ITS Contest 2022 Juries

Imran Amed

Founder & CEO The Business of Fashion

Imran Amed is one of fashion’s leading writers, thinkers and commentators, and is founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion (BoF), a modern media company and the authoritative voice of the $2.5 trillion global fashion and luxury industries.

From the start, BoF sparked a new kind of fashion dialogue, exploring the key drivers of an industry undergoing unprecedented change and rapid growth, with a retail and manufacturing footprint that spans the globe. The fashion industry was emerging as a force in popular culture and global business, and there was much to analyse, dissect and explore.

In 2017, ten years after founding BoF, Imran was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the fashion industry. In 2018, Imran was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. He has also been named in Fast Company’s annual list of the Most Creative People in Business, British GQ’s list of the 100 Most Influential Men in Britain, Indian GQ’s list of the 50 Most Influential Global Indians, and Wired UK’s list of the 100 most influential figures in Britain’s digital economy.

Imran holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Com from McGill University. He holds British and Canadian citizenship. Previously, Imran was a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Carlo Bach

Art Director illycaffé

Carlo Bach was born in Cologne in 1967. He is an artist, with numerous exhibitions both in Italy and abroad.

Since 1999 he collaborates on the artistic projects of illycaffè - a company which has chosen creativity as a language through which it expresses its own values and philosophy - and became Art Director in 2005.
He develops collaborations with the most renowned contemporary artists as well as with emerging talents, working on experimental art projects to then translate such experiences into the realization of the illy Art Collection, the signature espresso cups that are now a cult.

He is also responsible for the projects that the company develops in the fields of communication and design, among which the Illy Gallery - the temporary space imagined to describe illy's world of passions to the public - and the Coffee Pavillion created for the Milan Expo in 2015. He lives in Udine, Italy.

Tony Chambers

Founder and Director of Creative Agency TC & Friends. Former Editor-In-Chief of Wallpaper* Magazine

Tony Chambers is a Creative Director, Design Consultant and Editor.  He is the founder of creative agency TC & Friends and co-founder, with artist Ryan Gander, of OTOMOTO – the design, art and ideas platform.

Tony is the editor and creative director of the definitive monograph of designer Paul Smith published by Phaidon and the Co-Chair of Brainstorm Design, Fortune magazine’s design & business conference. From 2003 to 2018 Tony served as Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director of Wallpaper* magazine, for which he still contributes. He also served as Art Director of British GQ and Art Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine.

He has twice been named the PPA Designer of Year and twice Editor of the Year by the BSME. He is a recipient of the Mark Boxer Award for outstanding services to the Publishing Industry – the most prestigious honour in British publishing.

Tony sits on the board of Trustees of the Barbican Arts Centre and the Whitechapel Galleries Ventures board.

Matteo Battiston

Chief Design Officer EssilorLuxottica

Matteo Battiston has over 15 years experience in Design and Brand Communication creative direction. As Chief Design Officer at EssilorLuxottica he’s leading a global team of more than 120 designers located in Italy, France, US, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Brasil. Ray-Ban, Persol, Vogue Eyewear, Oakley, Oliver Peoples, Prada, Bulgari, Tiffany, Burberry are some of the brands in Portfolio.
Under his direction, a global envisioning research department has been launched with the aim of forecasting fashion and CMF trends in America, Europe and Asia. He also leads the Global Consumer Insights Team at Luxottica. He is former Deputy General Manager at IED Milan, Director of the Management and Communication School - which he is still Member of the Strategic Advisory Board of – and former Director of the IED Design & Research Center. He holds lectures and seminars in several universities all over the world and sits in the advisory board of International Creative Agencies.
He is a dreamer, a photography enthusiast, and a restless traveler (when COVID stops ruining our plans).

Carlo Capasa

Chairman Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana

Carlo Capasa is Chairman of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the association that represents Italian fashion houses and promotes the country’s excellence in this industry abroad.
Elected Chairman in 2015 to orchestrate a relaunching of the Association, Capasa has given it a strategic vision focusing on four pillars: sustainability, digitalization, new brands and storytelling.
Under Carlo Capasa’s guidance, CNMI has become the leading exponent of sustainability amongst fashion industry associations with its publication in 2016 of the first “Guidelines on eco-toxicological requirements for articles of clothing, leather goods, footwear and accessories”, the “CNMI principles for sustainable retailing” (2017) and its “Guidelines on eco-toxicological requisites for chemical mixtures and industrial discharges” (2018); the "Scientific Research on the Bioavailability of Cancer Aromatic Amines" (2018), the "Global Sustainability Report - Sustainability matters, but does it sell?" (2019) in collaboration with Mc Kinsey & Company; the "Manifesto on Diversity and Inclusion" (2019); the "Social Sustainability Report" and the "Social Sustainability Roadmap" (2020) in collaboration with the Fair Wage Network; and, as a result of the work of the CNMI Chemicals Commission of CNMI. the document 'Good Manufacturing Practices - Guidelines on the Use of Chemicals in Fashion Production Chains' (2021).
Carlo Capasa launched the first three editions of the 'International Roundtable on Sustainability', an international meeting aimed at CSR managers from fashion companies around the world; the first four editions of the 'Green Carpet Fashion Awards' and the 'CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards'; and the first CNMI 'Crafting the Future' Summit held together with Bain Company and The Business of Fashion; and three exhibitions: “Crafting the Future of Fashion, stories of Craftsmanship and Innovation”, curated by Franca Sozzani, “Italiana. Italy seen by Fashion. 1971- 2001”, curated by Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi, and “Memos. On Fashion in this Millenium” curated by Maria Luisa Frisa.
Since December 2020, Carlo Capasa has been on the board of Altagamma, of which he is Vice-President in charge of fashion, and since May 2021 he has been in the board of the INDICAM Association.
He was born in Lecce, Puglia, and moved to Milan completing his studies. Before taking over the chair at Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, Carlo Capasa held key roles in numerous fashion businesses in what has been a rich and successful career. Until March 2016, when the company was sold to a Japanese group, Carlo Capasa held the position of CEO of Costume National, the Maison he founded with his brother Ennio in 1986.

Orsola de Castro

Co-Founder of Fashion Revolution and author

Orsola de Castro is an internationally recognised opinion leader in sustainable fashion. Her career started as a designer with the pioneering upcycling label From Somewhere, which she launched in 1997 until 2014. Her designer collaborations include collections for Jigsaw, Speedo, and 4 best selling capsule collections for Topshop from 2012 to 2014. In 2006, she co-founded the British Fashion Council initiative Estethica at the London Fashion Week, which she curated until 2014.

In 2013, she co-founded Fashion Revolution, a global campaign with participations in over 90 countries around the world. Orsola is a regular key note speaker and mentor, and Associate Visiting Professor at Middlesex University. Orsola’s first book “Loved Clothes Last” is published by Penguin Life, Corbaccio Editore in Italy and in France by Edition Marabou.

Deanna Ferretti

Miss Deanna

Deanna Ferretti Veroni started her career in Reggio Emilia, Italy more than 40 years ago. She has founded her knitwear company in the early '60s and since then successfully collaborated with some of the most important designers of this past century. She met Kenzo Takada when she was barely 25 years old and she worked successfully with him for over 20 years. During the '70s she collaborated with Yves Saint Laurent, Rena Kraft, John Ashpool, Giorgio Correggiari, Popy Moreni and Michelle Bruyere, among many others. In the '80s her business grew and she started to have her first licence contracts with brands such as Krizia, Adrienne Vittadini, Giorgio Armani and Joseph, whose collections were designed by John Galliano and John Richmond. In the '90s, she worked with Maison Martin Margiela, Mattew Williamson, Valentino, Julien Mac Donald, Neil Barret and for many others brands. She has a wide experience in textiles and knitwear but she cannot be simply called a fashion designer nor a business woman. In truth, she is an atypical figure, creative and technical at the same time, born to realise almost every designer’s dream. Deanna always supports new young talents through her constant work with students of the Master in Creative Knitwear, as well as several schools and institutions worldwide as well as sharing her infinite knowledge within Modateca Deanna and its visitors.

Barbara Franchin

Fondazione ITS Director

Barbara Franchin stands at the helm of the Fondazione ITS, steering both the ITS Contest and the ITS Arcademy - Museum of Art in Fashion – Italy’s first contemporary fashion museum.
Born and raised in the cosmopolitan city of Trieste, Italy, Barbara cultivated a singular and unrestricted perspective on creativity. This vision led her to found EVE in 2001, a pioneering creative agency driven by a dynamic team of young visionaries.

This initiative paved the way for the launch of the ITS Contest in 2002, a platform that drew emerging talents from top fashion design schools globally. Quickly earning critical acclaim, the contest captured the interest of media, influencers, intellectuals, and key figures in the international fashion landscape, establishing itself as one of the world’s most prestigious launchpads for emerging design talents. Transitioning from its original framework, EVE evolved into a cultural association in 2006 and into Fondazione ITS in 2022.

Driven by her love for art and culture, and committed to preserving and showcasing the raw creativity unearthed through the ITS Contest, Barbara has assembled an unparalleled collection encompassing 14,840 portfolios, 1,100 fashion pieces, 165 accessories, 120 pieces of jewelry, and more than 700 digital photography projects.

These are now contained within ITS Arcademy - Museum of Art in Fashion, a pioneering space combining an exhibition area, a creative archive, and an educational hub.
Barbara Franchin has been recognised for her contributions to the promotion of creativity, earning a spot on Elle Magazine's list of the 100 most influential women in fashion, inclusion in The Business of Fashion's BoF 500 list, and being named one of Forbes' 100 successful women in leadership and creativity.

Carlo Giordanetti

CEO Swatch Art Peace Hotel

Carlo Giordanetti is member of the Product & Design Committee of Swatch Ltd. As CEO of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, he is in charge of developing the project as a strategic element of the overall brand program. He comes to Swatch from Montblanc (2007-2012), where he served as Creative Director for all product groups. Previously, as Co-Founder and Creative Director of Brand DNA (2000-2007), he specialized in the development of branding concepts and brand (re)positioning in the luxury goods market.
Carlo also brings extensive experience at Swatch through his new role. For ten years (1987-1992 and 1995-2000) he served in a variety of positions, including Vice President, Marketing, contributing actively to numerous projects involving art, brand-building events, new product developments and the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. He was also a member of the team that founded both the Milan and New York design labs of Swatch. From 2012 to 2019 he has been Creative Director at Swatch, responsible for a unified brand message across product, communications and retail. From 1992 until 1995 Mr. Giordanetti worked at Piaggio, makers of Vespa scooters, where he established a new retail concept and directed the company’s first international communications campaign. He is fluent in several European languages and has lived and worked in Milan, Florence, New York, Paris, Hamburg, Zurich and now Bern.

Demna

Creative Director Balenciaga

Born in Georgia (the former Soviet Union) in 1981, Demna fled the civil war there in 1993 and eventually completed a master's degree in Fashion Design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2006. In 2009, Demna joined Maison Martin Margiela, where he was responsible for the Women’s collections until 2013. From 2013 to 2014, he was Senior Designer of the Women’s ready-to-wear collections at Louis Vuitton. In 2014, he launched his own brand, VETEMENTS. In 2015, Demna was appointed artistic director of Balenciaga. In 2021, Balenciaga launched its first Couture collection since Cristóbal Balenciaga closed the atelier in 1968. Demna has been named International Ready-To-Wear Designer of the Year and Accessories Designer of the Year at The Fashion Awards, International Designer of the Year and International Women’s Designer of the Year at the CFDA Fashion Awards, a Leader of Change in Creativity by the British Fashion Council, and one of Time 100’s Most Influential People in the World. Since December 2021, Demna uses only his first name, distinguishing an artist title from a birthname and therefore separating creative work from personal life. In all press and public appearances, he chooses to be referred to simply as Demna.
This is very important for him.

Luca Josi

Member of the TIM Foundation

Luca Josi, born in Albenga, Italy, in 1966. Former professional journalist, he was secretary of the Socialist Youth Movement from 1991 to 1994 and was the Directorate and Executive of the PSI (Italian Socialist Party) in those same years. He founded the Einstein Multimedia group as President from 1994 to 2013.

He founded the Generational Pact in 2007. From 2016 to 2021 he headed the Brand Strategy, Media and Multimedia division of TIM (he was director of communication, commercial sponsorship and sports, events, media and commercial and multimedia content for TIMVISION, TIMMUSIC and TIMGAMES). Currently he is still a director of the TIM Foundation for which he oversaw the greatest act of Italian patronage: the recovery of the Mausoleum of Augustus.

Róisín Murphy

Singer

Roisin Murphy is a singer, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, creative-director and bonafide style icon. She began her artistic career as one half of the musical duo Moloko, in 1994, releasing four wildly creative, era-defining studio albums with the group.

In 2005 Murphy released her first Solo album, Ruby Blue which was produced by fellow maverick genius, Matthew Herbert. Since then she has consistently delivered thrilling music across five studio albums, always choosing to work with outstanding and progressive production talent.

Having had such a long and interesting career Murphy finds herself in a near unique position, she has somehow managed to remain creatively free, highly prolific and absolutely relevant. With each new record comes a reinvention, a progression, that has over the years, consistently consolidated and widened her ever-growing, deeply devoted fan-base.

Flamboyance and an innate sense of style are trademarks of Róisín’s performance’s and this has brought her much attention in the fashion world. She has worked with a great many of the worlds most luxurious brands over the years, most recently performing for Balenciaga at their 2022 Haute Couture event in Paris.

Róisín is very often the first to wear a promising new designer, from Gareth Pugh to Vetements to Robert Wun she has shown an uncanny ability to spot fresh fashion talent and preempt trends in the most unique and subversive way.

Massimo Parrini Cantini

Costume Designer

Massimo Parrini Cantini was born in Florence and was fascinated by costumes from an early age thanks to his maternal grandmother, a Florentine dressmaker. As a teenager, he was thunderstruck by the Costume Gallery in Palazzo Pitti, and thus began his journey as a thirteen-year-old scholar and collector of historical clothes from all over the world, in the belief, even then, that an antique dress does not just tell the story of the person who wore it, but that of the society that generated it, thus telling every small and great form of art through fabric.

To date, his archive boasts more than 4,000 pieces ranging from 1630 to 1990, all original, extremely rare and by very important couturiers. His professional development is long and complex. His training began at the State Art Institute of Porta Romana in Florence where he obtained a diploma in costume and fashion. Still in Florence, he continued his studies at Polimoda, under the aegis of the University of Florence, and affiliated with F.I.T. in New York. During this private education, he also obtained a degree in Fashion Culture and Stylism at the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy in Florence. During his academic studies, he won the competition at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, becoming a student in the costume course of Oscar winner Piero Tosi. This absolute master will become Massimo Cantini Parrini’s guide during his career.

Their relationship will evolve from that of teacher/student to a deep friendship based on mutual esteem, an intellectual bond that will see them confront each other for decades. The esteem in which Tosi held him led him to join the Tirelli tailor's shop at a very young age as assistant costume designer, and it was with this qualification that he made his film debut alongside Oscar-winning costume designer Gabriella Pescucci, who called him to collaborate for over ten years on major international film productions, opera theatre and various events.

His brilliant career did not stop at 'craft' only, but continued by teaching at the University of Florence and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in courses of Costume for the Performing Arts. Massimo Cantini Parrini has won five David di Donatello awards out of six nominations, three of them consecutive since his first nomination (2016, 2017, 2018). Numerous other awards and recognitions include five Nastri d'Argento, four Ciak d'oro and other awards at important national and international film festivals. In 2019 he won the EFA, (European Film Award) the European Oscar, as best costume designer. In January 2019, the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence awarded him the title of Honorary Academician.

In 2020, he was chosen by the Academy Awards, which awards the Oscar every year, as a new voting member. In 2021 he received his first Oscar nomination for the costumes of ‘Pinocchio' by Matteo Garrone, and in 2022 his second Academy Awards nomination for ‘Cyrano' by Joe Wright. He has two CDG nominations, Costume Designer Guild Awards and a BAFTA nomination. Cantini Parrini has designed costumes for illustrious Italian and foreign directors, from Matteo Garrone for "Il racconto dei racconti”, “Dogman", "Pinocchio", Ettore Scola for "Che strano chiamarsi Federico", Paolo Virzì for "Ella & John" the d'Innocenzo brothers for "La terra dell’abbastanza”, “Favolacce", "Latin America", Edoardo de Angelis for “Indivisibili" and "Il vizio della speranza", Susanna Nicchiarelli for "Miss Marx", Terry Gilliam for "The Wholly Family" Claire McCarty for "Ophelia", Andrzej Wajda for "Walesa, the Man of Hope", Joe Wright for "Cyrano". Numerous collaborations for opera, drama, exhibitions and events.

Stefania Ricci

Director of Museo Salvatore Ferragamo and Fondazione Ferragamo

She graduated in Literature with a specialisation in History of Arts from the University of Florence; in 1984 she began to work with the Galleria del Costume of Palazzo Pitti and with Pitti Immagine, curating the creation of some exhibitions and catalogues such as “La Sala Bianca: nascita della moda Italiana” (Electa) in 1992 and in 1996, on the occasion of the Biennale d’Arte e Moda in Florence, the catalogue of Emilio Pucci's exhibition (Skira). In 1985, she curated the first retrospective exhibition on Salvatore Ferragamo at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, as well as its various venues at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (1987), at the Los Angeles County Museum (1992), at the Sogetsu Kai Foundation in Tokyo (1998) and at the Museo Palacio des Bellas Artes in Mexico City (2006), starting with the organization of the company’s archive. Since 1995 she has been the director of Museo Ferragamo and she has also been responsible for cultural events around the world; since then, she has curated all of the exhibitions organized by the museum as well as their catalogues, including “Audrey Hepburn. Una donna, lo stile” (Audrey Hepburn. A woman, the style) (Leonardo Arte, 1999), “Evolving Legend. Salvatore Ferragamo 1928-2008” (Skira, 2009), “Greta Garbo. Il mistero dello stile” (Greta Garbo. The mystery of style) (Skira, 2010), “Marilyn” (Skira, 2012), “Il calzolaio prodigioso” (The Amazing Shoemaker) (Skira, 2013), “Equilibrium” (Skira, 2014), “Un palazzo e la città” (A Palace and the City) (Skira, 2015), “Tra arte e moda” (Across Art and Fashion) (Mandragora, 2016), “1927 Il ritorno in Italia” (1927 The Return to Italy) (Skira, 2017), “L’Italia a Hollywood” (Italy in Hollywood) (Skira, 2018), “Sustainable Thinking” (Electa, 2019), “Seta” (Silk) (Electa, 2021), “Donne in equilibrio” (Women in Balance) (Electa, 2022) and “Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960” (Electa, 2023).
In 2019, she was appointed as a member of the Study Commission for the identification of public policies for the protection, conservation, enhancement and use of Italian fashion as cultural heritage. She has been director of the Ferragamo Foundation since 2013.

Luca Rizzi

Pitti Immagine Tutoring & Consulting Director, e-P Summit Project Leader

Born in 1984 in Trento, after his initial studies in Economics and Business Management, Luca Rizzi completed a Master’s degree in Management at the European School of Economics in Milan. Here, Luca acquired the knowledge needed to start his career in Futurenet Group (now called Tomorrow Ltd), where he was involved both in commercial developments and in communications, dealing with global brands such as Raf Simons, Evisu, True Religion, Vince and Ksubi. He then went on to work for Cernobbio, owner of the historic brand Metradamo, where he managed relations with Italian and international clients. In 2011 he arrived in LAGENTE, an important company focused on fashion designers. Learning from this experience, in 2013 he founded CREATIVE AND MORE, a Business and Strategic Consultancy firm, which acts as a platform of strategic networking between companies of the fashion system and fashion designers. In November 2018, the company was absorbed by Pitti Immagine and he was appointed director of the Tutoring & Consulting Division. As of July 2022, he will also serve as Project Leader of e-P Summit, Pitti Immagine’s event dedicated to the relationship between fashion and the digital world.

Andrea Rosso

Diesel Sustainability Ambassador and MYAR Founder

Curiosity and passion are the two most distinguishing traits of Andrea Rosso’s personality. Born and raised in Bassano del Grappa, Andrea relishes living in his hometown where he can be close to his friends and family, and the lifelong creature comforts that fuel his creativity. Music, graphic art and flea markets are all important pursuits that help him steer his passion to exciting new heights.

Andrea is a descendant of Diesel, so it comes as no surprise that he was instinctively drawn to the fashion business. In preparation, he studied pattern cutting in Padua, Italy, but it was while studying English in California that he discovered a love for nonconformist skills such as graphics, art and a passion for all things vintage. From there, he went on to New York to study Textile Development and Marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and ultimately, to begin conceiving his role inside the family business.

Andrea is the Creative Director of Diesel Living collection; Initially launched in 2008 as an assortment of home textiles, the Diesel Living collection extends the brand’s lifestyle and attitude to a now vast world of design, adopting important long-term partnerships with leading players in the interior design field: Moroso for furniture, Lodes for lighting, Scavolini for kitchen and bathroom, Iris Ceramica for ceramic tiles and Berti for wooden flooring, Seletti for home accessories, Wall&decò for the wallpaper line and Mirabello Carrara for home linens.

He coordinates the creative design team in the development of new products, guiding the image with the aim to build a truly complete lifestyle brand.
In 2014 Andrea launched his own fashion project collecting all his passions: MYAR, a collection of used military originals that Andrea procured personally in vintage markets and visited old depots hunting for functional details and fabrics and accessories no longer in production. After being sartorially refashioned, each garment acquires a contemporary fit and brings the history of the past into the present, looking into a future use.
2020 marks a new beginning for Diesel and Andrea, taking on new roles in the form of Diesel Sustainability Ambassador. In January 2020, Diesel launched the brands ‘For Responsible Living’ strategy, a commitment to taking actions for the benefit of current and future generations.

With Andrea’s passion and enthusiasm for a more sustainable future leading the way, the launch of ‘For Responsible Living’ signified the beginning of a meaningful journey for Diesel. Building upon its philosophy and positive disruptive outlook, Diesel formally committed to implementing a responsible business strategy that is respectful of people and the planet.

Sara Sozzani Maino

Creative Director Fondazione Sozzani

Creative director of the Sozzani Foundation, she collaborates with many educational institutions and serves on several boards creating awareness for a more sustainable planet. She is part of the advisory board of the Circular Fashion Summit, in support to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
To date, she is a creative advisor for CNCC (Conde Nast Commercial Creative) dealing with the design and proposition of multi-platform projects for the Condé Nast Italia brands. She founded Vogue Talents with Franca Sozzani in 2009; Vogue Talents has been a worldwide project, a network supporting independent creative talent.
In collaboration with Altaroma, she has curated since 2005 the "Who is on Next?" competition in support of Made in Italy. She regularly attends as a judge and consultant in several fashion competitions, including LVMH Prize, the Woolmark Prize, Fashion Trust Arabia, International Talent Support (ITS), and many others. Since September 2018, she has been the International Brand Ambassador of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana in support of the new generation of designers. She is also part of Camera Fashion Trust founded in 2018 in support of Made in Italy designers. In 2019 she launched A New Awareness, a project that aims to stimulate awareness in the younger generation. Since 2020 she is a senior advisor for Bidayat, a multi-dimensional platform aiming to power the creative ecosystem.
In May 2021 she received the Positive Change Award from Monte Carlo Fashion Week.

The Media Jury

A selection of the most respected international journalists in the fashion industry, who will be in charge of assigning the ITS Media Award to the finalist showing the strongest ability to transmit their innovative vision in a socially meaningful way.

Rachele Bagnato

Fashion Director, D La Repubblica
Italy

My passion for photography led me to fashion world and to fashion journalism.I contribute to the opening of D where I signed the first Cover with the talent Stella Tennant.In the 2006 I worked on the creation and on the opening of VELVET in the role of Fashion Director. Back to d in the 2013.

Michou Basu

Fashion & Design Writer,
Het Financieele Dagblad
Fashion & Design Coordinator, FD Persoonlijk
The Netherlands

Michou Basu is a well-known Dutch fashion journalist, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Born in 1968 in Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands, Michou Basu grew up on the countryside. Her traveling aunt brought her magazines from around the world and that’s how she fell in love with fashion.
She started her career at Textilia, a platform for professionals in the fashion and retail industry where she developed her love for the trade as well as fashion.
For fifteen years she was the fashion editor of the Dutch daily De Telegraaf. Never far from all the major shows, Michou’s intelligent fashion reporting has cemented the editor as an authority on the industry. She covered the men’s and women’s fashionweeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris as well as the haute couture shows in Paris and tradefairs as Pitti Uomo in Florence and Bread and Butter in Berlin.
Since 2016 she is the writer of fashion and design for the financial Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad and coordinator of fashion and design for it’s weekendmagazine FD Persoonlijk. The interviews also appear in Sabato, the weekend magazine of the Belgian financial newspaper De Tijd.
In the past she has contributed to titels including Elsevier and Avantgarde, she was the author of books of Dutch artists. Michou Basu lives in Amsterdam.

Andrea Batilla

Strategist and Writer
Italy

Andrea Batilla is a brand strategist with years of experience in the fashion field and collaborations with important brands like Bottega Veneta, Fausto Puglisi and Marco Rambaldi. He his also an author of 3 best selling books about the historical and cultural side of fashion. Andrea has 65.000 follower on his Instagram account where he mostly writes about fashion critique.

Giampietro Baudo

Global Chief Content Officer, L’OFFICIEL
Editor in Chief, L’Officiel Italia
L’Officiel Hommes Italia
Italy

Giampietro Baudo is now the Global Chief Content Officer at L’OFFICIEL and also Editor in Chief of L’Officiel Italia and L’Officiel Hommes Italia. He joined the media company in 2019 and he is also one of the members of Global Editorial Board and executive manager for L’Officiel Paris and L'Officiel Usa. He came to L’Officiel Italia from Esquire Italia where he has served as the Editor in Chief since 2017, launching and managing one of the world’s leading digital men’s fashion publications. Previously he was the Editor in Chief of MFFashion, the one and only European daily newspaper about fashion and luxury, where he continues to be contributor with the Blackstage weekly column. He was also the Managing Editor of L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Sport and Vogue Tessuti, Eic of MFF-Magazine for Fashion and MFF-Magazine for Living, Curator of Eccellenza Italia, Creative Director of Ladies and contributor to System magazine, Elle and Vogue Italia.

Chiara Beghelli

Fashion & Luxury Industry Reporter,
Il Sole 24 Ore
Italy

Chiara Beghelli (1978) has been fashion & luxury industry reporter at Il Sole 24 Ore, main financial and economic daily in Italy, since 2007. Graduate in Political Studies and at School of Journalism at Luiss Guido Carli in Rome, she previously wrote for la Repubblica and Italia Oggi. She loves to explore sustainabilty and innovation issues in the fashion industry. She’s based in Rome.

Ales Caks

Editor in Chief, Goodlife
Slovenia

Aleš Čakš was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His official profession is a journalist. He studied journalism at Faculty for social science, University of Ljubljana, and continued with communication studies at University of Amsterdam in 1998. In last 11 years of his journalistic career he mainly covered fashion and lifestyle. He was an editor in chief of TRENDI fashion magazine at Finance newspaper in Ljubljana for 10 years. Last year he became an editor in chief of lifestyle magazine Goodlife (a supplement Delo daily newspaper). In 2019 he became an editor in chief of Goodlife magazine (a supplement of Delo daily newspaper), he founded his own fashion label Alessio and became a fashion designer.

Alberto Calabrese

Contributing Writer, VOGUE Italia
Italy

Alberto Calabrese was born in Crotone in 1991. He graduated in Juridical Sciences at the faculty of law of Università Roma Tre of Rome. He studied Fashion Communication at the Advanced Training Course of the Accademia Costume & Moda of Rome. During his studies he has worked for L’Officiel Italia and L’Officiel Hommes Italia for four years. After attending the Fashion Communication Course he has started working at Vogue Italia as a contributing writer, also curating the Special Projects. Further, starting from 2022 he is Deputy Editor of ODDA Magazine and lecturer at IED Milano.

Gianluca Cantaro

Freelance
Italy

Gianluca Cantaro, born in Caltanissetta, Sicily, on November 30th 1971, is a fashion journalist and critic, creative and consultant.
Before pandemic he relaunched the Nowfashion.com website as Editor in Chief from April 2019 to April 2020, turning it into a daily and respected fashion newsfeed.
Since September 2014 to December 2018, he has been Editor-in-Chief of L'Officiel Italia and L'Officiel Hommes Italia relaunching the brand.
For seven years and half, (2007-2014) he was Deputy-Editor-in-Chief at L'Uomo Vogue, previously he served as Deputy Section Editor at D La Repubblica delle Donne for seven years for Gruppo Gedi until 2007.
He delivers speeches, lectures and master courses in the most important universities and fashion schools in the industry and design (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Politecnico di Milano, IUAV in Venice, Polimoda, IED Moda Lab) teaching fashion journalism and fashion critic.

Photo credit: Scott Schuman

Tiziana Cardini

Fashion Critic, VogueRunway – Vogue.com
Italy

After enjoying her position as editor and stylist at fashion magazines for many years, Tiziana Cardini was appointed by Vittorio Radice, Rinascente CEO, as fashion director in 2007. She is responsible for scouting new talents in fashion and design as well as keeping the brand-mix vibrant and up-to-date. She also works closely with art and visual talents at creating high-profile events which aim at strengthening the company image, drawing on her background in architecture and knowledge of contemporary art and design. She was fashion director at Amica and Italian Glamour. She still nurtures her lifetime passion for the world of fashion media by contributing to Italian Vogue and to their online magazine, vogue.it, by writing on new designers and reviewing the international fashion shows.

Lorella Flego

CEO, gracefulstory.com - glitter.si
lorellaflego.com
Slovenia

Lorella Flego - journalist, TV host, entrepreneur, CEO of gracefulstory.com, glitter.si and lorellaflego.com
Lorella Flego started her TV career at the joung age of 16 and since then she has never stopped. Even if her interest was mostly in fashion and all the skills around this field, she has been working for different tv programs in Slovenia and Italy, covering sports, children's content, culture, entertainment. Her presence is permanent at the fashion weeks all over the world, covering the international pretaporter show. In recent times she has given lessons of fashion and psychology at the schools of Johannesburg, Lugano, Milano, London and Paris; Lorella is also a qualified psychologist and her interest is in how fashion and psychology always work together. She is currently running her Tv show for the national TV in Slovenia and hosting evenings and events all over Europe.

Maria Hunstig

Features Director, VOGUE Germany
Germany

Maria Hunstig has been working in fashion media for more than 10 years. She has a deep understanding of the industry side of things not only through her studies of Textile and Clothing Management, but also training and working as an editor in international fashion trade media (mostly Sportswear International) for a number of years. In 2018, she joined VOGUE Germany as a Network Editor, actively shaping the local digital outlets and cooperative stories between the international VOGUE editions. She currently works as the Features Director of the publication, a great place to live out her special interest in the relation between fashion and the greater society. Next to her main job at VOGUE, Maria regularly publishes stories in leading local and international publications such as SZ-Magazin.de, ZEIT Online or VOGUE Business.

Photo credit: Tereza Mundilová

Luca Lanzoni

Digital Creative Director, Hearst Italy
Italy

Internationally recognized for his approach that combines competence, culture (and couture), Luca Lanzoni is the Digital Creative Director of Hearst Italy. Always (and only) dressed “in blue”, Luca has been involved in fashion for over 20 years: arrived in the fabulous "Elle world" in 2007, after starting as a stylist and reporter from the fashion weeks of Milan, London, Paris, LA and New York. Thanks to an eclectic, eccentric and curious spirit, he immediately became fond of digital and was among the first Italian fashion journalist to work on the Internet and to deal - in the pioneering era - with social networks, Instagram in the first place. All experiences that led him to hold the position of head and web manager of the Elle.it site until 2017, when he accepted the current position of Digital Fashion Director of Hearst Italia, a role he hold alongside the work as Creative Director of Hearst Italy Content Studio: art department specialized in the creation of content at all levels: editorial, branded, white label in all the most contemporary forms of communication, with an eye to the world of fashion, beauty, design and luxury. Columnist of the newly born Harper’s Bazaar Italy website, Luca Lanzoni is the winner of the Tao Moda 2019, the important italian award for Digital Journalism.

Armelle Leturcq

Co-founder & Editor in Chief, Crash
France

Armelle Leturcq is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Crash, French biannual magazine on art and fashion. Journalist and art critic, she has also worked as creative director and stylist for brands such as Dior homme and Chanel. Preferring to be involved with art or reportage photographers, she recently collaborates with Magnum photo, on the project "Saint Laurent SELF07" curated by Anthony Vaccarello.

Photo credit: Mondino

Antonio Mancinelli

Freelance
Italy

Professional journalist since ’91, Antonio Mancinelli was Deputy Editor of Marie Claire Italia until July 2021. He now writes for D La Repubblica delle Donne, Amica, Amica.it, the newspapers Il Foglio, La Stampa, La Repubblica. He started in 1985 at Il Corriere della Sera. Subsequently, he wrote for various magazines and newspapers, from Vogue to Panorama, from Diario to Elle, just to name a few. Followed by the Milan Polytechnic, the Alma Studiorum University of Bologna to the Polimoda of Florence, the Academy of Fashion in Naples, the Catholic University of Milan, the Domus Academy and the Marangoni in Milan. He was called by the Ministry of Culture to be part of the Fashion Commission as an Italian cultural heritage. He has participated in the drafting of the catalogs of important exhibitions: among the latest, a short novel of men's fashion, at Palazzo Pitti in Florence (2019), Italian. Italy seen from fashion at Palazzo Reale in Milan (2018), up to the Rick Owens Subhuman Inhuman Superhuman retrospective at the Milan Triennale (2017).

Photo credit: ©Piero Gemelli

Mariko Mito

Director, Bunka Publishing Bureau Paris
Japan

After working as an attaché de presse, stylist and fashion editor, I have been the director of the Paris branch of BUNKA PUBLISHING BUREAU (Japan) since 2008.

Marie Ottavi

Journalist, Libération
France

Marie Ottavi is a journalist at Libération where she writes about fashion, design and underground cultures. She is the author of two books: Jacques de Bascher, dandy de l'ombre, published by Séguier and Karl, biography of Karl Lagerfeld, by Robert Laffont, which will be published in September in Italy by L'ippocampo, and in Spain by Superflua.

Photo copyright Matthew Oliver

Tommaso Palazzi

Managing Editor, MFFashion - Mffashion.com
Italy

Tommaso Palazzi has covered fashion and the luxury market for Italian publishing company Class Editori since 2000, as he worked in the launch of joint venture between Cnbc Europe and Class. For over 15 years he covered international fashion stories from Milan, Paris and New York both in Italian and English for the Cnbc European networks. From 2017 he joined MF Fashion, the first daily print and digital newspaper devoted to the business of fashion. He covers regularly the main international fashion weeks and published interviews with icons such as Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, Bernard Arnault, Tom Ford and Miuccia Prada. For MF Fashion he launched a series of live Instagram talks and the merging of video and social media. In 2021, from Dubai Expo, he presented the special edition of Milano Fashion Global Summit, among leading International conferences on the world of luxury. Among the latest editions guests were Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana, Dior ‘s Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dries Van Noten, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing and the ceo of Bulgari Jean-Christophe Babin. Since 2001 he started coverage of emerging fashion weeks in Sao Paulo and Rio (Brazil), which he attended regularly ever since, exploring expansion in new potential markets for luxury, focusing on South America, as well as China, Southeast Asia and the Gulf Region.
Since 2005 he broadened the scope of his coverage to new developments in communication between fashion, luxury hotels and the Arts, covering also Art Fairs and Biennales (Venice to Miami, Maastricht and Basel) and music Institutions (among others: La Scala in Milan, Salzburg Festival, New York Metropolitan Opera). He moderated the press conferences of ZegnArt Public, a project of Ermeneglido Zegna supporting art commissions in emerging luxury markets, and attended its launch in Mumbai (India). Some sustainability events of Cnmi-Camera nazionale della moda italiana, Press junkets at the Venice film festival and cultural talks at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. His greatest passions are travels, Opéra and dance, languages, history and museum studies.

Alice Pfeiffer

Executive Editor, NYLON
France

Alice Pfeiffer the Executive Editor of NYLON France. She has a masters degree in Gender Studies from the London School of Economics and has written for Vogue, the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde. She is also the author of two books, Je ne Suis Pas Parisienne (Stock, 2019) and Le Gout du Moche (Flammarion, 2021).

Photo credit: Léon Prost, Ⓒ Flammarion

Federico Poletti

Fashion Director, Artribune
Italy

He was communication director at YOOX.COM curating all the contents and designers’projects. Then he was called as an Artistic Director to develop special projects and talents scouting for important tradeshows such as WHITE Milano, Pitti Immagine and Fiera di Vicenza. Since the launch of Vogue.it website, he has been working with Sara Maino, head of talents section, to scout and feature new talents around the world for the online and onpaper Vogue and for Vogue Italia Events at Palazzo Morando (Who is on next? contest and Vogue Talents). In 2014 he launched MANINTOWN.COM, a men’s lifestyle magazine available online and on paper, of which he is the Founder and Editorial Director. After many years of collaborations with international magazines, he joined the ARTRIBUNE team as a Fashion Director.

Gea Politi

Chief Editor & Publisher, Flash Art magazine
Italy

Chief editor and publisher of Flash Art magazine since 2015, Gea Politi collaborates with international cultural institutions. She works as a consultant for the United Nations on initiatives involving development of contemporary art projects in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo credit: Luca Grottoli

Megumi Takahashi

Milan Correspondent, Senken Shimbun
Japan

After working at the Fashion marketing department of Kanebo Ltd., moved to Italy. Started working as a freelance writer in the 90's. Currently, the Japanese fashion business newspaper “Senken Shimbun” Milan correspondent. In addition contribute writer for Japanese newspapers, magazines, news agencies, about fashion, design and Italian life style.

Brigitte Werneburg

Art, Photography & Fashion Freelance Writer
Germany

Brigitte Werneburg lives and works in Berlin. She was the art editor of the national daily newspaper, taz, die tageszeitung, for over twenty years since 2000, also responsible for the design and life style section with a monthly fashion page. Now she works as a freelance journalist and author for various German daily newspapers and magazines, most recently for Le Monde Diplomatique on fast fashion. She is a lecturer at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences BHT, where she teaches on fashion photography as part of the "History of Photography" course.

Photo credit: Stefan Heidenreich/Christina Roth

Silke Wichert

Fashion Writer, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Contributing Editor, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Achtung magazine
Germany

Fashion writer at Süddeutsche Zeitung and contributing editor for Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Achtung magazine among others.
I studied film and tv-science and economics before enrolling in journalism school at Hamburg and Berlin and started my career at Welt am Sonntag. After that I moved on to Vanity Fair (the good old magazine days..) and became fashion director at Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. I am based in Barcelona with two redhead, football crazy kids and a football writer husband, so some days I think I might know and talk more about football than fashion.

Gemma Williams

Editorial Director, Jing Daily
China

Gemma A. Williams is a writer and curator specialising in the Chinese market and its fashion designers. Her publication Fashion China (Thames & Hudson), the first of its kind, launched in 2015. Gemma is the editorial director at luxury China title Jing Daily and previously worked for the Business of Fashion and Shanghai Fashion Week. She also produces operas and is currently curating an exhibition about Hanfu with Decentraland's Dragon City.