UN(SUIT)ED

The idea for this MA thesis collection came to life while Nicoloso was working in the menswear department of an international fashion brand. Here she began to observe how the womenswear/menswear dichotomy was deeply embedded in the brand’s structure. This binary division not only dictated silhouettes and materials, but it also influenced the whole organisational structure of the brand. This led to a personal interest in understanding how the normative perception of menswear is affected and reinforced by biases related to this dichotomy.

Having been raised in a bourgeois family in northern Italy, Nicoloso wondered how to question normative masculinity embodied in the men’s style that surrounded her when she was growing up. The collection’s research is based on the history of Italian men’s style, together with an analysis of academic studies on fashion, gender, and identities.

– The relationship with my partner is central to developing this collection. Through him, I discovered a kind of masculinity I’d never really known before. One that is gentle, generous and altruistic, and not afraid of complex, illogical emotions, that does not claim to be right beyond logic. Sometimes it seems that we share the same level of ’femininity’, yet I still perceive him as masculine. Somehow, this drives me to imagine how a menswear collection could represent this type of man.

Fabrics play a key role in the collection. Fine Italian wools in blue, brown and grey are combined with silks in vibrant colours, creating a fresh balance between traditional fabrics and untraditional materialities. Manipulating fabrics by hand through meticulous needle felting craft and advanced printing and dyeing techniques was a way for the designer to appropriate them, and further embed the concept on different levels of the collection.

Overall, shapes and colours are carefully balanced to bring new freshness and modernity to the classic bourgeois wardrobe, while offering new tools for free exploration of the masculine identity.

– I felt the need to speak about this topic to share my idea of what I wish masculinity could be and mean, especially in opposition to the more rigid and harmful archetypes of men often reinforced by contemporary culture.

Elisa Nicoloso

elisa.nicoloso@aalto.fi

+39 3393523028
@sourlyblond