Ice Surface Temperature
Italy
“We are deeply into the meaning of clothing, this is true,” says Kristian Guerra. “Because clothing without context is only clothing. So we work on different aspects: the fabrics, the contexts, and the people who inhabit them.”
Padua-born Guerra, 30, won two awards at ITS in 2011. He has since freelanced for labels such as C.P. Company, Diesel and Max Mara, and now consults as a designer for Holubar. On the side, Guerra has teamed up with his sister Laura – a pattern designer whose CV includes McQ – to develop Ice Surface Temperature, a conceptually high-flying passion project that complements their respective day jobs. Following more than a year of careful development, the label will present in London next February as part of the International Fashion Showcase organised by the Br itish Council.
“My sister’s background is in shapes and my background is in fabrics. This is our starting point.We would like to give our perspective of reality. We’re Italian and we seem to be radical, and we want to put that on the table,” says Guerra. “We’re trying to catch memories in our garments, or to create memories that have different volumes. It’s an emotional approach.”
That translates into something almost goth-leisure – whimsically proportioned pieces, evasively photographed, in which Guerra is nonetheless determined to retain a real-life relevance. Guerra says that IST is an exploration of the anthropological aspects of menswear that plays with contaminations from Italian-flavoured counter-cultural tics rooted in the ’80s and ’90s. As well as refiguring canonical outerwear and sportswear shapes, he and Laura tilt the medium off-kilter via the imposition of reflective embroideries and mesh overlays. He adds: “We start from real life and make a distortion, so the look is an interpretation of reality. For example, we set off with the idea of the down jacket and then reproduce it with different volumes and surfaces. And we try to use functional aspects to make something that isn’t just useful, but which also has a sense of shape.We really work on the icons of the w ardrobe.”