Everything you need to know about the Magliano SS24 collection
In the Magliano SS24 collection, there's a white tank top with the words "MISS MAGLIANO" written diagonally—that's exactly how I plan to identify myself while Luca Magliano creates and crafts his designs with exceptional skill.
I first heard about Luca Magliano from the Peak concept store’s team—visionaries who accumulate exceptional beauty, talent, and culture around them. Each time they uncover a new gem, they don't hold onto the brand's awards, its level of recognition, or the number of famous clients—it's the ideas and values that matter. Once Magliano confirmed that they were ready to work with Peak, Sergey Tanin, the co-founder of the store, and Julia Begunova, its brand manager, turned into preachers and started spreading information about Luca to everyone they met.
When Magliano finally arrived at the Peak Store, I grabbed the wide gray cotton 'Provincia' pants and made my way to the fitting room with the thought, "Okay, let's see what all the excitement is about." The moment I fastened the belt, I was unexpectedly overwhelmed with love.
Last week I visited the brand’s showroom in Milan, which was filled with the Spring-Summer 2024 collection, and shared this intimate story with Magliano’s sales director, Thomas Frachassi. What happened next can undoubtedly be called one of the best tours of my life. Thomas provided us with explanations for every item that was presented on June 18th on the runway at Palazzo del Ghiaccio, a palace opened in Milan by Count Alberto Bonacossa in 1923, exactly a hundred years ago. For one evening, Luca turned it into the Pala Magliano.
This specific venue for the show was most likely chosen for a reason. For the past century, Palazzo de Ghiaccio has hosted numerous figure skating, boxing, fencing, and other sports tournaments. It was "polisportive." In the Magliano SS24 collection, the sports theme holds a special place. The Italian word "polisportiva" in bold white font is placed on the back of a burgundy sweatshirt with a patch hoodie-like pocket. It also appears on the thin leather strip of sneakers with Magliano’s signature wide toe, put on the flat, non-sporty sole. Thomas seems nostalgic, explaining what exactly the "Polisportiva" word meant back in the day. He remembers the obsession that surrounded it in the 1970s and 1980s. The term represented more than just sports; it symbolized a sense of community that many Italian youth aspired to be a part of.
Another ‘sportivo’ reference is hidden in the aforementioned MISS MAGLIANO white tank top—the address of the Bologna bar ‘Sport’ at Via Risorgimento, 7. According to Google Maps, the bar is permanently closed, but the combination of its coordinates with the inscription "Miss Magliano" gives a hint that this print may have nothing to do with sports. My entry point in searching for a possible meaning of this title was the collection’s press release. Namely, the "5 minutes on the runway are more effective than a lifetime in therapy" quote. These words belong to Bruno Pompa, the art director of the Bologna LGBTQ+ center Cassero, who passed away last September. Bruno was one of the key figures in the Bologna LGBTQ+ community, and, as I managed to find out by translating several Italian obituaries dedicated to Pompa, he held a fashion contest of a party nature called ‘The Italian Miss Alternative’. It is quite possible that Miss Magliano is a tribute to Pompa's contest, and the closed Bar Sport is the imaginary venue for the non-existent Luca’s competition. This theory of mine can be further confirmed by the fact that Magliano's work as a whole is deeply rooted in Italian LGBTQ+ culture.
Many of Magliano's pieces are filled with hidden meanings related to Bologna. This is Luca's hometown, where he lives and works. Here's one more example: the telephone number of Magliano SRL (‘Società a responsabilità limitata’, which means "LLC," a limited liability company). It starts with the Bologna city code (051) and appears on several products of the SS24 collection: an oversize sweater made of thick yarn and a bright orange work overall.
Luca almost never leaves Bologna. A rare exception can be made for his own show or an interview with Vogue. That’s why the pink quote Ai nostri posti ci troverai ("You will always find us in the same place") on the back of the cream-colored T-shirt carries a double meaning for Luca. First of all, this is the designer's tribute to the five women who played a crucial role in the Italian anti-fascist resistance (on April 25, this quote emerged in Bologna on posters portraying the magnificent female five). This piece of poetry also emphasizes the fact that Magliano prefers to spend his daily life within the boundaries of his beloved city.
Letters, words, numbers, and signs in the Magliano collections reveal you the great secrets of a far from the most public designer. You just have to translate them, put them together, or deconstruct them, and try to solve them. If everything works out, you will be rewarded with a joyful feeling, as if Luca Magliano has just personally shared his moodboard with you.
His moodboard, however, is extremely saturated. The quantity and quality of the references chosen reveal the long and winding route the designer's mind manages to take in the short time while the collection is being prepared. If Magliano SS24 was a movie, it would be "Everything Everywhere All at Once". Not only because its intensity breaks the viewer’s brain but also because it boils down to just one and very simple topic: love.
You’ll encounter the gaze of Alda Merini, the renowned Italian poetess portrayed on the blue silk shirt. Alda dedicated her entire life and work to the altar of passionate love. Additionally, she endured 12 years in psychiatric clinics, enduring harsh torments such as sterilization and electroshock therapy. In the final years of her life, Alda wrote her poems directly on the walls, which is why her face on a blue shirt is surrounded by a stream of handwritten symbols. She also used to carry money in her bra due to her fear of poverty. In this collection, antique coins are transformed into long earrings and mimic buttons on double-breasted jackets.
Magliano's love is where the spiritual and sublime meet the carnal and physical. That's why we can find a cheerful ejaculating flower sewn inside the down vest, boiled jeans equipped with a small hole between the buttocks fastened with a zipper, a Pompeii long sleeve adorned with a pseudo-historical mosaic from the "city of debauchery" featuring a human skeleton with a penis, and a T-shirt depicting the non-existent Greek island of Maglianos shaped like a vagina. Interestingly, there is an Alda's Taverna located on this island. In Magliano SS24, everything is interconnected.
Guided by this pervasive interconnection, it becomes possible to establish a bridge even between those ideas that may initially seem to be multipolar. Here's, for example, another quote from the press release: "More tears have been shed for answered prayers than for unheard ones." These are the words of Saint Teresa D’Avila. While the collection does not prominently feature references to Catholicism, it does include a peach jacket with a five-meter train and a midi skirt in the same shade. This ensemble draws inspiration from the Hare Krishnas whom you can often meet in the streets of Italy. But what connects them to the Spanish Catholic saint? Most likely, it is the notion of "deified lust". Teresa of Avila famously confessed that she entered a state of "love trance" during prayer, and this "endless flirtation with God" (as American psychologist William James described it) makes her a controversial figure in religious aspects. Similarly, the Krishnas invite their followers to engage in a loving relationship with God. Thus, despite their apparent differences, there is a common thread that connects these seemingly unrelated elements.
But let's shift our focus from the heavens to the earth. Luca Magliano dedicates a significant portion of his creative exploration to the Italian working class. In SS24, this theme is portrayed more vividly than ever before. According to Thomas Frachassi, a headpiece tied in four knots is a reference to a favorite technique used by local bakers. I was able to find an almost exact parallel to the layered top with rolled-up sleeves in a black-and-white photo depicting two Italians digging sewers in the late 19th century. In order to achieve the most authentic worn-out effect for the jeans, Magliano's team washed them five times, incorporating stones and dirt. These jeans look as if they have just been worn for the repair of something under a car's body—and then the dirty, oil-stained hands were wiped on them.
The fact that Luca's interest in the working class is not artificial but genuinely profound is confirmed by the only collaboration in this collection, with the U-Power brand. Magliano could have easily partnered with Carhartt, Levi's, Dickies, or any other brand that has long popularized workwear beyond the workshop settings. However, his focus lies solely on authenticity. That's why he chose the largest Italian supplier that creates shoes for workers in various industries such as metallurgy, oil, mining, chemicals, automotive, and all the medical professionals in the country. U-Power is as far removed from fashion as possible. They have never previously been associated with this industry, but they make an exception for Magliano for the second season in a row—to "celebrate the everyday heroes."
Magliano never forgets about his own heroes. For instance, the models for his recent SS23 Surplus lookbook were the workers from the factory in Faenza, which produces this line. The name of the line itself illustrates the focus of all the collections released with this tag: it revolves around upcycling and emphasizes the creation of new items from previously used fabrics. Luca searches for these materials in Bologna, specifically in the Parco della Montagnola and Piazza VIII Agosto, where the weekly La Piazzolla market takes place every Friday and Saturday. Magliano looks for old military garments, silk blouses, and scarves, which are then assembled into new products by the factory employees. This season, they were transformed into a patchwork blanket, a short-sleeved shirt with a long silk scarf threaded through its collar, and other beautiful pieces.
Luca has immense respect for those whose professions demand precision and exceptional craftsmanship. He approaches his work with the same level of dedication. This is evident in the impeccably tailored jackets and coats, which serve as confirmation (just in case anyone needed it) of the following: the relaxed fit, sleeves of different lengths, creases, and scuffs are always conscious and thoroughly planned decisions for Luca. In order to achieve the utmost realism, the brand's team invests the same amount of effort as they would on the finest cream-colored jacket with a "Korean" collar cutout.
So far, I only have three Magliano items in my personal collection: gray 'Provincia' trousers, an 'I Suffer' longsleeve with asymmetrical shoulders, and a double-sided pendant with the words Magliano and Merda (translated from Italian as "shit"). I've temporarily paused on acquiring more, not because I don't want anything else, but because I've made the decision to buy Magliano pieces for everyone I love: my sister, partner, and best friend. What Luca does evokes incredible emotions in me, and instead of selfishly keeping these emotions to myself, I've chosen to share them with my dearest ones. My love language is as two-sided as Magliano jackets, which can be worn as shirts when turned inside out. When I decide to gift someone an item from a fashion brand, it symbolizes my love for that person on one side and my admiration for the brand on the other. It demonstrates that both the brand and the recipient hold a special place in my heart.
When Luca received the Karl Lagerfeld Award at the recent LVMH Prize, he delivered what may be the shortest thank-you speech in the history of the competition: "It's a beautiful feeling to be seen." "These words describe Luca perfectly," says Thomas Frachassi. "They are just as 'efficiante' as he is." The concise Magliano creates that kind of fashion that sparks endless conversations, leaving us eager to share it with everyone around, because it carries the same depth as his winning statement.