Capitolo 1 Couture
In a world where haute couture often teeters between nostalgia and novelty, Sylvio Giardina carves out a space that feels entirely his own.
With CAPITOLO I COUTURE, the Roman designer returns to Paris not to stage a spectacle, but to orchestrate an encounter, an intimate dialogue between craftsmanship, sculpture, and the human form. His Fall/Winter 2025–26 collection is less a series of garments than a narrative in motion: a study of transformation, instinct, and the poetic tension between structure and fluidity. Set against the refined backdrop of a Haussmann apartment, Giardina’s creations unfold like fragments of an unfinished story, bold, delicate, and alive with possibility.
Recognised as one of the most original voices in contemporary high fashion, Roman designer Sylvio Giardina returns to Paris to present his Fall/Winter 2025–26 collection. In the heart of the city, he has chosen a classic Haussmann-style apartment to host a refined and intimate showcase: ten haute couture pieces where experimentation comes to life through sculptural shapes, bold outlines, and a delicate precision in craftsmanship. Each garment reveals the designer’s technical skill, in the play of transparency, the surprise of metallic details, and the movement of fringe and raised textures.
Each creation carries its own identity, imagined as a moving scene that follows the body’s rhythm. Together, they tell a story of change and transformation, suggesting the beauty of something unfinished and always evolving. Velvet petals become tassel-like patchworks, while crystals bloom like rare, exotic flowers.
Giardina describes the collection as a tribute to his “inner animals” symbols of his creative process, which he calls instinctive, wild, and deeply driven. These inner forces, he says, help him unlock his full artistic potential.
The color palette, black and white, the glowing gold, the richness of amethyst, and the calm of ecru, reflects a blend of precision and imagination. Working with lace, metallic plissé organza, cady, linen, and metallic gauze, Giardina treats fabric like sculpture. He molds, layers, and reshapes it, balancing structure with softness to create pieces that feel almost weightless, like a delicate mist.
Experimentation has always been central to Giardina’s work. Over the years, he has naturally blended fashion with the language of contemporary art. For him, performance, installation, and video are not just ways to present fashion, they are part of the creative process itself. This new collection follows that tradition, taking it further by highlighting the essential, expressive power of each piece.
The collection also connects to Giardina’s recent reflections on myth and transformation, seen in his past projects at Palazzo Farnese (/gal-le-rì-a/) and the Baths of Diocletian (SI/LENZIO). These themes appear again in small but powerful details, animal-inspired accessories that feel both ancient and modern, echoing masks, memories, and symbolic meanings. [ V ]
