Serena Conti triumphs at New York Denim Days
At the New York Denim Days, which took place between 30 September and 1 October, visitors had the opportunity to admire the whole Denim Gallery project and get to know the designers who took our challenge: Grace Warland, Matias Sandoval, Serena Conti, Su Kim & Jon Rouleau, Mika Mitarai, Juan Manuel Gomez, Ilinca Trif, Stefan Vella and Greta Giannini.
The winner of the contest had already been selected during the recent “Inspiring” event by a jury that included some of the most important denim makers in the world. On the first day of New York Denim Days, Serena Conti was acclaimed as the first place winner, followed by Matias Sandoval, second, and Mika Mitarai, third.
As the winner, Serena won an entire week of “creative freedom” at our Creative Area, where she can develop her own collection, experimenting without limits: a real paradise for a denim designer.
Who is Serena Conti?
Graduated with honors from the Faculty of Design and Arts in Venice, Serena specializes in fashion design and illustration. In 2008 her project “Confidences of Elements” was recognized internationally and exhibited at the Ichinomya Fashion Design Center in Japan. In 2009 she collaborated with an exhibition of fashion photography in the trend research section of Palazzo Pitti for Pitti Filati starting in Florence. Also in 2009, she was asked to partecipate as a costume designer for the opening parade of the Venice Art Biennial directed by Arto Lindsay.
From 2010 to 2013 she worked in Venice as a consultant specializing in the denim department, planning and designing collections for major brands such as John Galliano and C’N’C Costume National. At present, she is working as a freelance fashion and denim designer, even though, being an illustrator, her work actually spans many areas, including advertising, posters, websites, theatre sets, solo exhibitions and collaborations with national television networks and magazines.
“Waterloove” and “Boro Texnology”: these are the titles of the two concepts presented by Serena Conti, representing Reality and Vision to her. The first part was described by the designer as an interweaving of different realities: the past, memories, and wars; while the second part she describes as a connection between technology and the most romantic and natural of all possible worlds. This skillful playing with contrasts proved to be the deciding factor for the jury when voting for her concepts.
Art, Fashion and Eco-Sustainable Technology by Tonello
Many the technologies have been used by Tonello to reinterpret the creative visions of Serena Conti: ECOfree 2, the ultimate ozone washing system that allows treating garments with both ozone in the water and in the air in the same machine, thus creating new effect; Laser Blaze, which has been used to reproduce the intricate illustrations realized by the designer and to create rips and breakages; and NoStone®, used to realize stone-wash effects without the use of pumice stones, in a truly eco-sustainable way.
And so concludes what has been described as “one of the coolest events” of the Denim Days event, celebrating the thousands of potential expressions of Jeans, emphasizing their multi-directional, multi-sensorial, multi-medial and multi-dimensional expansion with an inspiring combination of art and fashion, painting and performance.
