Palm Angels Joins New York Fashion Week
Four years after the launch of the brand, Francesco Ragazzi is gearing up to do “a second debut” on the international fashion scene.
NEW YORK — Four years after its official debut in Milan, Palm Angels, the brand founded by Francesco Ragazzi and controlled by Italy's New Guards Group, is gearing up to take New York with a show Friday at the Cedar Lake exhibition venue in Chelsea.
“This show in New York represents a new challenge. After seasons showing in Milan I realized I was starting to feel too much in my comfort zone. I don't want to be immediately associated with Milan,” Ragazzi said. “Showing in New York is something completely different for me and I feel like I'm going to do a second debut.”
Ragazzi added that since the music and art street scene are things very close to the brand, New York feels like the perfect environment to stage a show. “A lot of celebrities and personalities from different fields wear Palm Angels, but with shows in Milan it was hard to have them attending,” he said. “Here, there is no excuse. They are in town, they live here, so if they don't show up, I cannot say anything in my defense. However, I think they will come,” Ragazzi added, while declining to reveal the list of the celebrities invited to the show.
“Until I see them, I won't say a word.”
Moving the show to New York had an impact on the collection itself, explained Ragazzi. “If in, Milan which is more traditional, I tried to bring something new and different with my own take on streetwear. Here, which is the land of the streetwear culture, I wanted to do the opposite: revamping sartorial classics with a street filter.”
Describing his upcoming show as “ambitious, not only in terms of production, which is quite big, but also fashion-wise,” Ragazzi said that he felt like bringing the brand to the next level “by mixing the more pulled together look of the first collections with the more openly street attitude of the latest shows.”
Hunting and fishing served as inspiration for the collection which, for example, includes a range of designs, such as women's skirts, men's coats and