Giordano Bruno High School
By Roma Cervino
The Giordano Bruno high school, located in Perugia, Italy, offers an interdisciplinary education with specializations in fashion, applied sciences, chemistry and biotechnologies studies, and linguistics. On Monday, March 18th, we visited some of the fashion students and participated in a class on looms and weaving. I found this hands-on experience valuable as it gave us a chance to learn the practicality of fashion and not just the theoretical aspects of the field. It was also a very interesting experience to have prior to going to see the master weaver Marta Cucchia at the weaving laboratory Giuditta Brozzetti later in the afternoon.
When we were talking with the students (in a mix of Italian and English), they expressed disappointment that their school experience coincided with the COVID pandemic since it postponed many of these hands-on learning practices such as the weaving. In fact, some of the fifth year students said they had no interest in continuing with fashion after graduation. The school does encourage continuation and network within the fashion industry, though, and we met one student later in the week who is now working at Cucinelli. It is highly recognized as being an institution that cultivates a creative and thoughtful environment.
Even though we only witnessed a portion of their schedule, I found the presentation given on fabric and weave patterns very clarifying. It shows the detail and depth in which they’re learning from the inception of a material like silk to the final product. As I was in this high school I was thinking that teaching students how to create clothing themselves, on a loom or otherwise, gives all of us the potential to promote sustainability. The more you can do yourself, the less you risk reliance on wearing the clothes that are created through exploitative production practices.
