Giuseppe Zanotti on Embracing a New Approach With Fall 2024 Collection
MILAN — Giuseppe Zanotti has always had a passion for music. His tie-ups with the likes of Lady Gaga and Kanye West and multiple collaborations with pop stars and rappers — from Jennifer Lopez and Rita Ora to Young Thug and Swae Lee — are a testament to his fascination and closeness to the industry.
No wonder he couldn’t miss “The Greatest Night in Pop” documentary that Netflix released last month, which retraces the recording session for the “We Are the World” hit and the creative chaos sparked by cramming 40-plus of the most significant musicians of the 20th century in a studio.
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The scene in which a sheet of paper reading “Check your ego at the door” was plastered on the studio’s wall must have struck a loud chord with the footwear designer, who this Milan Fashion Week will unveil a new approach to his work — one more attuned to the global scenario.
“We really have to leave the ego out. That documentary shows how important it is to join forces, and this moment [in fashion] is the same,” he told WWD right after landing from his New York Fashion Week trip. His brief stay Stateside proved to him there’s a spirit of cohesion that is making a comeback in the industry after years “that have divided us and drifted us off that magic of fashion, that healthy frivolity.”
“The moment is complicated: there’s a disorientation with business models, department stores are no longer the same…there are no budgets, e-commerce is stalling and we need to move on, but we also can’t tell lies or pretend everything is fine any longer,” Zanotti said.
“Everything is fine if we think what we can do next. We have all been part of a machine that has stacked up consumption at an exaggerated pace, and now a healthy reflection should bring us back down to earth and make us less servant of these crazy business goals,” the designer continued. “I believe certain moments don’t arrive by chance. We kind of deserve them. And all this mess in the world [can’t be translated] into a creative expression that is made just of joy or fiction….We can’t pretend nothing is happening. Sure, I can’t stop the war, but I can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist either.”
These considerations influenced his creative work and the collection he will unveil on Thursday at his brand’s showroom in the city’s Golden Triangle. Less in-your-face glitz, more essential silhouettes and geometric shapes, as well as a wide selection of flats and low heels flanking the high heights his brand is most associated with, will telegraph a more sober approach.
It’s part of a third chapter in the career of Zanotti, who this year will mark his 30th anniversary in the industry. He described the latest phase as “mature and rational” and explained he wanted to go for a less decorative route to heighten the focus on materials and craftsmanship, “also because it’s increasingly difficult to have skilled people with the know-how, so we have to safeguard them.”
In addition to upping the quality ante and adopting a more mindful use of resources, he increasingly feels the need to challenge seasonal boundaries, with styles conceived to stand the test of time.
“That combination of design, quality and consequent high price, which is called luxury (a word that has become obsolete), you can’t make that seasonal and then just throw everything away. It’s a waste…we have to respect the product,” he said.
Hence he opted for laminated leather rather than the mirror-like finishes that imply a plastic-based treatment, for example, offering mules and pumps that channel ‘90s minimalism with their geometric cuts, printed croco effect and colors, ranging from powder pink to teal.
Key designs in the new collection include flat ballerina styles in velvet, which is also turned into an everyday ankle boot crafted from soft napa leather doubled with Lycra. Other flat options range from over-the-knee suede boots to equestrian-inspired ones in leather with rubber soles.
Many styles are punctuated only by a little plaque reminiscent of a sartorial stitch and intended to replace heavier-handed logos. An alternative covered in little crystals subtly nods to the label’s glam attitude of yore.
Yet for those nostalgic for Zanotti’s maximalist vibe and heavy embellishments, the designer also included new mules and low-heeled slingback styles with crystal-encrusted buckles inspired by the work of Gianfranco Ferré, with whom he collaborated in the ‘80s.
The overall approach is the result of a return to Zanotti’s origins, both his professional beginnings and to simpler pleasures, as he’s increasingly trading jet-set destinations to rediscover local trattorias and lesser-known cities around his San Mauro Pascoli hometown. He said their authenticity is now inspiring his work.
“I’ve started my career with the attitude I have now,” said Zanotti, retracing his humble family origins and early days as consultant and shoe designer freelancing for the likes of Valentino, Balmain, Paco Rabanne and Vera Wang, among many others. “I have been lucky to meet these kinds of people and had plenty of fun. It was back in the ‘80s and there were no budgets like the ones we have now,” he said, underscoring the joy he felt working side-by-side with designers.
“I haven’t changed since then. Let’s say I pretended to be a little bit more aesthetical, I followed the market’s wave at a certain point. Then managements arrived, a structure. All these things bring on inputs and that wild and spontaneous spirit kind of fades away. But the market was approving,” he continued, candidly admitting to have pushed styles that worked commercially even if they didn’t always match his own preferences.
“And that’s a mistake, because your name is on [the product]. You make a deal with the devil, and then you pay for it. Now that I’m mature, I do what I feel like doing, which are simpler things but filled with a content and details that fill the void that I left behind during those years,” Zanotti said.
The designer is aware of the responsibility he has toward the roughly 500 employees of his company and the impact the tweak in style might have business-wise. “We’re putting a little bit of recklessness and experimentation into this. I might have worries about the impact but I have to look around me,” he said, pointing to cool “20-year-old designers that are very out there on social media and make crazy high heels.”
“I’m not a new designer, I have to put my history and feelings in what I do,” said Zanotti, mentioning he has indulged in “redundant virtuosity” in the past. “They are all things I’ve done — always and even too much. Now instead of designing a 20-cm platform, I go for a flat. Then If I’m mistaken, I will correct myself. But I have to start this change somewhere,” he concluded.
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