Made in Italy: art and reality perception

Laura Meraviglia, Ambrogia Cereda

Risultato della ricerca: Contributo in rivistaArticolo in rivistapeer review

Abstract

Italian fashion system has always been part of the excellence of the Made in Italy, as shown by both its economic figures and position in global markets. The Italian style itself has become a point of reference worldwide, positioning fashion at the forefront of the international scene with companies producing both semi-finished products (e.g. yarns and raw and finished fabrics) and finished clothing. Nowadays Italian brands are global, as confirmed by the fact that Italian fashion system is strongly export oriented with a turnover share totalized abroad amounting to 51.3% of total sales and a foreign trade surplus of the sector accountable for 16% of the whole manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, despite its primary role, in the last 10 years Italian textile fashion sector has been losing tens of thousands of jobs and billions of Euros of turnover (CNMI), reaching an impressive 15% decrease in 2009. Which are the reasons of such a negative performance? What kind of new strategies are needed to catch up with the time lost? In order to answer these two crucial questions, an economic analysis of what is nowadays defined as Made in Italy should be carried out. Furthermore a sociological approach to the relation between the features of excellence (i.e. craftsmanship, creativity, originality) and the concept of luxury is essential as well. A deep understanding of today's luxury marketplace is required: since fashion explores what is new and the logic of the fashion market seem to be based on projecting and proposing before analyzing the target, what does actually differentiate a luxury product from a simple fashion product? Made in Italy is not only a question of origin, it is also the expression of a culture and, primarily, the definition of the way in which products are being created: Italian brands have acquired their excellence through years of influential heritage and craftsmanship. Moreover, with reference to fashion production a global approach melting industrial and artistic procedures has been identified. As Italian products represent the emblems of luxury at the core of this global scenario, communication becomes a fundamental tool to support and boost the whole Italian fashion system. The question is: how precious values such as quality, excellence, creativity, entrepreneurship, uniqueness and craftsmanship should be communicated? What is their communicative power in an age of semiotic saturation? This paper aims to answer also these further questions in a dialectic between economy and sociology, trying to move forward a unique definition of luxury.
Lingua originaleEnglish
pagine (da-a)48-55
Numero di pagine8
RivistaZONEMODA JOURNAL
Volume2011
Stato di pubblicazionePubblicato - 2011

Keywords

  • Fashion
  • Made in Italy

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