Boldini Trendsetter ep.6: Matthew Williams

The last guest of the "Boldini Trendsetter" video project is American designer Matthew Williams, founder of 1017 ALYX 9SM. His refined aesthetics feeds both on the creative’s Californian upbringing and his experience in the entertainment biz, and by the Italian artistic stimuli, in particular by Ferrara, where Matthew Williams currently lives. Together with the students of Smiling International School and the founder of Slam Jam Luca Benini, he spoke about the relationship between Giovanni Boldini's early 20th-century painting and his idea of fashion, which is based on the power of visual language, attention to the creative process and the search for a cutting-edge construction.

The video interview completes the framework of initiatives to accompany "Boldini e la Moda" exhibition, dedicated to the Ferrara painter and set up at the Palazzo Diamonds in Ferrara until June 2nd. Conceived and edited by the cultural association Ilturco with the aim of stimulating among adolescents a critical reflection on the theme of identity expressed through clothing.

After creative director of Slam Jam Gabriele Casaccia, fashion designer Danilo Paura; Walter D'Aprile of nss factory; Alterazioni Video creative studio; Caterina Dondi of Felisi, Matthew Williams concludes the series of interviews promoted by Ferrara Arte Foundation with the aim of enriching dialogue and knowledge on creative processes and more. Williams, in fact, spoke of his relationship with Kanye West and Lady Gaga and the importance of a trend reversal in the fashion industry, one of the most polluting in the world.

Although the designer reduces his work to "preparation, timing and luck", the aesthetics of ALYX is one of the reference points for many new realities, which have tried to replicate the use of precious details and the strong expressive value of black, among the favorite colors also of Giovanni Boldini, who with his portraits dictated the rules of the Belle Époque style.