Italian fashion label ALCHÈTIPO, founded by designer Andrea Alchieri, has presented its 2024–25 seasonless collection under the title Cinema’s Chorus. This latest body of work continues Alchieri’s exploration of theatrical and surrealist themes, drawing inspiration from the visual language of magic, illusion and performance.
The collection is influenced heavily by The Magic Book published by Taschen, which chronicles the history and imagery associated with magic throughout the centuries. In Cinema’s Chorus Alchieri references this thematic material to create a collection that merges fashion with the mystique of the stage, highlighting symbols such as velvet curtains, optical illusions, distorted body shapes and symbolic prints. The title of the collection also evokes cinematic elements, emphasizing the role of magic in the early development of special effects and visual storytelling.
At the heart of the collection is a narrative about transformation, power and ambiguity. Historically, magicians have been associated with both reverence and persecution. Alchieri connects their symbolic role as mediators of unseen worlds with his aesthetic approach, which continues to explore contrasts between elegance and discomfort, beauty and dissonance.
A key visual theme in the collection is the tension between control and freedom, interpreted through two contrasting influences: string puppets and classical ballet. Puppets, with their manipulated and often uncanny movements, represent themes of external control and the illusion of autonomy. In contrast, classical ballet conveys precision, fluidity and internal mastery of movement. These two influences are reflected in the structure and styling of the garments, which juxtapose rigid silhouettes with flowing fabrics, deconstructed tailoring with refined details.
Leather is a focal material in the collection, used to express this duality of constraint and freedom. Alchieri collaborated with Lineapelle Designers Edition for the first time, integrating traditional leather craftsmanship with innovative tailoring techniques. The result is a collection in which leather garments, such as structured blazers and capes, act as both protective armour and sculptural statements. The material’s tactile quality and visual weight are used to reinforce the collection’s dramatic undertones.
The prints in Cinema’s Chorus play a significant role in setting the tone. Created by print designer Sharon Bassi, they reinterpret the psychedelic photography of artist Ira Cohen. These all-over prints are described as surrealist and introspective, invoking the hallucinatory experience of altered perception. Combined with theatrical makeup and unconventional hairstyling, the overall effect of the collection is immersive and multi-sensory.
Garment construction features elements typically found in historical costuming and corsetry, such as splints and exaggerated cuts. These are used not only for aesthetic purposes but also to reinforce the collection’s narrative focus on physicality, performance and transformation. Deconstructed blazers, asymmetrical layering and modular silhouettes are recurring design motifs that reflect a flexible, adaptable identity.
Inside ‘Cinema’s Chorus’: ALCHÈTIPO’s Surrealist Fashion Capsule
The choice to make the collection seasonless aligns with ALCHÈTIPO’s ongoing commitment to sustainable design practices and slow fashion. By removing seasonal boundaries, the brand promotes a model of consumption that values longevity and emotional resonance over trend-driven novelty.
ALCHÈTIPO is characterized by its name, a fusion of “alchemy” and the designer’s surname, “Alchieri.” The concept reflects the designer’s interest in transformation, mystery and the merging of science and art. Born in Milan, Andrea Alchieri brings a multidisciplinary background to his work, drawing from painting, storytelling and his longstanding fascination with theatrical environments.
Alchieri’s collections are consistently genderless and narrative-driven, often incorporating motifs from surrealist cinema, literature and mythology. He describes his aesthetic as “contaminated”, embracing imperfection, contradiction and emotional complexity. This vision is evident in Cinema’s Chorus, which seeks to offer more than wearable design; it aims to create a complete artistic environment, rich in symbolism and subtext.
Cinema’s Chorus confirms ALCHÈTIPO’s position as a conceptual fashion project rather than a traditional fashion brand. With this collection, Andrea Alchieri continues to blur the boundaries between costume and clothing, fiction and form, offering garments that function as both objects of art and vessels of narrative.
