Sant'Agata, the fashion show of the Academy of Fine Arts returns to Catania

E’ everything is ready in Catania for the usual homage to Sant'Agata organized byAcademy of Fine Arts. A parade with more 180 models crossing the heart of Catania, a fashion competition to reward the talent of the youngest and an exhibition of the competing clothes. This is the program that sees first-year Abact students give shape to the feeling of devotion for the patron saint. “A 21” is the title of the XXI° edition of the event curated by Liliana Nigro, Professor of History of Costume for the Performing Arts. After the stop imposed by the pandemic, the show returns today, Tuesday 31 January, The exhibition will be open to the public from 20, on the eve of the feast of the patroness. While the connected exhibition, at the Palace of Culture, will be open to the public from 1 to 6 February.

THE DECLARATIONS

“Two years after the last edition – comments Lina Scalisi, President Abact – the traditional appointment masterfully directed by Liliana Nigro is back. In the competition and on display are dresses designed for Agata on a journey of faith, passion and prayer substantiated with that freshness and creativity that is the hallmark of talented young people. Clothes that will parade in the heart of Agatina devotion and that will be, We hope, bearers of that tranquility, joy and peace that we seek so much”.

The exhibition for Sant'Agata is combined with a catalog designed by teachers and scholars, coordinated by professor Marco Lo Curzio and with layout by Federica Bistoletti and Martina Giustolisi. “This year – explains director Gianni Latino – the visual identity that has been entrusted to the Visual Communication Design Course for over ten years, it is based on the preparatory sketch made by hand and which serves to give shape to the final project. A design element common to fashion and graphics, from the dress to the poster, from accessories to dummy".

The A21 project also falls within the activities of the so-called Third Mission, typical of education and training agencies such as Academies and Universities and which follows Teaching and Research: that is, the sharing of knowledge and support for initiatives involving the community. Liliana Nigro explains it: “A 21 is a choral tribute to Agata, a transversal and obsolete prayer that every year aims to enhance the cultural study and research actions of our Academy, so that the territory comes into contact with young artists about to compete with the world of fashion and the history of costume". The photos in the catalog are by students and enthusiasts with the coordination of the teacher Egidio Liggera.

A 21 | THE EVENT 2023

THE COMPETITION AND THE EXHIBITION

I'm 80 the dresses in competition that, displayed on mannequins, this evening, The exhibition will be open to the public from 21 e 30, will be evaluated by the quality jury. Three scholarships to the winners (500, 300 e 200 euro) donated by Sartoria Amelia Casablanca which will also offer an internship in its company for the first prize. The eighty dresses of the edition 2023 they will remain on display from 1 to 6 February in the Concetto Marchesi room of the Palazzo della Cultura. Visits from 9 at 19, Free admission.

THE PARADE

They will be 180 the models who, wearing the best clothes from past editions, they will parade this evening at 20 from the Town Hall to the Palace of Culture. The soundtrack is entrusted to the violin of Erika Ragazzi and the young musicians of the Musicainsieme a Librino orchestra. To parade, models for an evening, they will be students of the Academy, students from the Mario Rapisardi high school in Paternò and dozens of young people from Catania who Liliana Nigro, with a view to an inclusive and transversal event, involved in the project. The actress Claudia D'Amico opened the show. Closing: Sofia Aloisi, twenty-three year old from Paternò with a passion for dance pursued despite the limits imposed by a tetraparesis which forces her into a wheelchair.

Gives Villa Maria you can easily reach Catania by car and by train (the railway station is just a few meters away) in about 20 minutes.