Spikes were a strong trend in the projects applied by the ITS 2021 contestants.

We record creative vibrations just like a seismographer.

Yellow. One of the dominant colors in the projects applied for ITS 2021.

This was a particularly intriguing project, too.

Rei Sato & Jumi Tanabe, Japanese
Finalists, ITS 2020 – Accessories

Rei and Jumi created a surreal new form of communication by visualising thoughts, memories and musical tastes bursting out of our brains when listening to music. Created by exclusively using discarded, upcycled materials in an effort to recycle as much as possible and evolve new thoughts and expressions using old material. Believing that reusing the old to create the new is the way to go.

Each earbud piece had its own original vinyl recording.

Simone Marchetti, now Vanity Fair European editorial Director & Vanitiy Fair Italia Editor in Chief, took part in the ITS Jury for several years. This portrait in Piazza Unità with the ITS Trophy dates back to 2018.

Such beautiful memories selecting finalists together!

Blue was another very strong color trend seen in this year’s ITS 2021 applicants projects.

It was also one of the colors trending on catwalk during the FW

Thomas Rousset / David Favrod,
France / Switzerland
Finalists, ITS 2009, Photography

Photographers Thomas and David staged a community halfway between the absurd and fantasy. Nomads and mountain dwellers calling upon a plurality of different codes among which theatricality, tribalism, make-up, autarky, a return to children’s tales.

Thomas was back as a finalist two years later teaming with another photographer, Raphael Verona

Managing an archive with 14,359 projects, over 325 outfits, 152 accessories, 103 jewelry pieces and over 700 digital photography projects requires a tremendous amount of tasks. Pictured here is a thorough check of a boot from Tara Babylon’s ITS 2020 archive outfit, to verify conditions and cataloguing metadata.

An ongoing process for an ever-growing collection of items...

We just spent three beautiful days with Rafael Kouto, who came back to plan our educational program with us! This is exactly what ITS Arcademy’s circularity is all about: ITS finalists who received our support now come back to work with us in shaping the next generations of creatives.

First time I got to hug a finalist since the pandemic began.

Leonard Kahlcke, German
Finalist, ITS 2013 – Accessories

The design approach developed by Leonard focused on making a contribution to the traditional canon of men’s shoe design. His collection worked with and against the categorized elements of traditional shoe design, manipulating the generic expectations of its audience through subtle but decisive alterations. It won him Accessories Collection of the Year.

Before being a footwear designer he shaped iconic dance clubs in Berlin.

So many memorabilia in our drawers, this one’s quite special. In 2006 everyone already knew about Raf but hardly anyone new his face, he was very careful about protecting his privacy. “Dear Barbara, thank you for this great ITS 5 experience. X Raf.”

Had a huge "fight" judging the ITS finalists months later in July. Both passionate about what we do! :)))