Micam Shoeventfiera - Milano
Footwear Fashion Trends Autumn/Winter 2008-2009
ANCI
The National Association of Italian Footwear Manufacturers groups together Italian footwear manufacturers.
The sector is spread out over a large number of companies, including small businesses, each one specialising in specific product segments.
Approximately 1,000 footwear industries are part of the Association.
Overall, their turnover makes up for 70% of the entire Italian footwear production.
THE FASHION COMMITTEE
The Fashion Committee of the SMI-ATI Federation has collected the historical, cultural and operational wealth of the Italian Industrial Textiles and Clothing Fashion Committee association, which was set up at the end of the 1950s. In almost half a century of activities, the Fashion Committee has played a significant role in the dialogue and comparison between the different manufacturing components of the textile - clothing - fashion industry and has been ranked in the sector as a benchmark for research aimed at creativity and innovation, acting as a spur and a tool to safeguard and develop Italian products.
FASHION COMMITTEE FOR ANCI
For the autumn-winter 2008-9 season, the Fashion Committee, upon the explicit request of Anci, has prepared a spot-on research, aimed at understanding the direction in which the preparation of the new men's and ladies' footwear collections is developing. The projects dedicated to the Men's and Ladies Footwear presented were issued last September to the ANCI member footwear manufacturers. The digital files attached provide a thorough summary of this extensive research work: this is a new presentation format deemed to be suitable for the evolution and use of contemporary media.
FASHION TRENDS OBSERVATORY
The ANCI, thanks to a permanent "Observatory" on new trends, provides its members only with the necessary tools to offer products in line with their manufacturing needs.
Each Observatory covers the cultural, artistic and social trends, discovering phenomena that will affect and direct fashion in general, and footwear in particular, in the coming seasons.
This important service is present and updated in real time and can be consulted by consulting the Anci website, www.anci-calzature.com.
FOOTWEAR FASHION TRENDS A-W 2008/9
LADIES. BACK AND FORTH FROM THE EIGHTIES
It is in the 1980s that fashion designers began to make ladies' footwear a genuine cult item. At the time, they looked at the inventions of the great footwear craftsmen of the 1940s for the first time, without awe, and the past became the basis for a new projection towards the future. This was aided by the extraordinary season of interior design and Italian pret-a-porter at that time. Today, this spirit is referred to again with great interest. Beautifully designed footwear, built first and foremost according to cuts and volumes - perhaps with fewer accessories than in previous seasons - is the most interesting mood for next autumn-winter. With an added novelty: the search for materials envisages the possibility of combining the finest, most classic materials with a natural appearance, with synthetic materials and possibly innovative and brand new technological treatments. Two extremes that are often combined in one item.
For the upcoming autumn-winter 2008-9 season, the Fashion Committee reports the following trends as being of particular importance:
NINETEEN FORTIES & NINETEEN EIGHTIES. For the last few seasons, fashion seems to be swinging between these two polarities. The 1940s, a magical time for Italian footwear. And the 1980s, a magical period for all sectors of Italian design.
POWER LADY. How can you not think about the sharp and "optimistic" shapes of the masters of the 1980s such as Mugler and Montana... An unforgettable mood that is back, revamped and corrected.
TECHNOPOLIS. Technology at the service of mankind. Everything that is futuristic is also glam. No difference between natural and artificial, as long as it is clever and high performance.
DISCO SPORT. 1980s mixed with sporting graphics for footwear which has very few genuinely "active" ingredients. Technological materials continuously blended with Couture shapes.
WESTERN RECALL. Unmissable, irreplaceable, almost without season, the "western" style this time has found a way to be revamped by appealing to the environmentally friendly attraction of outdoor spaces and the great plains of North America.
GRAPHIC & ROMANTIC. An apparent contradiction in terms for footwear where black is back (glossy, matt, glossy/matt) accompanied by small white, silver and bronze decorations. With sudden bursts of red gold.
MEN. UP-TO-DATE
Traditionally, trends for men's footwear seem difficult to outline from one season to the next, but the difficulty is merely apparent. In actual fact, the evolution of men's footwear has been intense for the past ten years at least. Aided by a transformation in habits, among the new generations "formal" footwear (and formal clothing alike) has gone beyond the boundaries of "urban" and "smart" in the traditional sense of the words.
For the upcoming autumn-winter 2008-9 season, the Fashion Committee reports the following trends as being of particular importance:
ULTRAVOX. As an iconographic reference, New Romantic and Techno music in the mid-1980s. From minimalism, the trend shifts towards a more certain decorativism. Shapes are austere yet softened by sinuous lines. Boots are hugely important. The materials contemplate glossy and/or lacquered surfaces, yet corrugated, to achieve effects of depth. In terms of colour, very dark shades are cut by shocking shades of neon.
ICELAND POP. Northern Europe is cool: wanting soft, destructured, warm and protective footwear. The bottoms, enveloping, rise up onto the uppers for snow-board inspirations. For the city, moccasins and clean ankle boots with soft bottoms and uppers made of matt materials. Fur and hair are also allowed, as well as nabuk and suede. Colours are very pale, to reflect the northern lights.
PULP FASHION. American suburbia and British aplomb. The very English brogues interpreted with a high-tech wool fabric. Reinterpretation of the cowboy boot. Materials feature both matt and glossy appearances setting off one another. Fabrics feature wool effect prints coupled with brushed and/or wrinkled calfskin. Colours are powder shades, yet strong.
Press release
Anci
Micam, Milan 26 February 2008