Italian clothing label 12th Man collaborates with the Massimo Osti Studio to bring us the MO1/Project - a tribute to the late great Massimo Osti.
As you may have noticed from leafing through Sabotage Times, I’m a big fan of the work of the late great Massimo Osti. He’s been described as an inventor rather than a fashion designer, but one thing that’s for sure is he revolutionised the sportswear industry by bringing us C.P. Company and Stone Island along with Left Hand and Massimo Osti Productions.
If you doubt my word then, Franca Sozzani, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia, is in agreement with me saying: “Innovation, elegance, experimentation are the terms often used to describe the work of designer Massimo Osti who, at the end of the 1970s, changed the rules of fashion. He travelled off the beaten path, far from classic and traditional fabrics, inventing new, “future” weaves and discovering new materials commonly used today.”
Not that the young lads across the UK, indulging in a spot of oneupmanship by wearing his clothes in pubs and football grounds, probably cared what the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia reckons, they just thought his creations looked fucking cool, but I guess that’s why she’s Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia.
This brings us to MO1/PROJECT is a tribute to Massimo Osti’s work, five years after his death in 2005. It’s the first in a series of projects that Massimo Osti Studio will be undertaking. Artwork that Massimo first created in the 70s, bringing his experience as a graphic designer to the world of fashion, has been selected from the studio’s archives. Four designs, originally used for posters, promotional labels and gadgets, have been brought back to life, each in a limited edition t-shirt, individually numbered 1 – 99, produced and dyed entirely in Italy, in collaboration with Italian clothing label 12thMan.
The t-shirts are available now at www.mo1.it
If Rihanna isn't sporting these within a week then the world has gone doolally...
