After a hiatus in 2020, ModaPortugal returned to Porto. Eighteen designers, hailing from six different countries (Finland, France, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and of course, Portugal), gathered to Porto two weeks ago for the 7th edition of ModaPortugal Fashion Design Competition. These emerging young talents represent some of the most renowned fashion institutes across the continent. In their five days journey, they vied not only with their schoolmates and compatriots for the best collection of each country, but also for the “grand prix” that dedicates to the best collection overall.

To better understand Portugal’s robust textile and clothing manufacturing industry, ModaPortugal took these aspiring designers, along with panellists and my fellow press on an Industry Tour around the Northern part of the territory. Since the textile industry is one of the most polluting industries, the tour revolved around the initiatives that these textiles companies have taken in response to the environmental issues. The tour started with a visit to Riopele, an established factory with more than 90 years of history. Founded in 1927, Riopele is one of the oldest and most self-sufficient Portuguese textile companies. From spinning, dyeing, weaving, finishing to quality control and logistics, Riopele vertically integrates the entire fabric production cycle. Lately, Riopele has embarked on a new research: they collected the water consumed during the manufacturing process and tried to make use of it. 50% of the water consumption is now reutilized, successfully reducing the water pollution from their production process.

The tour continued with a visit to the family-owned factory of Pedrosa & Rodrigues, one of the most well-known jersey fabric manufacturers in Portugal. Pedrosa & Rodrigues blend jersey into high-end fashion; its clients include some of the major fashion brands in the world. Its newest movement is to collect leftover fabrics, grind them and spin new yarn out from them. This repurposing of discarded fabrics definitely makes the fashion industry greener and more environmentally-friendly.

After learning a bit more about the innovative projects that traditional textile companies in Portugal have taken, we visited RDD textile and Valérius Hub, an innovatory research center focusing on the repurposing of used fabrics and the development of sustainability textiles. In 2019, Valérius Group launched a brand-new project Valérius 360 – a recycling centre that realizes the ideas of RDD Textiles and Valérius Hub. Here, the factory collects cutting waste, overproduced textile products, unsold stock and recycled fabrics from Côte d’Ivoire, Turkey and other European countries, making them into recycled-yarns, jersey fabrics and even garments. Together with Valérius Hub, Valérius 360 wishes to build a community that contributes to the creation of a responsible fashion system, reducing more environmental impacts and driving the industry towards a sustainable future.

After a day of repose, the designers ushered in their biggest challenge of this trip – The ModaPortugal Fashion Design Competition. The day started with the students taking turns presenting their collections to the jury. The event climaxed with a fashion show during dinnertime. Models stomped on the aisles in the banquet room. Grotesque or artistic, theatrical or intricate, they showcased these young designers’ flourishing imagination and creativity. Among them, Juha Vehmaanperä (Finland), Mathieu Goosse (France), Paulo Mileu (Italy), Tiago Bessa (Portugal), Claire Lefebvre (Switzerland) and Jessica Zhou (United Kingdom) won the best collection from the country they represented, with Tiago Bessa from Portugal snatching the Best Collection of the year, keeping the grand trophy home in Portugal.

Looking back, I couldn’t imagine a better way to experience Portugal’s beauty and fashion all at once. It’s really impressive to see Portuguese textile companies taking initiatives on sustainability and eco-friendly fashion production, and to see the fashion industry supporting emerging talents. To summarize my experience at ModaPortugal, I think of the word “fascinating”. Porto’s view is fascinating, the “Azulejo” tiles on the church walls are fascinating, the serenity of the flowing Duoro River is fascinating; what’s more, It’s fascinating to know that even under an unfavourable macro environment, on the periphery of the European continent, a cohort of fashion talents is seeking to build a friendlier environment for the talents to come, and perhaps more importantly, for our Mother Nature.

It is indeed good news for you ski lovers! Do you find it hard to complete the perfect functional look that keeps you comfortable and warm while staying stylish on the ski slopes? Well, this season the Parisian fashion label Isabel Marant and online luxury retailer Mytheresa collaborate on the launch of an exclusive Snow capsule collection, which would definitely be the perfect touch to your ski wardrobe.

The Snow capsule collection, available globally from December 8th, 2021, comes along with a dedicated editorial story. Directed by Mytheresa Chief Creative Officer Julian Paul and shot by noted photographer Ferry van der Nat, the editorial features world-renowned model Heather Kemesky. It represents the first time that Isabel Marant designs a Skiwear-inspired pieces.

The collection, composed of 33 garments, has one fundamental watchword: contemporary. The modern and functional design protects wearers from the cold weather without being out of trend. Overall, it makes skiing and spending a cozy evening in the mountains with your friends and family an easy and joyful activity to partake. The palette consists of beige, burgundy and yellow with metallic touches, blend poetically with the niveous landscape in a ski resort.

Taking a closer look at the collection. Three down puffer jackets: one in monochrome and two colorful catch our eyeballs instantly. Along with two pairs of ski-trousers, they are the perfect protagonists of our outdoor adventures. Indoor, the comfortable loungewear sets composed of beige braided sweater and trendy overalls, offer us coziness on a freezing winter night.

The accessories and the shoes from this collection are also not to be missed. Warm gloves and hats that match with scarf and sunglasses, a shearling vest with leather lining, belts and socks adorn the look in the chicest way. And to complete it, we have the shearling snow boots with red shoelaces, the white sneakers with beige on the toecap and velcro fastening or the high model in beige and metallic color.

Holidays season is around the corner, are you ready to be the trendiest skier on the ski trail? Visit Mytheresa.com website to check out the exclusive Isabel Marant for Mytheresa Snow collection, it’s time to shine in the snow.

It was a mild September’s afternoon. Milan had finally cooled down a bit from the blistering heat. Sat in a corner window seat, I ordered a cup of iced coffee, waiting for this impending interview with Muzi. I adore Muzi’s music. He is without a doubt a music wunderkind. At the age of 30, he is already one of the most venerated and talked about musicians in South Africa. He has recorded and produced 4 albums, played several DJ sets in Berlin, done some overseas tours and has even graced the soundtrack of the sought-after Spanish Netflix drama “Elite”. His fine mixture of traditional African music and contemporary electro-techno sounds is beyond avant-garde. Wanting to immerse myself more into his musical approach, I tuned into the tracks from his latest album “Interblaktik” while waiting. With his upbeat African rhythm and overwhelming techno beat, the ever-lasting sweltering summer in Milan seems not to be so unbearable.

La Déglingue is a series that documents the scheduled disappearance of old cars in the area called Grand Paris.

Grand Paris is an infrastructural mega-project that spans over the city of Paris and the neighbouring districts. The fast-paced modernisation of the territory in question includes reform plans such as the metro grid expansion, the multiplication of cycling lanes on every road and an overall greener transportation network.

Along with these reforms, last year, the Council of Grand Paris enforced a progressive ban of diesel-engined cars older than 2003, for they are deemed too polluting.

In the coming years, as intended by those who want a future bereft of cars for Paris, more cars, old cars, gasoline-powered cars, will vanish from sight.

La Déglingue aims at photographing one last time these beloved cars before bidding them farewell in the name of a more modern modernity and a greener future.

Grainy, psychedelic, and somber. From the prowess of FKA Twigs in her pole-dancing performance and the roll of marijuana cigarette for Billy to unwind to in 2019 to the visitation of porn performers to a minor’s home and the eye-less society before registering for a new credit card and a fresh pair of eyes in 2020: Berlin Commercial celebrates and curates the state-of-the-art filmmaking, this time for the third year starting August 10 until 14 in Berlin.

As CAP 74024 speaks with Philipp Ulita, the festival’s Managing Director, he unveils how the global community of creatives keep seeking to create timeless and universal experiences through moving images, the extension of the theme The Age of Collaboration, and the reason behind its doctrine of highlighting mind-bending ideas, emotionally engaging stories, and well-crafted execution.

As you create a cultural space, visibility is surely a target to eye! By the way, what topics of culture, art, business of commercial filmmaking, and content creation will Berlin Commercial highlight this year? Why does the summit desire to underscore these subjects?

Well, we’re still facing some limitations due to COVID, but in 2020 we came up with a new concept to host a real festival with in-person, networking possibilities relevant to our industry. Normally, we would have curated panels and stages; what’s happening now is having production companies and agencies all over town open their doors for screenings, talks, drinks, and music. This decentralized concept includes a shared responsibility and allows smaller groups to discover beautiful studios, beautiful people, and. of course, Berlin. We are preparing it right now. The dates for the festival are from August 10 to 14.

Turning towards one of the cultural issues the summit supports, the Berlin Commercial award trophies are produced using plastic waste – LDPE – that is usually not recyclable. Aside from this, how does the summit promote issues concerning the environment and sustainability?

We don’t promote them. In other words, we don’t preach. Our submitted films tackle these issues, and we curate and boost their visibility, same as other important topics like gender equality. Things come naturally, and we believe that inspiration preaches in a modest way.

Measuring sustainability in the event sector is not quite transparent and developed yet. Since 2020 -when face masks, lockdowns, and vaccinations started to influence our daily life – experience and big events, except for soccer tournaments, don’t take place, so any answer wouldn’t be representative, and a digital footprint is still a footprint.

Offering hybrid events includes a lot of planning and organizing on fronts which a regular festival can skip. Since 2020, the event and film industries have had to adapt to new challenges. These developed quickly, so from today’s point-of-view, the main thing we do for sustainability is to live it ourselves and trust in others to understand the urgency and do the same. Yes, we believe in intelligence.

Hello, Habibitch! How are you?

I am great, thank you. I just came back from work and now I am here, ready to be interviewed. 😀

Thank you for the kind words, could you introduce yourself a bit to us?

Hi, I am Habibitch. I am French, and also Algerian. I am an immigrant, a queer, a feminist and a body-positive and LGBTQ+ activist. I am a dancer, a performer, a choreographer, the Godmother of House of Gorgeous Gucci in Paris, a Sociology teacher in Science Po Paris, and an author-to-be.

You have indeed an interesting name! How did you come up with the name “Habibitch”? Wouldn’t you worry about offending a certain group of people?

I know you like that name! Don’t you? Actually it was my friend who inspired me to name myself “Habibitch”. It perfectly links my heritage with my identity. Habibi is a common word in Arabic, meaning “my love”, “darling” or simply a greeting. We Arabic speakers use it in our everyday life. Combining Habibi with “bitch”, the stigmatizing slur that people normally use to verbally abuse women (or people with feminine characteristic) is definitely controversial and offensive to some people, especially to those conservative ones in the Arabic Community. However, I don’t care what they think, what matters is how those people who I care and love think. “Habibitch” is a combination of my origin, my career, my passion and my identity. It’s the perfect encapsulation of who I am.

When did you realize that it was the art form that best represents you?

Dance is definitely the art form that best represents me. I realized it when I started to perform waacking and vouging in ballroom. I feel completely liberated and emancipated while dancing, and I can fully express myself through the dance moves. Even though debate and verbal communication are a common way for me to battle against the “heteronormative and racist culture” that is rooted in the contemporary French society; dance is the artistic, non-verbal action that I adopt to “decolonize the dance floor”.

Aside from dancing, do you also practice other art form to voice your debate and spread your view?

Yes sure. As I mentioned before, I am also an activist and a Sociology teacher. I incorporate my dance background to my professional life. I teach my students in the Sociology class to express their point of view, their observation and their philosophy through their dance flow and body movements.

Body is the medium of your dance performance, what is the relationship between your body, your perception and the messages you wish to convey?

My relationship with my body is very close, and I love to use it as a medium to express my thoughts and moods. I love the feeling when my mind is connected with my body.

As an activist, body positivity is one of the messages that I wish to convey through my body. As you may see, I don’t have a body shape that fits to the concept of “perfect body” that the general publics conceived. It is even worse when fashion brands and media perpetuate this “beauty standard” through campaign, advertisement, print issue and social media. That’s why I barely work with fashion. But I am happy about my body, and I would love to challenge the idea of “traditional beauty standard”, to change people’s perspective of how a “perfect body” supposed to be, and to inspire those people who doesn’t have the “perfect body” that media and brands promoted.

Immigration, modernization and globalization have for sure galvanized the restructure of the contemporary Parisian vibe, which is different to the stereotypical Parisian that the world has perceived. For you, what is the new “Parisian Style” or the “Parisian Style in the making”?

France has a very heteronormative and racist culture due to its colonial and religious background. The contemporary “Parisian style”, a more multicultural, multiracial and diversified modern Parisian imagery has already existed, but it was often disregarded and left unnoticed by the society – a very white, catholic, upper-class heteronormative mindset propagated by the government and the mainstream media.

However, I’ve noticed that the gaze from the public is gradually changing. There are more and more people of color, religion, sexual minorities and unconventional icons who come into the limelight, gradually changing the “Parisian” stereotype. But we still have a long way to go before finally changing the whole colonial, patriarchal and xenophobic social climate. And that’s part of the leitmotif of my motto “decolonize the dance floor”.

As a central member of the Paris ballroom scene (which most people around the world might not be familiar with), what is your observation to the Parisian ballroom culture?

Actually, Paris has a very rich ballroom culture. It is one of the most colorful and vivacious ballroom scenes in the world, second to those in the United States. The success of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” introduces this African and Latin-American LGBTQ+ underground subculture to the public, but in fact, there is much profound cultural context behind it. Many people conflate the idea of ballroom culture and drag ball culture, but they are actually two different scenes. In the Parisian ballroom scene, drag or cross-dressing performance is not necessary; competition for the trophy is not a must; and the members are not solely from the LGBTQ+ community. Ballroom welcomes everyone, and I am a proud member of the community, the godmother of House of Gorgeous Gucci. I used to go to balls to meet my friend, to enjoy my night with music and dance, and to leave alone in the early morning without saying goodbye to them. I really like this kind of feeling, because we will for sure meet again in the next ball. And I am happy that Paris is the city that embraces it.

So In a way, Paris is literally burning! As an LGBTQ + and body activist, you fight for the rights of the minority communities against all kind of discrimination. What are the difficulties you’ve encountered while voicing for them?

Of course there are. Even though we are in 2021, there are still a lot homophobic, misogynist, racist remarks and hate crimes happening everyday. Colonial and patriarchal white hegemony is still quite influential in France’s culture. I’ve encountered people who dislike my name, my appearance, my debate or the ideology that I represent. However, I don’t care about what they think. I am professional, so when I am working on something, I can dedicate myself fully into it without being effected by the slanders and slurs. I am also a caring person. I care about my friends, my community and my ballroom family; they are the person who I love. And for those haters, I really have no time for them.

Thank you for the brilliant elaboration, we really enjoy our talk with you. Before saying goodbye, we would love to know what are your plans in the upcoming future, and your own artistic career?

I have many projects going on right now, and some of them are still confidential. But I will for sure continue to dance, to attend ballroom (of course during the lockdown it is impossible), to teach and to advocate. One thing I can tell you is that, I will soon have a new identity – an author. I am going to publish my first book in the upcoming future, I cannot disclose too much to you right now, but I am very excited about it.

What an exciting news! Congratulations Habibitch. We are looking for your new book and we cannot wait to hear more from you in the near future. Thank you so much for the interview today. Have a lovely evening!

When did you decide that fashion was your way? What is your earliest memory related to it?

I was born and raised in my mother’s boutique and tailors shop; it was here that I first felt an unbearable need for fashion, elegance and levity. Within the years I understood it’s the most immediate way to get closer to the status we’ve been aspiring for since we were young: after all, we only are our true selves when we’re naked or under the shower; besides that, we just dress up as who we would want to be. And this goes both for housewives and lawyers.

What does it mean to be a trans woman today in fashion and in Italy?

Trans lives in general have to take account of other’s prejudices, in every sector. Also within the fashion industry, which is obviously a gold cage at almost exclusive gay use, and we (really few) have to struggle way more to get to things that for others might be often expected and given for granted.

What would you change about this industry to make it truly inclusive, beyond the often façade claims on social media?

This is a complex question that would require specific studies on the subject matter. What I, independently of my lack of knowledge in the field, would want to succeed is talent – which is not strictly related to “connections”. Italy is still very attached to this mentality, it’s probably part of our dna, I don’t think it will change, at least not immediately.

During the just-concluded edition of the Sanremo Festival, you dressed Achille Lauro. Already last year, his eccentric stage presence and the artistic looks curated by Alessandro Michele had been harshly criticized and misunderstood. This year, even some members of the Church have spoken harshly after the symbolic kiss on stage between Achille and his producer Boss Doms. Do you think that musical icons as Lauro can really contribute to the breaking of homophobic retrograde cultural barriers in a country as traditionalist as Italy?

Starting by saying that Achille Lauro wore a pair of shoes from my collection which Nick Cerioni, his stylist, chose for him, I have to say that – despite being all references tied to 70’s stars (from David Bowie to Renato Zero) – I believe a new energy in a conservative theatre like the Ariston just lightened a long heavy show. I’ve seen so many alternative couples this year…will it be a new trend?

You are a multifaceted character, you will soon launch a series of ceramics and objects born from the Sicilian tradition filtered by your creative eye. Where does this project come from?

One thing a lot of people don’t know about me – distracted by my shoe collections or my styling work – is that, many years ago in Syracuse, I attended Art Institute specializing in plastic art decoration. Conceiving a ceramics collection was immediately thrilling to me and I realised something I had studied with great passion.

Milan is your professional headquarter and the city from which you were adopted, but your origins are Sicilian. What does it mean to be Sicilian for you and how do you see the present and the future of this beautiful island?

I’m a genuine Sicilian who has established in Milan many years ago. Here I found work, love, I have a house…but my roots are in Sicily, I always go back, I have family. My ceramics collection will be produced between Caltagirone and Noto, I’m developing a series of activities that will allow me to enjoy my beloved land way more. Obviously my Milanese reality will continue to stay – as in all respectable adoptions, Noto is were I was born, but Milan is were I grew up, it’s my full-fledged mother.

In which other fields, besides fashion and design, would you like to range?

Other than my shoe collections and my collaborations as a stylist, I also design settees for a renewed Italian company , I’ve just finished a capsule collection that will be on sale this Spring/Summer 2021 for a famous Italian brand, I’m designing along with my architect two villas in Sicily, I have just signed a contract with a record label for a new Italian singer (very talented)…I would like to do more, way more even if honestly I think it’s already ok, don’t you think?

The line of shoes you created was born from your, and many models, personal need: namely the lack of aesthetically relevant footwear above a certain size. Are there any other needs that you have not yet answered through your brand?

My collection was born from a very serious logistic issue: the lack of cool footwear over size 40. Obviously I also sell classic sizes, I would love to also develop an accessory line and, why not, clothing, but given the moment we’re living…it’s better to remain with our feet on the ground and be thankful to have survived one of the worst moments ever happened. Let’s talk about it next year! A sincere hug and thanks to all readers of CAP74024 ❤️