Boldini Trendsetter ep.3: nss factory
Giovanni Boldini and the role of the Art Director in the early years of the 21st century
May 10th, 2019
The educational project "Boldini Trendsetter", created for the exhibition "Boldini and Fashion", running at Palazzo Diamanti until June 2nd, continues its series of video interviews, carried out by students of the Ferrara institute, the city in which the painter was born where his works influenced the aesthetic taste and customs of Paris in the early 1900s.
The guest of the class of Einaudi High School was Walter D'Aprile, co-founder of nss magazine and nss factory, who tried to deepen the links that connect Giovanni Boldini's production with that of the fashion industry.
The interview discussed the role of young people, stimulating and more easily stimulated by brand communication campaigns, now known to spread through social networks.
Walter D'Aprile explains how Boldini managed to make money in an art vocation nowadays done by a team of costume designers, stylists, makeup artists, and photographers. What job would Boldini do today? "Probably art director, because he studied the poses, choose clothes, how to make clothes for his models, he took care of the scene".
Fashion news sources have to meet the needs of an increasingly informed audience, it has to paint the portraits of its readers by sewing a dress that fills their thirst for knowledge. In the same way, Boldini would make instant trends that had already a strong educational value.
"Boldini Trendsetter" also highlights in this episode how fashion is a great social phenomenon, sensitive to fluctuations, as so at the beginning of the 20th century as in 2019. If before the sopranos they were a consequence of the trends, now brands and consumers turn to rappers and influencers, confirming an intact link between the two worlds.
The initiative, conceived by the cultural association Ilturco, is part of the educational project "The image in the mirror", organized by the Ferrara Arte Foundation with the support of Eni. The students of the Einaudi Institute, the Smiling International School and the Istituto Ercole I d'Este in the next episodes will interview Matthew Williams, founder of 1017 ALYX 9SM; to the creative studio Alterazioni Video, which took care of the last Off-White Paris fashion show and the Felisi marketing office.