Fashion As a Product of Industrial Design

With its many internationally renowned events, at the end of the 1970s Milan became the national showcase for a new kind of Italian fashion, that was more commercial and at the same time closer to the new expressions of art and design, with which it shared the principle of reproducing the works of creativity on an industrial scale. 

In these years, the collections of Billy Ballo, Caumont, Glans, Misterfox, and Callaghan were presented, clothing brands that established themselves also thanks to their collaboration with Walter Albini. These were small and medium-sized enterprises, characterized by flexible manufacturing and a propensity for product innovation.

Fashion trend sketches: Billy Ballo, High fast fashion, F/W 1970/1971, Florence. Archivio CNMI.

Fashion trend sketches: Billy Ballo, High fast fashion, S/S 1971, Florence. Archivio CNMI.

Fashion trend sketches: Caumont, High fast fashion, F/W 1970/1971, Florence. Archivio CNMI.

Fashion trend sketches: Glans, High fast fashion, F/W 1970/1971, Florence. Archivio CNMI.

From the conception of the garment to the choice of the fabric, from the description of the collection on the catwalks to the creation of photo shoots, Albini's creative process emerges in all its aspects through the unpublished sources in the Historical Archive of the National Chamber for Italian Fashion. 

Walter Albini was a pioneer in the collaboration between fashion and industry. However, the relationship with small enterprises proved disappointing for him, resulting in extemporaneous consultancies and job commissions rather than long-lasting collaborations. The companies Albini collaborated with lacked the industrial capabilities of large companies. For the latter, which had developed the standardization and serialization of clothing by applying the principles of scientific management in the organization of work and the production process, the successes and failures of the collaborative relationships initiated by Albini represented a crucial learning phase in the transition and transformation that led the Italian clothing industry to become the Italian fashion industry. 

From the conception of the garment to the choice of the fabric, from the description of the collection on the catwalks to the creation of photo shoots, Albini's creative process emerges in all its aspects through the unpublished sources in the Archive of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. 

Walter Albini was a pioneer in the collaboration between fashion and industry. However, the relationship with small enterprises proved disappointing for him, resulting in extemporaneous consultancies and job commissions rather than long-lasting collaborations. The companies Albini collaborated with lacked the industrial capabilities of large companies. For the latter, which had developed the standardization and serialization of clothing by applying the principles of scientific management in the organization of work and the production process, the successes and failures of the collaborative relationships initiated by Albini represented a crucial learning phase in the transition and transformation that led the Italian clothing industry to become the Italian fashion industry.