An agency providing consultancy, support and protection for creative figures and brands, Lagente was founded in 1994 based on an idea by Davide Dallomo. Over the years it has established important links with the main world players in the fashion sector and it operates on the major markets of creativity, with a packed portfolio of fashion, graphic and interior designers, creative and artistic designers and creative minds in general.
The absolute new entry for this edition of The Latest Fashion Buzz will in fact be a special partnership with LAGENTE that, with the Green project, will reward the most talented designers. It will offer one of the participants a whole year of pro bono tutoring free of charge.
We asked Davide Dallomo to tell us about Lagente and his innovative project.
Where did the idea for your agency come from?
If we had to sum it up in a few words I would choose kunst = capital, creativity equals capital. Intended as the capital of humanity precisely as an economic capital. This is the beginning of everything and this is exactly what Lagente, the company I founded, deals with. Creativity to design in fashion, the art of doing as I like to call it. In truth money does not produce ideas, while ideas can produce money.
I read that work by Lagente is described as a mix of the role played by football scouts and that of literary agents. How do you select and accompany designers/creative minds during their career?
_I think that we can describe work carried out over twenty years by Lagente as delicate. We work with ideas and creativity. We defend and protect it and we do so by representing other people's ideas. I like to repeat that we accompany creative minds. We attempt to be an interface, a sort of privileged confidant flanking the ideas of other people. It requires a lot of humility and care. _
Tell us about the LAGENTE GREEN project ... Where did your idea come from? How does it work? And how will this develop as part of The Latest Fashion Buzz?
_Lagente Green is a project that celebrates our twentieth birthday. We have given ourselves a rather unusual gift. We have chosen to follow 20 young creative designers in fact, talented youngsters of both sexes, at our company, completely free of charge. Thanks to proactive collaboration with schools and Pitti Immagine, we have selected twenty profiles that we will accompany and professionally train throughout this year. _
What elements and “potential” will you assess during the selection process?
Today, the profile of the creative designer has changed a lot. Pure idea and creative conception have remained exactly the same whereas professional figures have changed, along with their requests and their needs. Toda they must have a complete set of skills, enabling them to tackle problems and obstacles. We like to think by putting our years of experience at their disposal we ensure that as these creative youngsters take their first steps in the world of fashion, they can perhaps avoid the classic errors, taking on the world of work in a professional, aware manner.