” The color palette remains restrained, with earthy neutrals punctuated by petrol, lilac and baby blue.
The final image of the collection – a woman with bare legs wearing a large protective cloak – is Di Morabito’s artificial intelligence interpretation of the Cumaean Sibyl: “She is destined to be eternal, but her body carries the memory of history. For me, this is also the role of clothes,” he explains. His storytelling does not promise to solve problems but to rediscover who we have become rather than who we once were. The title itself reads like a poem: “Ci fermammo sotto il colonnato e procedemmo verso ilole” This sentence has nothing explicit to say about everything going on around us, but everything moves within it.
