Fuorimoda! Storie e proposte per restituire valore a ciò che indossiamo

When Did Clothes Start Becoming a Problem?
Probably in 1678, when the Sun King decreed that from that moment on, they would go out of fashion. Together with his minister Colbert, he invented the concept of “seasons,” a move that pushed noble followers to update their wardrobes at least twice a year, ensuring a continuous flow of money into the state’s coffers. From that initial spark, the perfect mechanism we know today began to take shape—one that seems impossible to escape and now produces over one hundred billion garments per year, most of them made at rock-bottom prices and destined to be forgotten in our closets or discarded in no time.
A perfect system for a few, but unsustainable for everyone else. This was tragically demonstrated by the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, where over a thousand textile workers lost their lives because they were forced to work in a crumbling building. Fashion could not—and still cannot—stop.
But how does it make sense to continue this way? Starting from this question, Matteo Ward takes us on an exploration of the unsustainability of the contemporary fashion system, analyzing the four pillars it rests on and how we can leverage them to shape better scenarios. One first possible way out, accessible to all? Giving clothes the same value we give to food—because a t-shirt and a loaf of bread come from the same essential sources, and both have an impact on our bodies.
Buying only what we need (or almost), consuming less and better, making conscious choices, demanding more transparency about what we purchase, and making our voices heard as consumers and citizens.
Fuorimoda! is a journey through the streets of a sprawling industry, in which Ward addresses both those who buy clothes and those who create them, searching for viable solutions to drive change. To restore fashion design’s power to participate in and preserve the world’s diversity, to rediscover its beauty, and to understand that responsible fashion is not an option for a few but a necessity for all.