'An outstanding menswear, non-gender or mix collection, which clearly exhibits exceptional skill in creativity, design, cut, craftsmanship, color innovation, fabrication, styling, contemporary view and catwalk impact'. These are the words that the Graduate Fashion Week jury used to describe the collection created by Filippo Barbagallo, a third-year Fashion Design student at Istituto Marangoni Firenze who won the International Catwalk Award 2021, the world's largest showcase of fashion talent. 'I spent my childhood with my grandparents and their land, and I worked to build different realities around me. I feel the necessity to interact with different images, creating an extravagant and smart identity, which aims at merging different styles into a single dimension'.

Filippo introduced a collection created for a man in his androgynous and different dimension, which becomes an expression of possible equality, thanks to the unification of styles marginalized by luxury. Filippo’s collection is designed to make the wearer and observer feel carried away by an exuberant mix of references, in a constant dialogue that lives and mutates from pop music to funk or jazz. The apparel features a carnival appeal, which aims at the search for identity. “I decided to go in search of tailoring” Filippo continues, “mixing it with fresh and effervescent styles to surround my man in a total search for unprecedented masculinity. I like to create confusion, and then translate it into overlapping designs, volumes and silhouettes that form what I call an ENTITY".