Rurality reworked: is fashion design still inspired by a family?

words Chiara Narciso

Cosmopolitan cities are homogenized, suburbia is experienced as a disgrace: a topic addressed by Italian fashion designer Federico Cina

Federico Cina and the gentle critique of city homogenization

Before rediscovering his land and bringing it to the public through his collections, Federico Cina struggled with the specificity of where he came from. Between his studies and the beginning of his work in fashion, he tells us, his dream of escaping the small inland village by living between Milan, Osaka and New York had been realized.

The neglect of human relationships sacrificed in favor of the work aspect and goals to be achieved. These were the food for thought from which Federico Cina’s brand project also started. The designer’s work is not reduced to sterile criticism, but rather focuses on re-elevating humanitarian values. «At a certain point I felt the need to return, not only to my land, but in general to all those values that it had transmitted to me», Cina explains.

Periphery and rurality: the main elements to the DNA of Federico Cina

Returning to Emilia Romagna represented for Federico Cina a reconnection with his family in the meantime. Then also to the human being himself, in his fragilities and away from the spotlight, dedicated to his work. This is why through his collections he has reworked the simple concept of rurality with which he grew up. My grandparents were farmers, Cina recounts, and it is from them and the values they passed on to him that he hangs his moves.

The repression brought into his global experience has become the element and basis for building his brand. «First I had a moment of estrangement I couldn’t wait to run away and leave», the designer explains and continues, «then I started to feel the need to come back and the sign was given to me by a book entitled L’Emilia Romagna that I found in a little market». From there arose almost a vocation in narrating the social and cultural context that surrounded him.

Appartamento FW 23/24: Federico Cina redefining home concept

The distant memory of the home of origin, of the house in which one grew up, this investigates Federico Cina in the Appartamento collection. Within the reflection related to his roots, a piece is added and is dedicated to an element that is not natural but imbued in one’s identity. The designer also recounts the return not only to the homeland, but especially to his home.

The broad meaning of the collection preserves from the materiality of the four walls to refer to the unconscious feeling of being at home. A place made of people that allows refuge from the outside and from the other than oneself. For this Cina in the performance designed for FW 2023 recreates those improvised tents built in her grandparents’ house.

Then as now she steals old blankets, rugs, and curtains to recreate her clothes. The overlays of the garments mimic the decking of festive homes with rough and elegant fabrics. And the juxtaposition of different designs and patterns recalls the act of composing shelter. Stripes and lace, jacquard and padded fabrics complement the warm colors that echo the security of that transcendental place.

Federico Cina’s TERRA SS 2024 at Milan Men Fashion Week

After exploring one of the prospects of summer living with Salsedine last year, Federico Cina returned for SS 2024 to the Terra, his most recent project. The focus that was previously on the coastal area shifts to the hinterland, the lesser known part of Emilia Romagna. The soil is dry and the fruit harvesting makes the tired bodies adorned with those patches either of sweat or soil dust.

The memory here is not only reconnected with that of the designer, but digs into the remembrance of grandparents and ancestors among fields to be plowed, sown and harvested. The clothes are affected by fatigue, folds and shadows of dust return on classic, linear silhouettes. Shapes are comfortable and some represent those of work clothes and aprons, often traced by streaks that echo the action of plowing. The colors are basic and echo those of the hinterland: beige, brown, black and white.

The wear and tear on the garments, just as it happens with the body in this work, occurs as the garments parade and marks the fabrics by branding them. In an encounter between work and domestic items, lute sacks sneak in, transforming into knitted and ladled raw yarns. The clothes here are an emanation of a life that is linked with the land, living and breathing with it, highlights the brand.

TERRA SS 2024 and the reference to Tonino Guerra apple, Federico Cina

The meaning of this collection is to put the focus back on the human being in a work of strong connection with nature. This concept is stressed against the contemporary industrial exploitation of fields and the bodies that work them. The apple becomes the symbol of the encounter between human and natural realities. Tonino Guerra, poet from Romagna, had dissected the fruit by looking at its globular shape as a key to the whole world.

Guerra himself had drawn it by also taking up the motifs printed on textiles traceable in local craftsmanship. The apples divided into various types and traced by the poet throughout the Apennines were replanted along with other plants in the area in a special place of preservation. In a celebration of the land Guerra gave birth to the Garden of Forgotten Fruits, in Pinnabilli, in the province of Rimini.

Here the crops symbolize care and promise for the future, in the world still strongly tied to the land. During the fashion show presented at Milan Men Fashion Week, the models on the finale carried an apple, the very symbol of connection to Guerra’s work.

From the graduation collection to the present: Federico Cina exploring himself

The Federico Cina brand is evolving by finding in classic lines the forms through which to express itself. Reworked in a modern key, the more classic and clean design is tracing in rather geometric patterns the key to the expression of the concept of rurality. «The goal is to provide an aura to the garments that has no time so as to promote their use in the distant future», Cina explains.

Minimalism is making its way into collections, making garments essential and wearable on a daily basis. Simplicity meets craftsmanship in the pieces, made individually by each artisan and without the creation of an assembly line. The production steps do not follow one another in series as in large companies; each garment is the result of the unique work of manufacture.

The designer’s proposed path from collection to collection is connected to a psychological and personal journey. Through intimate and introspective work Cina reworks the passages of his childhood. Each presentation is a chapter related to his origins that is through externalization and creation of clothes explored and exorcized.

Rediscovering the heritage of Italian fashion: artisans collaborating with Federico Cina

Promoting the area also means making sure to provide job opportunities for the residents. Several of the suppliers the brand caters to are local, as are the artisans and professionals it involves in production. First and foremost, emphasizes Cina, the collaboration with Antica Stamperia Marchi, located in Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna, continues.

It is a traditional print shop that deals with Romagna tablecloths, coming from a tradition of poor and ancient art, highlights the designer. These still use pear wood molds used from the 1600s and 1700s and still remain intact. «The sustainability concept that we are interested in promoting is to grow as a brand by also driving the supply chain companies we work with», China points out.

One example is the collaboration for the latest collection with artisans working with terracotta in Faenza. Enriching the clothes were a series of accessories, from earrings to applications on the items, created in local workshops using ceramics.

Between the catwalk and the staging of the dresses – The Appartamento collection, Federico Cina

The Appartamento collection had already been presented on the catwalk last January at Milan Men Fashion Week. It had then been revived for Women Fashion Week through a performance that contextualized the concept of the game of finding one’s safe place.

«The fashion show I think is still important, walking on the catwalk that for the brand is the highest moment of visibility, especially if it is a small brand inserted in the showcase of Milan Fashion Week», the designer points out. The performances succeed in telling and personalizing the message to be given to the collection, Cina continues.

Although the catwalk is a very classic context, with Terra a performance related to the concept of Guerra’s apple was offered to the audience. In this sense, fashion borrows a performative form from theater, making clear the intent of the storytelling of the designer.

Being a young designer in Italy: Federico Cina reflection

Emerging in the current context and, particularly in Italy as a young designer is complex. Cina tells of his chance to participate in Alta Roma as a rising talent with Romagna Mia. The presentation of this first collection allowed him to have a wide showcase of press and buyers in order to continue his work. Today, after the announcement of the conclusion of this event, Cina highlights his sorrow at the closure of an event capable of truly giving him that chance to emerge. Alta Roma and the collaboration with Milan’s Camera della Moda Nazionale allowed several young people to follow a path of growth, highlights the designer. Besides getting known, Cina explains, raising a brand business is complex, and visibility is not the only aspect to be considered. «The commercial part is tough, it is necessary to find a showroom that believes in the brand despite being independent, same thing with buyers who are more wary when there are no big companies behind the production», he points out, concluding.

Federico Cina

Federico Cina is an Italian designer who created an eponymous brand. He undertook his studies at Polimoda in Florence and has worked for some brands such as Brooks Brothers and Emilio Pucci. Cina is currently involved in consulting and in developing his own brand, that is based in Cesena.