Good for Print!: The Rise of Fashion Publishing in Italy

Abstract

The article presents a general overview on the role of specialist publishing in supporting the Made in Italy brand and in diffusing the brand heritage and values of Italian companies whose history and tradition concur to create the Made in Italy imaginary.Starting with a consideration of the main important elements that define the meaning of Made in Italy, the article depicts the evolution in their understanding and the consequential new positioning and identity of a certain fashion publishing—from classic company books, which aimed to celebrate the history of Italian family businesses, to more sophisticated editorial products able to narrate the heritage and the cultural complexity of brands and product collections, not only to a business public but also to a wider general audience. In this sense, the “new” specialist publishing becomes a tool to reinforce Made in Italy, by transferring contents that can enable its deep understanding, and, consequentially, to promote a more conscious consumption.The article presents some examples of the most interesting and well-known cases of this kind of publishing, highlighting their high qualitative standards as editorial outputs, not only in term of textual contents and layout but also in term of editorial approach and visual contents. So the article not only draws a deepening path about Made in Italy contemporary issues but also offers a comment on the current perspective of the fashion, or more generally design-driven, publishing sector.