Polimoda (@polimodafirenze)

AI in the hands of fashion students. From moodboards to business models, our community explores Artificial Intelligence as a tool, a challenge, and a question of authorship. Can AI ever carry the soul of a designer? Discover how Polimoda students are navigating creativity and technology on the Journal. With Martin Ellis @martinhellis Sabeen Farooqi @magicbeen15 Miroslava Chavez @theian.girl 🔗 Link in bio

A year of creativity, collaboration and vision. From classrooms to Vogue Italia, students of the Master in Fashion Art Direction brought stories to life beyond the page. Special thanks to Francesca Ragazzi, Sara Sozzani Maino and Fabio Messana, and to all the students who shaped this journey ❤️ • Master in Fashion Art Direction in partnership with @vogueitalia • Students: Mierna Asali @mier.naa Maria Barros @mary___clays Carolina Bittar @carolbittar Francesca Catania @francescacataniaa Siyu Chen @sy_0315c Haoyue Deng Mary Catherine Gabbard @ktgabbard Khushi Gajjar @khushi.gajjar Chiara Glionna @xchiaraglionna Giorgio Gracis @giogracis Hannah Holterbosch @han_holterbosch Sofía Janan @sojibabyy Elena Kakhramanian @helenakakhramanyan Pei-Yan Kang @pei..peiii Zinam Klaas @zinamklaas Athena Kuang @athenakuang Josephine Liem @joosliem Marie-Sophie Lipman @mariesophielipman Elias Matso @eliasmatso Telia Multrier @telia.multrier Laura Pavlovic @laurapavlovic Jindy Wang @wjindy Yuetong Wang @princessshell_nina

We wanted to inform you that our campuses will be closed in the following weeks of August. Villa Campus: from August 11th to August 17th Manifattura Campus: from August 4th to August 17th Please note that all campuses will be closed on Saturdays throughout August. If you have any questions about our programs or the admission process, please write to orientation @polimoda.com. As of August 18th, our Orientation Team will be happy to provide you with all of the information you need.

FROM RUNWAY TO RETAIL: MASTERING MENSWEAR STRATEGY | Bruce Pask gave students an exclusive lecture on strategic brand positioning at Pitti Uomo Bruce Pask, Senior Director, Men’s Fashion, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, and Mentor of the Master in Fashion Merchandising & Buying, came to Polimoda for an exclusive lecture in occasion of Pitti Uomo 108 with Francesca Tacconi, Press and Special Events Coordinator for the fair. The guest lecture informed the students about the importance of Pitti Uomo from a business perspective, and on how the fair works, by scouting for new talent and creating opportunities for designers. Francesca Tacconi co-hosted the lecture with Bruce Pask, covering both Pitti Immagine’s and Pask’s perspective. Link in our Stories to read the full article.

FASHION THREADED IN MEMORY & HERITAGE | Fashion Roadman analyzes some of the final collections of the Graduate Show 2025 Polimoda’s latest fashion graduates used personal and cultural narratives to authentically leave their mark in modern fashion. Fashion Roadman reports. Fashion is always best in its most sincere form. In the current fashion landscape, revenue figures are king, and creativity is a by-stander to commerciality. Consumers are exhausted, designers are overworked, and critics have to find creative ways to make the same utterings. Massimiliano Giornetti, the current director of Polimoda shares the same frustration. “I think the focus on just numbers is killing the creativity in fashion,” he passionately exclaimed. Link in our Stories to read the full article written by Odunayo Ojo, @fashionroadman

Today, Minister of University and Research, @berniniannamaria, visited the new Manifattura Campus of Polimoda in Florence. Welcomed by President Ferruccio Ferragamo, Director @massimiliano.giornetti, President of the Tuscany Region @eugenio_giani, the school’s executive team, and a delegation of members and board advisors, the Minister had the opportunity to meet with students and faculty, listening to their visions and projects in an open conversation about the present and future of fashion education. “There are schools that teach. And then some schools inspire, shaping young people and igniting visions. Nurturing talent and transforming it into trends. This is what Polimoda is — it’s much more than a higher education institution,” said Bernini. “It’s a place where the future of fashion takes shape every day, and it is quite literally stitched together through creativity and competence, beauty and strategy. Italian fashion is not just about aesthetics and runways. It’s an ecosystem that brings together craftsmanship and industry, creativity and method. It’s a form of thinking that tells the story of who we are as Italians: free, brilliant, precise. With one foot in tradition and eyes set firmly on what has yet to be created.” Photography by Clara Vannucci

STUDENTS CONNECT TO INDUSTRY THROUGH KNITWEAR | Stimulating and insightful: the inside workings of the fashion industry start from the threads and yarns at Pitti Filati Unusually in the fashion education panorama, through Director Massimiliano Giornetti’s professional sensitivity, students have the opportunity to explore and cement their skills in the industry sphere, working with companies to create their projects and bring their ideas to life, demonstrating the uniqueness of Polimoda as an industry-connected fashion school. Pitti Filati, the under-the-radar cousin of menswear giant Pitti Uomo, is a whole world; an important place where the threads of the industry are made, a factory for connections and networking, and an opportunity for students to learn what it takes to make and produce knitted garments. Link in our Stories to discover all of our students’ projects at this year’s Pitti Filati.

From bidimensional methodologies to the infinite possibilities of tridimensional shapes, each step of the journey at Junior Summer Camp is designed to guide our little participants in exploring their creative identity. Through moodboards and fabric experiments, they are building their own fashion portfolios—visual stories that reflect who they are and how they see the world.

Alongside the top prize awarded to the winning collection, four special mentions were also given by the jury: Creative Vision & Concept goes to Nansen Capici, for the poetic intensity and conceptual depth of Silenzio Bianco. @nansencapici_ Technical Excellence: Derin Kemer (Turkey), for the superior craftsmanship in bitch boss, a collection redefining female strength through structured volumes, contrasting materials such as cotton and walnut wood, and sculptural details. @derinkmr Market Relevance & Innovation: Elena Azeglio (Italy), for Bonding in Violence, which translates the hostile complexities of urban life into garments that merge technical lightness with protective elements—from military parachute references to samurai armor experiments. @m.e.rak Future of Fashion: Grigory Fedenko (Russia/Israel), for Rise and Fall, an exploration of power that evokes references to the oil-industry and declining empires, using hybrid organic-synthetic materials that suggest strength, corruption and transition. @gregory_vid

ANNOUNCEMENT | Nansen Capici is the winning designer of this year’s Graduate Show. Stay tuned to learn more about Silenzio Bianco, the collection that earned the prize. Congratulations, Nansen!

ADORNMENT AS ARGUMENT | The talents of this year’s graduate show turn accessories into stories A faux fur tote attached to skis, not to shock, but to project. This is how Nansen Capici opened the 2025 Polimoda Graduate Show, on June 16th. Undergraduate in Fashion Business student, @julienunes_ examines the graduating class’s exploration of accessories. “A departure from Stazione Leopolda towards the future of fashion. In a generation where design is increasingly holistic, the public was eager to understand how this group of twenty final year Undergraduate in Fashion Design students are reconfiguring the very purpose of accessories in fashion. Iris Apfel once said, “Given the choice, I would spend my money on accessories”; accessories make you part of a designer’s universe, and as versatile and forever items, they are carriers of meaning. For Fashion Design graduates, accessories are core narrative tools. Students view them not only as embellishments but as core conveyors of stories and identities. Whether transmitting irony with Leonardo Iori’s banana wonderland, or displaying cultural tensions with Farnia Salim’s light white strands of scarves woven in and under hair or historical decadence with Grigory Fedenko’s jewellery dripping in oil, character building is key to enter their universe and understand their persona.” Read the full article in our Stories.

Highlights from the runway – Graduate Show 2025 Elena Azeglio @m.e.rak (Italy) Veronica Bezzeccheri @veronicabzhr (Italy, Colombia) Nansen Capici @nansencapici_ (Italy) Grigory Fedenko @gregory_vid (Russia, Israel) Chloe Geyer @chloe_geyer (South Africa) Naomi Guzman Duran @_naominion_ (Mexico, Japan, Malaysia) Leonardo Iori @raccattami (Italy) Derin Kemer @derinkmr (Turkey) Mandula Maczkó @maczkomandula (Hungary) Keila Melany Mirmina @keimirmina (Argentina) Filippo Montanini @pippodinomee (Italy) Sophia Marais Ostervold @sophia.marais.ostervold (USA, Norway) Samuele Pampaloni @pampalonisam (Italy) Joseph Thomas Prince @jt_prince (USA) Eseniia Rybnikova @rybnikova_eseniia (Russia) Farnia Salim @_farnia_s (Iran) Sofia Sapena @sofisapena (Paraguay) Isabella Valdez @_isab3lla___ (Perù) Amina Vanneling @aminavanneling (Sweden, Iran) Huang Ying (Viktória) @viktoria__lai (Hungary, China) Full video on YouTube!