"For the past five years or so, we have seen a demand for a return to craftsmanship, to craftsmanship, to craftsmanship. It's a real reversal of the trend: after an era of continuous rushes to innovation, what we are being asked to do is to return to the core of quality, to that result that can only be obtained with the experience accumulated over the years in tailoring and fabrics." So says Elena Zanobini, owner for twenty-seven years of Nuovastiro, an ironing shop for haute couture garments in Santa Maria a Monte (Pisa).
"The iron is a bit like a magic wand," she explains, "that allows you to change the lines of each garment, giving it a more fluid or, on the contrary, a more rigorous rendering. It starts with the study of the design and then the magic begins. "It is not simply a matter of ironing," says Zanobini, "ours is a real art that starts from the analysis of the pattern and involves a detailed knowledge of each fabric, in order to best render the image thought up by the designer.
A craftsmanship where experience is an indispensable element. Especially in recent times, marked by a return to the essence of the 'craft'. "We have recorded a gradual return to the origins," he says, "which accelerated in the post-Covid phase when a selection at the production level was determined, dictated by the rising demand for quality that took the place of the race to produce large quantities.
Hand in hand was a return to increasingly natural fabrics. "Every week we get new collections, and this means continually putting ourselves to the test, doing study and research each time," he continues. "Each brand has its own peculiarities, but what they have in common is a renewed focus on sustainability through the use of natural fabrics, often treated with vegetable dyes, which are more difficult to work with: you need more knowledge, for example, than the same garment in synthetic fabric. Green light, then, to 'pure' craftsmanship, capable of following every weave, every fiber, every detail to shape garments and transform an idea into reality.
