Martine Rose will be special guest at Pitti Uomo 103 in January

The Pitti Uomo 103 show is getting ready for its next edition, scheduled in January 2023, and has announced the event’s guest designer. The organisers have chosen Martine Rose, founder and creative director of the eponymous London-based menswear label. The Anglo-Jamaican designer will star in a special event, unveiling a preview of her label’s Fall/Winter 2023-24 collection at a venue in Florence that is still top secret.

“In our first meeting with Martine, we ended up talking more about family, schools, daily shopping and the rhythm of life in working-class neighbourhoods than fashion shows,” said Lapo Cianchi and Francesca Tacconi, in charge of special projects at show organiser Pitti Immagine. “And yet it was obvious that all this was intimately linked with her work, a cognitive and emotional grounding mixed with the huge creative freedom veined with social and cultural undertones that is reflected in her collections, where even the most contradictory inspirations and orientations find a way to fit together, fostering a provisional coexistence that needs to be rebuilt every time. The equivalent of a musical mirror canon, in short, a very interesting work of and on fashion.”

“Pitti has always been at the forefront in celebrating the best of men's fashion, and many of the designers I respect the most have taken part in the event. My team and I are delighted to come to Florence, a city I adore, to present our new collection,” said Rose.

As a designer, Rose has influenced the direction of contemporary menswear, becoming one of the most sought-after creative directors in the fashion industry. Her label premièred in London in 2007 with a capsule collection of exquisitely crafted shirts. Rose's work is inspired by her Jamaican-British heritage and by her interest in music and in the multicultural diversity of London life. Her aesthetic thrives on carefully curated volumes and silhouettes, with unusual textures and fabrics and a fluid reference to transcultural contexts.

Rose was shortlisted for the British Fashion Council's Menswear Designer of the Year award in 2018 and in 2017, when she was also longlisted for the LVMH award and shortlisted for the ANDAM award. In 2019, she was again nominated for the BFC's Menswear Designer of the Year award and the Urban Luxe prize, and took part in the ‘Get Up, Stand Up Now’ exhibition at Somerset House in London, showcasing half a century of British black creativity.

Martine Rose is distributed worldwide by renowned multibrand retailers like 10 Corso Como Seoul, Antonioli, Dover Street Market, Joyce, Mr Porter, Slam and Ssense. In 2021, multi-service fashion platform Tomorrow acquired a majority stake in Martine Rose, as the label's global expansion and licensing partner.

Tomorrow was founded in London in 2008, and now has offices also in Milan, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Led by CEO Stefano Martinetto and CFO Giancarlo Simiri, Tomorrow owns stakes in labels like A-Cold-Wall, Athletics Footwear, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Colville, Coperni and Objects IV Life, as well as omni-channel retailer Machine-A.

Martine Rose will be special guest at Pitti Uomo 103 in January

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