A subtraction to reveal the essence and the very representation of chaos: these are the opposite visions presented by two NABA students at Milano Moda Graduate 2023 – the contest dedicated to the excellence of Italian fashion schools. On September 19, the Sala delle Cariatidi of Palazzo Reale hosted the finalist projects of the ninth edition. Among them were the collections by Carolina Popa and Virginia Rubini, born within the Fashion Design Area of the Academy. 

Outfits made in NABA at Milano Moda Graduate 

Carolina Popa - a Rome campus student of the BA in Fashion Design - was one of the event's finalists in the Fashion Design category. Her minimalist research provides a new definition of structures, lines and fashion priorities. The project stems from the desire to deconstruct here-and-now reality to propose an alternative one. Every outfit focused on hybridisation between visual arts, architecture and music, as well as on archive research and analysis. Here, order and control are prerequisites for reconstructing and keeping an impulsive and communicative attitude. 

Virginia Rubini - a Milan campus student of the same BA - participated in the YKK category dedicated to looks focusing on zippers and fastening accessories. Her proposal recalls the gradual and spontaneous degeneration of a system of symbols and values. In her dreamlike imagery, each piece talks about the contemporary human condition by pointing out how difficult it is to distinguish truth from false representations provided by media. Her creations ask us to look beyond the surface of things and acquire a new awareness of the world.