MILAN — Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean returned to the Milan runway on Saturday after a three-year absence with a collection produced with artisans in Bhutan and an appeal for more political support for the withering class of artisans that gives luxury fashion its edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said I would come back when I had something to say,\u2019\u2019 Jean said backstage.<\/p>\n
Jean has long supported global artisans in her collections combining Italian tailoring with textiles, artistic details and garments sourced from traditional artisans in order to help safeguard their cultural heritage.<\/p>\n
Now, she says \u201cItalian craftsmanship is dying out,\u201d as fewer young people want to take up the trades. <\/p>\n
To help preserve artisans, Jean called on Italian lawmakers to give truly fine craftsmanship the same fiscal breaks recently bestowed on artworks. She said this would encourage more customers to invest in pieces that can take a year to complete \u2013 like the traditional ankle-length dress from Bhutan called a kira that she wore on the runway. <\/p>\n
The break would mean the consumer pays less value-added tax, while ensuring artisans are paid the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t pay them less because the artisans are already not being paid much,\u2019\u2019 Jean said, as she put finishing touches on runway models backstage. \u201cOtherwise we will see this craftsmanship only in museums. If we don\u2019t wear it, it is useless.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Artisans from Bhutan worked with Jean on pieces including traditional handwoven tego jackets worn over a silk printed dress, an elaborately embroidered skirt made from nettle fiber, embroidered skirts paired with a rugby shirt and a silken dress with an beaded panel depicting a village scene.<\/p>\n
Jean\u2019s front-row VIPs were the artisans she worked with, dressed in traditional garb.<\/p>\n
Jean made her Milan runway debut in 2013 in the Armani Theater, a guest of Giorgio Armani. She paid homage to the late designer in her runway show by unfurling the T-shirt she wore for that premiere reading: \u201cGrazie, Mr. Armani,\u2019\u2019 signed \u201cStella.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot be here without paying a tribute, which is also a sign of respect to someone to whom I am not alone in owing a debt,” she said. <\/p>\n
“Italian fashion became the most important in the world, thanks to this gentleman.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN — Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean returned to the Milan runway on Saturday after a three-year absence with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[33700,29790,127,146,9172,122,85,46,231,126],"class_list":["post-42296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-33700","tag-apparel-and-accessories-manufacturing","tag-article","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion","tag-general-news","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lifestyle","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}