UCB's global artistic director visits India

28 Oct '19

2 min read

Jean-Charles de Castelbajec. Pic: United Colors of Benetton

United Colors of Benetton’s global artistic director, Jean-Charles de Castelbajec (JCDC), recently made his maiden visit to India. JCDC has a long career that spans from design to painting, advertising, and street art. UCB is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy in 1965. The company has a network of about 5,000 stores all over the world.

The fashion fiesta kick-started with a creative master class by JCDC moderated by at Istituto Marangoni. A full-house attendance of young design and fashion students, the session was aimed at inspiring the future generation at embracing creativity with strength, focusing on sustainability and always being proud of one’s individuality, according to UCB.

Young creators engaged themselves in conversations from the man-of-the-moment who inspired fashion trends for decades with his distinctive design aesthetics. The masterclass was followed by a gala evening where the venue opened doors to prominent fashion and design stakeholders, Istituto Marangoni Mumbai alumni, Indo-Italian embassy delegates, and opinion makers of the industry. Talked about at the venue was the high on style, limited edition collection by JCDC for Benetton titled The Rainbow Machine that made global headlines earlier this year when the brand made its debut on the runway at the Milan Fashion Week Fall-Winter’19.

The event was first-ever in India which personified upcycling. This personality of the brand was evident at the event with the entire venue being set-up with utmost attention towards sustainability and recycling – there were three art installations made from pencil shavings, discarded glass bottles, broken CDs and molten waste crayons respectively.

Benetton’s profound heritage was knitted colourfully around the theme of ‘Sustainability’. Green is not just the colour of the brand; it is also a philosophy that has permeated the Benetton group culture for decades. From eco-friendly white craft paper shopping bags, discarding denim treatment methods with sand-blasting and adhering to principles of organic agriculture to being associated with green projects and programmes like Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Programme, The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) among others; Benetton has been walking the sustainability talk for decade.

The evening was a true testament of JCDC’s iconic fashion repute, a celebration of Benetton’s heritage and legacy, with a modern spin, and a unique meet and greet of some of country’s most celebrated fashion voices.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)

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