Sunday 28 September
showroom CoSTUME NATIONAL
Milano, via fusetti
sunday afternoon

Just three days to go before the Paris fashion parade!
And here in the Via Fusetti showroom in Milan, Ennio Capasa (accompanied by his brother Carlo, designer friend Fabio Novembre and Rodeo Magazine’s editor Massimo Torrigiani) is working on the items in the new collection.

The atmosphere is relaxed and informal, the conversation about clothes and inspirations. Ennio’s assistants note down any changes to be made and shuttle between the showroom and the tailoring room – the workshop where the clothes are made up and transformed.
The look-board is slowly taking shape yet it will be modified several times – right up to the very last moment.

The model parades up and down in a sensual, ultra-light black and white dress. Ennio decides it needs shortening to reveal more leg.
In the meantime fabrics are being shaped in the tailoring shop. The search for the right details and their richness is striking: silks, satins, meshes, an interplay of lightness and transparencies with subtle technological hints reminiscent of fish scales.
How Ennio will decide to use them can only come as a surprise!

Massimo is jotting down notes for an article on the ins and outs of a fitting and what goes on behind the scenes in preparing a new collection – the final part of long and painstaking job.
Carlo Capasa is highly focused and concentrated: “These are the really key moments in the birth of collection and its composition. The end of a story. We’re starting with the C’N’C collection which is easier and younger to then move on to work on the Costume one which is far more conceptual and difficult.”

Quite a task!
“For this next season we have taken inspiration from digital architecture and shapes created by 3D experts.”

Work will end only late at night with the usual graveyard-shift hours common to these pre-show weeks.
Tomorrow is the last day of fitting, a day when part of the team will already be on its way to Paris.

Patti Smith and Costume national NY-New Look

New York Fashion Week ended with a key Costume National event – the opening of the new store in Mercer Street marked by a performance from the legendary rock’n’roller Patti Smith.
She enlivened the occasion by presenting Dream of Live, a new work by the noted director and photographer Steven Sebring who has trailed the singer for over 11 years
documenting concerts, performances, friends and family. The result is a
fascinating 16mm black and white film that truly tells the artist’s tale.

“It’s like Steven is my brother” commented Patti Smith “He had a camcorder, […]”
The 30-minute performance featured a host of famous songs such as “People
have the power” and “Because the night” dedicated to Patty’s late husband on
what would have been his sixtieth birthday.

Dressed in her iconic male uniform, Costume National, Patti Smith amazed everyone with one single accessory poking out of her pocket – a toothbrush. “Clean teeth are a great accessory” quipped Patti Smith.
Alan Cumming, Lake Bell, Bijou Phillips, Francisco Clemente and Danny Masterson all came out to toast.

CoSTUME NATIONAL opens its doors to internet-savvy fashionistas and trendsetters from all latitudes with the launch of its first online flagship store.

The new CoSTUME NATIONAL online store located at www.costumenational.com is fuelled by YOOX Services – a YOOX Group company that undertook the design and management of the new online flagship store in terms of technological development, interface design, logistics, customer care, and web marketing.

Starting today, the brand’s enthusiasts will be able to access the full CoSTUME NATIONAL and CoSTUME NATIONAL HOMME clothing, footwear, and accessory lines online.

The graphics of the new CoSTUME NATIONAL online flagship store reproduces the mood and structure of the institutional website, enhancing the collections through image galleries dedicated to specific product groups and a more fluid and user-friendly browsing system.

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Sign up for your own private viewing. Be one of the first to buy from the new on-line store.

Just six days left to the launch of COSTUME NATIONAL’s online store.
Come along and preview it now!
Everyone who registers with the site has the chance to purchase stuff from 15th to 25th of September, before the official launch, with free delivery of clothes included in the offer!

Register now and get your secret link!

A NEW ADDRESS FOR THE NEW YORK CoSTUME NATIONAL FLAGSHIP STORE

160 Mercer Street
New York
NY 10012

Costume National opens its new flagship store in New York, at 160 Mercer Street, in the heart of Soho, a crossroad of ethnic groups, trends and the headquarter of new luxury by the Big Apple.

The project is by Ennio Capasa, supported by architects Fausto Poli and Guelfo Carpegna.

“This new space of about 350 square metres is the evolution of my previous store in Wooster Street,” comments Ennio Capasa, “ where total black was dominating. In the new space there is an almost fluid atmosphere with many reflecting surfaces. I conceived it by imagining an architecture of the future with roots in classic Italian design.”

The entrance is a long corridor, a gallery where bags, footwear, glasses and fragrances are stored into deconstructed cupboards. On the left, Palladio steel walls with split lines mark off the space dedicated to the ready to wear collections for men and women.

The white light of spotlights open to view on a ceiling that does nothing to conceal its industrial nature and is enriched by reflections of fluo light on the perimeter walls.
The essential and lightweight chrome steel display units and the leather and carbon couches complete the cyber chic mood, by increasing the multiple perception of the self, reflected by the shiny surfaces of the white and chrome walls and the anthracite grey resin floor, the furnishings and the mirrors.

With this new project, Ennio Capasa continues his research into the future, between technology and craftsmanship, which has always been the source of inspiration for the designer.

The inauguration scheduled for 12th September during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, will have a very special guest, Patty Smith who will give a surprise performance.

Lecce, Italy: presentation of the official uniforms for the U.S Lecce Calcio soccer team.
This was the first time members of both the team and the soccer club’s management donned these special CoSTUME NATIONAL HOMME clothing articles conceived and designed by Ennio Capasa.
Both the designer and his brother were delighted to be involved in the project.
The presentation to the public and media of the uniforms resulted in an unforgettable evening dedicated to sports and fashion.

Have a look to the l’outfit
 
 
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U.S. Lecce Calcio football team’s official new uniforms are designed by CoSTUME NATIONAL HOMME.

Ennio Capasa has created a series of tailored items in eye-catching shades of total grey for the team’s players and managerial staff.

For more formal moments the new range features a city slim flannel suit, a ton sur ton cotton poplin shirt and a silk tie with thin yellow and red lines again on a grey background – to be worn with shiny black lace-up shoes made from brushed leather.

The suit’s tailored jacket changes its identity when worn with the Costume National Active line’s bootleg jeans and sneakers.

To complete the look there’s an obligatory double-breasted trench in tricotine wool with a removable inside flannel layer and exclusive CoSTUME NATIONAL EYEWEAR shades supplied by Cult.
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Extra-galactic creatures, volumetric games and a lunar setting for a campaign with no speed limit.

After thirty years of silence the moon is once again the subject of conversation and excitement. Nasa has revealed that the poles of our satellite contain a fair amount of water reserves – a hundred times more than was once supposed. This water should be enough to guarantee sufficient propellant for future interplanetary journeys now thought to be feasible from 2020 on.

We now know how to dress to go with the Shuttle as the CoSTUME NATIONAL FW 08-09 woman’s collection has finally hit the stores – and it’s also the advertising campaign’s theme.

Model: Kasia Struss & Stas Svetlichnyy
Ph. Sofia Sanchez & Mauro Mongiello

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Ennio Capasa, the designer of Costume National, has been contacted by the Venice city council to create the logo for the SMS Venice project.

SMS Venice is promoting a campaign to raise funds for the preservation of St. Mark’s Square with the support of sponsors and sending text messages.

The logo created by Ennio Capasa evokes the two elements that have always symbolized Venice: water and the sky.

A stylized version of the V of Venice becomes the same colour as the lagoon and takes flight: up and away towards the future.

“The effort to save the artistic and architectural heritage of our country must be a mission for everyone. I am proud of the confidence placed in me by the Mayor of Venice and I have enthusiastically embraced the SMS Venice project,” said the designer.

The SMS Venice Project aims to transform St. Mark’s Square into an exclusive stage for concerts and performances by internationally famous artists such as Elton John for the entire month of July.

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