On the occasion of the fashion show and exhibition “025 LIVING MATTER/s” at Fondazione Sozzani, Ferrari Fashion School launched a unique collaboration with the Saint Louis College of Music, one of Europe’s leading music academies, to develop the original soundtrack for the runway show and the ambient music for the following day’s exhibition.
A project that merges fashion and sound design through a shared focus on experimentation, material sensitivity, and the exploration of contemporary languages. Just as Ferrari Fashion School students designed their outfits inspired by Arte Povera, students from Saint Louis’ Sound Design and Electronic Music Production programs composed electronic tracks that translated the same aesthetic into sound.
Live soundtrack for “025 LIVING MATTER/s”: electronics, raw materials, and vision
The “025 LIVING MATTER/s” runway show was accompanied by an original live soundtrack crafted by Filippo Zini e Dario Ponticelli, Saint Louis students in Applied Music. Moving away from conventional solutions, the composition evolved through acoustic sampling of raw materials, environmental distortions, modulated synths, and deep basslines — resonating with the tactile silhouettes, volumes, and textures of the collections on stage.
The track was designed to follow the rhythm of the runway, shifting from minimal moments to percussive climaxes that mirrored the emotional tension of the looks. A sound design work that balanced both atmospheric depth and rhythmic structure, turning the fashion show into a fully immersive 360° experience.
Ambient music for the showcase: Arte Povera through ambient electronica
The day after the show, during the exhibition at Fondazione Sozzani, the collaboration continued with the creation of a site-specific ambient electronic track designed to accompany visitors as they moved through the panels and installations of emerging fashion talents.
The soundscape was built from recordings of paper, metal, regenerated plastic, and denim fabrics, digitally reworked into a coherent, curatorial sonic atmosphere for “025 LIVING MATTER/s.” The result was a subtle yet pulsating audio environment in which music and materiality blended into a multisensory experience — echoing the project’s core values: sustainability, experimentation, and cross-disciplinarity.
Sound design and fashion: new frontiers in creative education
This collaboration between Ferrari Fashion School and Saint Louis College of Music underscores the rising importance of interdisciplinary exchange between visual arts, design, and sound in contemporary creative education. In an increasingly experiential world — where fashion becomes a synesthetic language — the roles of fashion designer and sound designer converge, both tasked with crafting fluid, emotional, and immersive narratives.
The project stands as a concrete example of co-creation between two top-tier institutions within the Plena Education group, bringing together emerging talent and diverse creative languages to produce works that are both refined and radically contemporary
