Welcome back home, young talents.
The 16th edition of International Talent Support is about courage, in all of its possible metaphorical, philosophical and existential declinations.
Being bold is a virtue. Sometimes, a necessity. And you can’t just tell yourself you’re bold, you have to BE bold. It’s the essence underlying the strength that makes us take a step into the unknown. Trusting we will not fall, guided by an intuition which connects what no rational thinking is capable of connecting. Bold, each and every time we take a deep breath and face events that scare us to the bone.
Fear seems a recurrent feeling these days. Climate change, wars, terrorism, technological evolutions we might not be able to control. The awareness that – in a not so distant future – we might evolve and start over on new planets tells us one thing for sure. That the ground we tread upon does not represent our entire universe. That it’s just a lonely planet, traveling in space. Sometimes, being bold is a necessary virtue.
Be bold. The things you can achieve, it will be almost incredible. When you challenge your consciousness outside the boundaries of common thinking, when you let go of convention just to be yourself in front of your peers, when you take the streets to defend the ideas you believe in.
The ITS finalists are bold because they have no fear of showing who they really are and what happens in their wildest dreams. The obsessions driving them, which they decline in their creativity. And ITS is bold as well. Because we believe and are ready to put ourselves at risk. We rise up blindly driven by our essence. Together, we are strong. The language of creativity evolves but our mission doesn’t.
Join us in yet another adventure, it will be one to remember. In 2018 ITS is bold, incredibly. It is precisely this challenge in believing in one’s own ideas that will also inspire the new finalists, selected by a Jury composed of the most respected professionals on the planet. We are looking for an exciting new generation of talents who are strong in their desire to face the future and work towards that grand, global shift we’ve all began dreaming of.
Over 550 finalists selected throughout the years, most of which are now holding key positions in design studios all over the world. The ITS Creative Archive, an open laboratory on the future of creativity allowing a conversation between design, industry and innovation collecting over 16,000 portfolios, 220 outfits, 120 accessories, 80 jewelry pieces and more than 700 digital photography projects, from 80 different countries. The Seismographer, our yearly trends report picking up and analysing any wave of young creativity out there. We document the history of fashion evolution, we dive deep because we want to understand what happens in the minds of creativity’s future generations.
This is ITS 2018. So bold, almost incredible.
Other articles:
The Seismographer
Exploring the Bounds of Limitation. An interview with former finalist Masha Lamzina about craft, freedom and developing one’s own artistic voice
25 August, 2023
“Masha Lamzina is an interdisciplinary artist working with textiles, installations and clothing, focusing on prints, stencilling and graphic patterns. Masha is also a fashion and textile designer, creating artisanal and unique…
The Seismographer
One Collection, infinite stories: Trauma.
The elaboration of painful experiences through the lens of the ITS Arcademy collection.
03 August, 2023
This is something we’ve often seen over the past two decades in fashion designers who have entered the ITS competition. They embark on creative projects to cope with or process negative…
The Seismographer
How to make a killer fashion portfolio.
7 rules you should follow to hit the mark.
03 July, 2023
Fashion portfolios speak a language of their own. Their architecture and content can be driven by cultural and social markers as diverse as the nations of our planet. The level of…
The Seismographer
Teaching creativity. Interview with Ike Rust, menswear tutor to former ITS winners.
13 February, 2023
In the twenty years of ITS Contest rarely have we seen such consistency in training young designers that would be then be selected as finalists by the ITS Jury, a first…
The Seismographer
ITS Contest names that ring a bell.
Craig Green, David Koma, Liam Fahy and Lee Matthews in the ITS Arcademy Collection.
12 January, 2023
In the history of contemporary fashion, documented through the perspective of the ITS Arcademy Collection, there are designers who made history. Interestingly, it’s not always names that made it through to…