so, tell me... how do you like your spagetti? with you! If MSGM sounds like a cheerleader acronym about to get spelled out, it’s because this new generation Italian brand is worth cheering for.
“MSGM women and men are fashionable without being fashion victims. They are extremely informed and in touch with everything.” MASSIMO GIORGETTI
MSGM is the irreverent Milanese women’s and menswear brand at the head of a new era of Italian fashion. “I’m Italian, the company is Italian, all the garments are made in Italy,” founder Massimo Giorgetti says with rightful patriotic charm. Italians do it better, and for the new generation of designers, to which MSGM belongs, it isn’t just about historic pride. Over the last few seasons, he says, he’s added “Made in Italy” to his labels, “just to underline the quality behind the price”. Since 2008, Giorgetti, who’s from Rimini, by the sea (“Just like Federico Fellini”) has been reinterpreting the meaning of Italian fashion with his decidedly spirited and awesomely colourful collections for women and men, which now take up four slots on the annual Milan show schedules. Like an Italian take on Warhol’s The Factory, MSGM mixes all the things that make Giorgetti’s heart grow fonder. For autumn/winter 14 alone, they counted on the abstract art of Gerhard Richter, musical inspiration by Portishead and Björk, and trippy prints courtesy of a sampling of the contemporary art of Luca De Gaetano and the photography of Dario Catellani. A kind of society of artists, there’s something completely traditionally Italian about MSGM, but in a way you wouldn’t necessarily associate with the traditional idea of Italian fashion. Ask Giorgetti what the least Italian part of his brand is, and he’ll tell you it’s its newness. “In Italy it’s difficult to become a successful young designer because there are still a lot of big and important family firms, where the members of the family are taking care of the creative direction of the brand. For MSGM it was different, we built a new brand.” A fan of the art rock duo MGMT, Giorgetti wanted his label to reference the feeling of band spirit and went with MSGM, using his own initials as well as those of the friends who co-founded the label. “I like to think that my collections are a material interpretation of the sound: music for your eyes!” he explains, summing up the “mixed media” vibe that throbs through the heart of his label. “MSGM women and men are fashionable without being fashion victims. They are extremely informed and in touch with everything,” he says. “I want to give them something that can be adapted to every situation, from a casual brunch to a business cocktail.” TEXT ANDERS CHRISTIAN MADSEN PHOTOGRAPHY JOHNNY DUFORT STYLING RAPHAEL HIRSCH Hair Naoki Komiya at Julian Watson Agency. Make-up Dele Olo. Photography assistance Alex Hudson. Styling assistance Julia Lurie. Hair assistance Sky Cripps-Jackson. Set design Stephanie Keivers. Models Emily Bostock at IMG and Ben Dufort. BEN AND EMILY WEAR ALL CLOTHING MSGM. 110 i-D