September, 17th, 2014

MILANO | SPRING SUMMER 2015 | ANGELOS BRATIS
DRAPED EXPRESSIONISM

Greek designer’s ethereal collection etched into Yiannis Moralis’s bold rationalist abstraction.

Though Bratis’s work was very classical in one sense, very Minerva’s, he infused maestria, colors and forms all inspired by Yiannis Moralis, an outstanding figure in Modern Greek painting, one of “1930s generation” painters.

Aparté. With a scholarship from the Academy of Athens (1937), Yiannis Moralis studied mosaics and frescos in Rome. Angelos Bratis taught his passion for the “moulage” at the Akto Design School of Athens, the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and the Academy of Fashion and Costume in Rome. Rome, gravitas for both.

Subsequently, Yiannis Moralis attended lessons on painting and fresco in Paris, at the École des Beaux Arts and on mosaics at the École des Arts et Métiers. He had presented his work in many solo and group exhibitions both in Greece and abroad, having had his first one-man show in Athens, 1959. Half a century later, Angelos Bratis curated several exhibitions on art, fashion and architecture.

From the 1970s, Yiannis Moralis moved from the realistic depictions of the human form of his earlier works towards a geometric stylization incorporating curves. From the 2010s, Angelos Bratis conveyed collections recognizable by the architectural fluidity of the design and its elegant and impeccable technique.

After graduating in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute Arnhem in Amsterdam, Bratis moved to Italy and began honing his talent through collaborations “behind the scenes” with great designers. In 2011 he won first prize “Who Is On Next?, ” Alta Roma and Vogue Italy’s talent search for emerging fashion designers, decided by a jury composed of Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune, Franca Sozzani of Vogue Italia, Mark Holgate of Vogue, and retailers Saks Fifth Avenue and Harvey Nichols.

Angelos Bratis drapes his creations directly on mannequins, creating outfits characterized by lightness and movement and giving the Angelos Bratis woman freedom of expression. The natural ease of his style is the result of a signature “complex simplicity.”. That latter, and the fact that it will be a Seventies Seventies 2015 season in Milan, was Angelos’s angle for showcasing at the Teatro Armani as part of the bi-annual Giorgio Armani pick-and-promote the work of an upcoming designer.

“I am truly honoured to have been chosen by Giorgio Armani to present my new collection in his prestigious theatre in Milan. For me, the great Italian maestro is the perfect example of a designer who has deep values, expressed throughout a long career. These are the same values that I try to express in my work: femininity and pure elegance without artifice,” said Angelos Bratis. In three seasons, it became a must, le La to Milan Fashion Week. "My initiative in supporting little-known but promising designers is paying off, and personally I am quite passionate about it. The future of the system depends on new generations, and I am happy to be able to contribute in an active way. This [Spring Summer 2015] season Angelos Bratis present[ed] his fashion show at my theatre. I wish him a successful future,” said Giorgio Armani. IT feels right that the patriarch opens and closes the season in his city. Remember his february 2014 press conferencepolemica with Anna Wintour when she deserted his show for Paris?

Anyhow. Today, Angelos Bratis showed us to possess both qualities: plasticité and savoir-couture, in abundance; in drapés. On silk, a surface as large and liquid as you can choose it to be, you can’t improvise plastic compositions. By force you will tend to a collection that is decorative, yet decor means applying the medium of art to achieve a wardrobe statement.

In twenty-three breezy powerful sylphides, Angelos Bratis lines carved into the silk: horizontal and vertical, like doors and windows. This wealth of images, along between neutral black and white on an ocean of blue and zests of pinks, crèmes and yellows, revealed a compositional concept in a geometric dogma. It was a visual exercise for strong solvers. A treat for lovers of painting, in which, however, may fail even couturiers like Angelos.

Bratis. Bold.

Endeavors in art are mere approximations, efforts to render visible unseen realms.

Endeavors in fashion are mere approximations, efforts to render unseen realms visible.

But then the reality is there for you to dress. Make it yours. Everyday.

ALESSANDRO BERGA | L’ÉDITOR