Ideas from Massimo Osti

Product Information

This first section charts Massimo Osti's progression as a designer through the brands and labels he created, from the beginnings with Chester Perry to the extraordinary growth of C. Nostalgia, if interpreted merely as regret for a better past, is a paralysing feeling: an invitation to linger and whisper, to look back in angst and despair, safe in the knowledge that today is worse than yesterday. The right of withdrawal shall be exercised by sending, within the aforementioned term, a written notice to the geographical address of the supplier's registered office by means of a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. It would be hard to find a piece of modern clothing that wasn’t in some way influenced by Massimo Osti. Knowing full well of my sudden about-turns with items of clothing, particularly those I most pestered her about, she told me to wait.

is the definitive look at one of the most influential and secretly revered names in Italian fashion history.Four years in the making, the book is a veritable treasure trove – a beautiful production, sumptuously photographed, full of iconic images and containing many previously unpublished images and stories. The book traces his story through images of Osti’s most important designs: his innovations in garment dyeing, his development of new fabrics, such as Tela Stella, inspired by the tarpaulin used to cover loads on lorries, and other materials such as rubber flax, the colour changing “Ice Jacket”, or “Technowool,” a wool and nylon wear-resistant “urban armour. The book has been written with images of his most important designs, with the evidence of his military inspirations and other objects from the archive: sketches, photocopies, scraps of fabric, buttons, accessories. Working intensively with fabric treatments like dyes and stonewashes, he mastered the art of giving clothes an intensely worn, but not destroyed patina. Osti's work is so well regarded that, in an effusive poetic ramble of a preface from denim legend Francois Girbaud, he elicits odes like this: "I was often so jealous, challenged by your way of looking at things, of transforming, of discovering, of becoming ever more skilled.

Two versions of the book are available – the standard 412 page edition, plus a limited Special Edition of 150 with each numbered volume bound in a piece of cloth from the Studio Osti Archive, including some of the most iconic fabrics used such as glass reflective, Ice and Marina. From Ideas from Massimo Osti: Life Savers — "A motor scooter is the preferred method of transportation for teenagers in Italy and Massimo becomes preoccupied with the disequilibrium created by school books in the backpacks of young drivers so he invents a type of vest with a rear pocket which can be tightened around the chest lending more stability to the load. Not only was he creating rugged and hardwearing clothing for the consumer but also designed uniforms for Volvo, the Swedish car manufacturers. A remarkable item, I wanted one so very badly, and in hindsight, I should have bought what became an instant collector’s item.Take the wonderful Tela Stella, a stonewashed canvas based upon truck tarpaulins and impregnated with resins and aged with enzyme washes, which was the material of choice for the first three Stone Island collections.