STRATEAS. CARLUCCI
(est. 2013, Melbourne)

STRATEAS. CARLUCCI is a creative collaboration between designers Peter Strateas and Mario-Luca Carlucci. Combining masculine and feminine details with an emphasis on tailored silhouettes, the label’s collections are unified by concepts rather than gender, taking a subtly subversive and playful approach to modern luxury wardrobe staples. The duo often looks to art and design disciplines to develop innovative and unorthodox techniques for garment construction.

For Fashion Now, STRATEAS. CARLUCCI present two looks from their autumn–winter 2022 range Fantôme (the French term for a ghost or spirit), which examines ideas of mourning and absence. The collection was inspired by the duo’s experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Melbourne endured lengthy lockdowns. Like all the city’s inhabitants, the designers found themselves mourning the loss of everyday habits and routines, and yearning for things they once took for granted. In Fantôme, STRATEAS. CARLUCCI invite viewers to look at the pieces more closely by adopting a refined vision that focuses on process-oriented design; evident in the incisive tailoring and experimental fabrication that informs their collections. These outfits combine a variety of materials, including stiff leather, scalloped knits and sheer printed mesh, with dramatic colour and exaggerated proportions.

STRATEAS. CARLUCCI debuted their first collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in 2014. That year they received the National Designer Award, the Men’s and Women’s awards in the prestigious International Woolmark Prize, and GQ Australia’s Fashion Designer of the Year award. In 2015 they became the first Australian menswear designers invited to show in the official Paris Fashion Week calendar, and in 2016 the first Australian brand invited to show at Milan Fashion Week (as guest designers, in a fully supported runway show). They also won Best Emerging Australian Designer (2015) and Best Australian Menswear Designer (2016) at the Australian Laureate Awards, and received the VFILES prize in 2017, which allowed them to show a collection at Times Square during New York Fashion Week.