LAUD END PRAUD 2024 PRESENT DOROTHY’S FRIENDS
LAUD END PRAUD, the initiative to support the LGBTQ+ community, returned to Milan for the 2024 edition with a double appointment between 17 and 18 May to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Lesbophobia and Transphobia.
Conceived by Andrea Semeghini, creative director of the VANADIO23 brand who has joined UNCND.Itd as producer and strategy development since 2023, LAUD END PRAUD has returned to Milan with a rich schedule of contents thanks to the collaboration of MOSSO which collaborated on the project in co-production. LAUD END PRAUD 2024 took place on FRIDAY 17 May and SATURDAY 18 June in Via Mosso 3, in Milan.
For this edition the event wanted to anticipate the PRIDE month of pride and celebrate this significant day to say no to violence with an event open to the entire community and its allies, once again creating a space for discussion, discussion and fun where everyone feels welcome!
Media partners MarieClaire and NSS Magazine supported the event to support the intent of VANADIO23. “We want a world where everyone feels safe, free and at ease with their identity and sexual orientation, and where they can freely express their ideas. We try to change attitudes and cultural norms about gender issues” said Andrea Semeghini.
The event schedule was enriched with a series of events, including talks, podcasts, screenings, a variety show and DJ sets. SCHEDULE Apparently distant elements to once again compose a format transversal and inclusive, and embrace an ever wider community and establish a platform that can host new creatives, new interventions, new contributions and new expressive codes with each new season.
DOROTHY’S FRIENDS
At the center of this composite schedule, “Dorothy’s friends” is the LAUD END PRAUD 2024 fashion show with a title inspired by the Wizard of Oz.
The theme comes from the phrase “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” used to identify within the queer community in America’s clubs at the end of the Second World War. In fact, in the 1950s homosexuality was still criminally punishable and that phrase constituted a coded language accessible only to representatives of the community itself.
On the LAUD END PRAUD 2024 catwalk, this yellow edition recalls the yellow brick road of history that served as the theme for this season and against a green backdrop to recall the Emerald City., 8 capsules made from 8 upcoming Italian brands.
Each designer has reinterpreted one of the characters from the famous book and iconic film: GIORGIANDREAZZA as Dorothy, SIRAINER as Toto, FANTABODY as Glinda, FLORIANA as Witch of the East, SIMON CRACKER as The Wizard of Oz, VITELLI as The Scarecrow, MARCELLO PIPITONE as L The Tin Man, BE NINA as The Cowardly Lion.
VANS has joined as a partner with LAUD END PRAUD to provide a mix of classics and new models that designers have customized creating unique pieces in line with their character.
Also on the catwalk, introducing the capsules of each designer, are the t-shirts created by NSS with graphics created by VANADIO 23 and illustrated by JACOPO ASCARI.
The styling of the show was curated by Simone Furlan and the casting of Maria Aminta Daniele wanted to once again celebrate the beauty of diversity and promote inclusion in the representation of the body.
The creative direction of make up and body painting was entrusted to Jury Schiavi while the hair direction was entrusted to Erisson Musella.
The proceeds from the sale of the “Dorothy’s friends” looks created by the degnigners, the VANS customized by them and the t-shirts produced in collaboration by NSS magazine and VANADIO 23 and illustrated by Jacopo Ascari will be donated to charity at Antonia’s TRANS ALA MILANO ONLUS desk Monopoli, which aims to protect, support and defend Transgender people through social inclusion practices.
The event would not have been possible without the support of Vanadio 23, UNCND, Mosso, Nss Magazine, Marie Claire, PWC, Vans, Jacopo Ascari, Older Studio, Blend Management, Wemakeup, L’Oréal, Prolab Milano, Gorunway, Indifule, NTNext, luad, Agedo, Mubi, Wondersity, Storielibere, Quid, Fantastico.
LAUD END PRAUD DESIGNERS & BRANDS
BE NINA
Be Nina is a sustainable, artisanal and surreal brand born in Puglia in 2021. The name itself derives from the nickname “Binina” assigned to the designer Sabrina during her childhood, which later became “to be niña” (“little girl” in Spanish) until reaching “Be Nina”. Childhood, a fundamental word in the creative process of the designer who, lost in the Peter Pan syndrome, often draws inspiration from children’s clothes from other times, from memories of her past and from ancient toys. The uniqueness of the brand comes from the up-cycling of ancient traditional Apulian materials such as hand-embroidered doilies, sheets, tablecloths and towels.
FLORANIA
Founded by Flora Rabitti in 2021 with the purpose to uphold Italian sartorial and textile traditions by design clothing with minimal climate impact and a positive influence on society, crafting new narratives representing a genderless niche. A strong brand identity, along with the respect for craftsmanship traditions, are driving force for crafting new and compelling visions for how products are created, used, and disposed of.
GIORGIA ANDREAZZA
Giorgiandreazza, based in Milan, founded by Giorgia Andreazza herself, approaches the fashion industry made in Italy thanks to the family roots. Her creations express an idea that describes entities, not a precise sex.
The clothes identify with dynamism, spacing from the filtered observation of art forms to the attention for the details in a way that is complex and maniacal. Lover of transformism and the evolution, the result is a mix of deconstructed forms and high quality Italian fabrics.
FANTABODY
Carolina Amoretti creates her “positive” bodysuit brand FANTABODY inspired by female strength and energy. Inspired by sportswear with a sophisticated and feminine touch, Fantabody is an athleisure brand conceived and designed for all girls who want to express themselves and their body with freedom and personality.
MARCELLO PIPITONE
Inspired by the residential outskirts of the neighborhood where Marcello grew up, the brand unites past and present, old and new, in a waltz of symbols, lines, colours, graphics and fabrics for sports-streetwear that aims to be unique.
SIMON CRACKER
SIMON CRACKER is an upcycling brand led by Simone Botte and Filippo Biraghi. It offers a line of genderless clothing and accessories with an impertinent aesthetic, which disturbs and arouses strong emotions. The brand has been collaborating for years with seamstresses and knitters from Cesena, Simone’s hometown, to create its collections, combining a neo-punk style with tradition and giving life to a less traditional couture that combines art, subcultures, memories and eco-sustainability
SIRAINER
Born in Italy in 2020, between the folds of the sheets, within the walls of the house, between Florence and Milan. Bedroom fantasies, fantasies that take shape… shape that becomes reality.
VITELLI
Vitelli is an Italian Fabric Maker. With highly manufactured machinery, saved from imminent extinction, they fabricate compositions of threads born solely from Pre-Existing fibers. Vitelli is a cooperative entity that works in equity with all the biological elements it includes, human and non-human.
They produce meshes and knits capable of warping into the mosaic of climatic, geophysical, and cosmic characteristics composing our planet. Taking care of it lovingly.
VANADIO23
VANADIO23 is an independent Italian brand founded by Andrea Semeghini which, through a bizarre mix of sex, play and provocation, encourages people to embrace their sexuality with irony and to free themselves from the norms through design and clothing.
JACOPO ASCARI
The Atelier, illustration and a new sensitivity; he defines himself as a person in love with beauty, who uses only one medium to express himself, that is, Illustration.
Illustration to portray Architecture, his first Love. Illustration to portray Fashion, which seduces him every day because it is the one Applied Art which allows us to reinvent ourselves every day, while still remaining ourselves.
Illustration as a refusal of a Style, but rather as the daily Discovery of something with a new sensitivity, in the hope of giving life to an image with something to say. An image with something to say, like that small daily step towards the answer to his questions.
All images by LAUD END PRAUD
PR Agency AKA MILANO