Which are the coolest cities on the planet?
Opinions vary, of course, though most people would agree with the statement "Not Newcastle". That wasn't the case a little over a decade ago, however, when Newsweek came up with a surprising list of contenders that included the home of Brown Ale, as well as Kabul, Tijuana and Zhongguancun, which is to Beijing what Silicon Valley is to San Francisco.
Now, in an exhibition called Global Fashion Capitals opening next month, New York's Fashion Institute of Technology has had another go and is proposing a new list. Newcastle, Kabul, Zhongguancun and Tijuana don't make the cut, but Mexico is represented by the presence of its capital city. Joining it on the list are (among others) Sao Paulo, Mumbai and Istanbul. It's a given that London, Paris, New York and Milan are still top of the fashion tree, and the exhibition acknowledges this. But if we treat them as a sort of four-headed Old Firm, it's fair to view this other lot as the New Firm.
Personally I think you could also make a case for Glasgow. But maybe the fashion world has had all the tartan and tweed it can take and now prefers something brighter and funkier and less prone to being eaten by moths - something like Mexican designer Ricardo Seco's collaboration with sportswear company New Balance, which uses Mexican folk art techniques to apply colourful beading to a training shoe. How it would hold up in the gloop and stour of a typical Scottish summer I can't say, but it looks mighty fine in a museum display cabinet.
If I'm disappointed but unsurprised by Glasgow's omission, I'm a little more miffed at the exclusion of Vicenza, a city in northern Italy. It's famous for its wool, silk, ceramic and textile industries, which is one reason fashion names like Diesel and Bottega Veneta are headquarted nearby. But what really makes it stand out - for me, anyway - is that it's also where the world's largest fair for ecclesiastical garments takes place every two years. The 2015 event has just finished.
Now if you want an example of how to really shake up the world of fashion you can find it here: in the work of people like Elisabetta Bianchetti, head of the Bianchetti family firm. She once caused a rumpus by re-designing the habits worn by a tiny community of Fransiscan monks to include pockets for cellphones and tweaked the colour by turning to the original instructions left by St Francis. It's a move she probably learned from those fashion labels who trawl their own back catalogues when they run out of ideas. Her 2013 collection was inspired by historic Italian textile designs and the 2015 collection has a 1960s theme, this being the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (come on, keep up). "You have Armani, Gucci or Prada," said one priest who visited this year's fair. "This is our version of haute couture."
Any other unsung fashion hotspots that deserve a little more acclaim? Do let me know.
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