Behind the set: Santoni S/S 2017

Hastily written in blue marker, the invitation could have come from a shoe fiend – and the footwear obsessives at Santoni could very well be described as such. The Italian house called upon the like-minded fashion writer and, in this instance, curator Angelo Flaccavento to develop the concept for its spring/summer 2017 presentation, and they turned to the equally fervent set designer Simon Costin to realize this evocative production, which looked at shoes as an indulgence – a 'tiny vice'. Flaccavento conceived the space as a labyrinth with soft pink-hued mirrored walls lining its claustrophobic halls, and plinths with pairs of shoes placed at every corner. Stacked televisions played disrupted transmissions of frenzied associative word sequences, seemingly written as a stream of consciousness from the Santoni woman caught up in a maze of intoxicating shoes.

Jack Moss is the Fashion & Beauty Features Director at Wallpaper*, having joined the team in 2022 as Fashion Features Editor. Previously the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 Magazine, he has also contributed to numerous international publications and featured in ‘Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers’, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.