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Luisa Via Roma’s Toxic Friend
Irreverence isn’t generally a feature of Italian fashion. Classic, sartorial, elegant, yes – all of which are well and good – but when it comes to the occasional colouring outside the lines, there aren’t many options. Thankfully, Toxic Toy of Florence has come to the rescue and is nothing if not irreverent. The brand is a cheeky little buggar among men in stodgy pinstripes, and makes some seriously fun wearables.
Toxic Toy was behind the must-have “My Blog Is Bigger Than Yours” T-shirts for this year’s Firenze4Ever event, and has garnered a mini-cult following thanks to its special editions primarily for Luisa Via Roma. The line consists of men’s, women’s and children’s collections and the occasional oddball. The brand has its hand in human issues too, having launched a successful T-shirt line to benefit leukaemia and other childhood cancer research. And on a lighter note, if you ever want to drive your boss bonkers, a visit to Toxic Toy’s website is a good place to start. Its sound effects are adorable.
Toxic Toy’s founder-designer, the multitalented Tommaso Bencistà Falorni, paid The Blogazine a visit recently to shoot the breeze and show us his stuff. We shot Polaroids of the collection with our SX-70 while he shared inspiration and shed some light on the personality of the brand. His freshly blue hair and cool-kid getup makes it immediately clear that there’s something all-too-often absent in fashion design work: sheer joy. The products are fun and engaging because Bencistà Falorni clearly has great fun designing them.
The label’s new summer collection has added some sophisticated tailoring to its clever graphics for the first time, and with patterns on some pieces that recall warrior shoulder pads and heavy-duty metal studs, the collection has inched closer to serious fashion semiotics than it has before. Nonetheless, it remains wearable and as much fun as it’s ever been.
Catch Toxic Toy, including at Luisa Via Roma and in fine boutiques around Europe and as far away as the UAE and Hong Kong.
