Last Tuesday, September 30, the Italian Embassy in Lisbon hosted a fashion show organised by IED – Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan – and ModaLisboa, which opened the Lisbon catwalk with selected looks by 13 young IED designers: Ainhize Ganzabal Santiago, Anna Serra, Arianna Pejrani, Carlotta Gadda, Daniele Dargenio, Denise Vecchi, Eloi Sacristan, Haiqi Zhou, Michel Mahfoud, Miguel Conde Garcia-Mochales, Natalia Arroyas, Roberto Niutta, and Simone Smeriglio.

The ‘Repeat the Action’ fashion show explored repetition — as the name suggests — as a transformative practice, drawing inspiration from a conversation between choreographer Lenio Kaklea and curator Caroline Bourgeois about the work of visionary American artist Bruce Nauman, who began his career in the 1960s, focusing particularly on the idea that “freedom is a form of discipline” and that repetition is necessary to move forward, IED further explained on its website.

“Fashion is presented as a virtuous system that challenges the conformity of traditional staging. The show proposes an open and permeable dialogue, in which individual creative proposals coexist with hybrid forms — music, dance, performance — all converging on common themes: the body, sociability, collectivity, exchange,” it explained.

At the same time, ‘Repeat the Action’ goes beyond the classic fashion-show format, “embracing the performative dimension as an essential part of the narrative” and involving local Lisbon talent, “promoting new encounters and exchanges that enrich the dialogue between different cultural and artistic contexts,” it continued.

Meanwhile, the embassy’s catwalk was once again chosen as a symbolic space — “a threshold, an enclave, a border, but also a bridge, a door, a refuge” — and, at the same time, as a diplomatic institution and residence that aims at “representation and protection, organisation and prestige”, linking these distinct universes in a fashion show that bears the Made in Italy signature.

On its social media channels, the Italian Embassy in Lisbon posted photos of the event, describing it as “the Portuguese stage of the Grand Tour for Higher Education in Art and Music (AFAM), a project coordinated by RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts and funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU,” it stated on its Facebook and Instagram accounts.

“The project promotes educational experiences in Italy and abroad for art students, and among the partners is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The initiative is part of the Embassy’s commitment to supporting Italian creativity, fostering dialogue with Portuguese creativity, with constant attention to the ethical dimension of the projects and their sustainability.”

As the IED pointed out, this event forms part of the biennial GTA Grand Tour AFAM programme, an international project funded by the European Union that promotes Italian culture and creativity through artistic and educational experiences in Italy and abroad. Coordinated by CNR ISPC and RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts, GTA is structured in two phases, ‘Creating in Italy’ and ‘Networking’, with the central aim of promoting cultural exchange and dialogue through projects connecting younger generations with the professional world.