PAOLO CARZANA SS23 London Fashion Week

IMAGINE WE COULD BE THE ONES TO CHANGE IT ALL” SPRING/SUMMER 23 PRESENTATION

“A thought jotted onto a piece of paper at night. An idea, a fear, a hope, a love, a pleat, a wish, a memory. The walls of Paolo Carzana’s studio at Sarabande chronicle all of these things. His latest body of work is the result of a vivid purification, a flowering of both emotional and artisanal terrain”

FASHION CAN STILL MEAN SO MUCH. IT DOES TO US.
It has taken Paolo a long time to get to this. The 18 looks he made during lockdown
and presented in June 2021 were a practical exercise, characters he hoped would offer
protection. The closing look from last season – an oversized textile monster – leads us
to Look One for SS23: a delicate, entirely handsewn recycled polyester chore jacket
and slim legging. It signals a new certainty.

Tenderness.

A bodice suit, very open, sleeves cut high.

Shirts with a slightly cropped sleeve. Very slim in the body.

Very tight shoulder.

Exposed raw French seams.

I MIGHT ALWAYS BE FIGHTING FOR PEACE; I’LL KEEP PUNCHING
TIL IT BREAKS
The collection is set over a 24-hour period and begins at midnight: the cusp of a
trauma. Weathered ecru looks that are all naturally dyed with tea and orange spice
welcome in the morning and with it, a kind of reckoning. Daylight is reflected in soft
white. Handsome grey Welsh tapestries are cut into tailored, pleated suiting and
symbolise the arrival of dusk: a moment of peace and resolution.

PAOLO CARZANA SS23
DON’T TRUST NO ONE/TRUST SOMEONE
Working at Sarabande has facilitated several rich alliances. The South Korean artist
Semin Hong has created a series of layered organic cotton works that have been
folded into the collection. It is the first time her technique has been placed onto the
body. “Textile is like a skin that is inscribed with memory. Each stitched line
represents the terrain of the home country I left. Actualising that crease, that skin, that
terrain with Paolo has amplified our shared message of healing,” she says.
ARE YOU GOING TO BARE EVERYTHING FOR THIS?

After watching Pasolini’s La Ricotta (1963), Paolo was struck by the parallel between
the religious authorities ruled by money that the film portrays and the fashion industry
at large. Paolo’s clothes are reactions to the formality, rigidity and tension between art
and commerce, faith and feeling. The opening looks are direct, less interrupted by
pleats and folds. The collars sit open, and the chest (the heart) is laid bare.
LESS SADNESS MORE BRAVERY + VIBRATION + TENDER

The looks become more layered, symbolic of our need for protection – a theme central
to Paolo’s thinking. Other pieces were completely handsewn over hundreds of hours
in tulle and cotton muslin. Lighter fabrics are built up to create volume. The clothes
are full of the concentration, passion, and skill of their maker.
DON’T TELL ME I NEED TO BE ANYONE BUT MYSELF
The Trinidadian artist Mairi Millar has worked on recontextualising objects of power.
Taking inspiration from fire lilies that bloom from ashes, she has sawed the top of
vintage crucifixes to create the six petals of the flower. A series of guardian angels
made in deadstock silk organza and recycled polyester are by tutor turned collaborator
Nasir Mazhar.
Paolo’s odic, graceful clothes are a direct response to his aversion to dominant
hierarchical structures. They are trauma transformed into serene resilience.