Wool makes waves in Italy
The Italian fashion press was recently treated to a day at the beach to learn more about Australian Merino wool. Attila & Co, AWI’s public-relations company in Italy, organised the seasonal press day to provide their clients with an opportunity to demonstrate products or new seasonal collections to the most important fashion, sport and lifestyle magazines in Europe.
AWI presented the ‘Australian beach’ – a beach scene in which two models wore swimwear/beachwear made from Australian Merino wool.
Valentina Campana, a 23-year-old Italian model, wore a beautiful black Merino wool bikini designed by Josephine Nathan, designer for the woolliwoolli brand.
Raul Ernesto Pardeilhan, a 26-year-old Argentinian model, wore a navy Driza-Bone® Merino wool t-shirt and a swimsuit. Raul said he was astonished that wool could remain soft and light and comfortable to wear on a hot, humid day in Milan.
About 150 editors visited the collections, and all of them stopped at the AWI beach. The models and AWI’s representatives explained the trans-seasonal qualities of Merino fibre, as well as its other attributes. All editors and journalists were surprised by the softness of the fibre as well as its cool touch in the summer heat.
The reaction was enthusiastic, as fashion writers realised the notion of wool being an itchy fibre was something that was no longer a reality. When feeling the t-shirts and bikinis several journalists had trouble believing they were 100 per cent Merino wool garments.
Marcella Gabbiano, the editor from Affari e Finanza (the economic supplement of La Repubblica, an influential daily newspaper in Italy), made the following comment on the AWI beach: “The AWI corner certainly had a spectacular setting, reproducing the image of an Australian beach with two live models actually wearing wool bathing suits.”
Marcella interviewed the model who wore the bikini to find out if she, as a young girl of the 21st century, liked the idea of reintroducing wool as it was in the 1950s. She answered: “I would never have imagined that wool could have all these amazing (comfort) features and at the same time be so fashionable.”
Luca Lanzoni, fashion editor of Elle magazine, was also attracted to the beach, because in the past he had written about the use of cashmere in sportswear. He was astonished by the feel of both the bikini and the man’s t-shirt, because his idea of wool was “something impossible to wear on bare skin”. Luca requested more information about Australian Merino wool for Elle. He said: “Fashion is always looking for news – wool is one of the most ancient fibres, so its use in different areas such as sportswear is a novelty.”
Image: Models demonstrate the outstanding qualities of Merino as beach and swimwear in AWI's 'Australian beach' showcase in Italy.
Return to Beyond the Bale Issue 29 index page.