More than just a t-shirt. Discovering Marcelo Burlon

The colors and symbols of Patagonia, in the creativity of Marcelo Burlon

Everyone has heard of his t-shirts: a dark and contemporary aesthetic that references the symbols and colors of his beloved Patagonia. Marcelo Burlon has an unstoppable path in fashion: he can be considered a phenomenon of the 2.0 generation, a case in fashion history, today under the name Marcelo Burlon County of Milan.

'Street style under the frescoed ceilings and inlaid parquet represents Milan today, a mix of cultures' - he said in an interview with the Corriere - 'I was born in Patagonia. In the '90s I arrived in Italy with my parents. My father ran a laundry service and my Lebanese mother was a pioneer in tourism. In Argentina a great crisis was surfacing. Once we were living in Marche we found ourselves very poor. My parents started as factory workers and after the third year I also went to work in the factory. It didn't last long. I spent almost everything on sweaters by Helmut Lang and Jean Paul Gaultier Junior and on Sundays I'd go to the discos where they immediately took me for being a party host'.

When Burlon arrived in Milan he became a PR: his mailing list became a mix of personalities 'fashionistas, middle classes, Drag Queens, all treated in the same way at parties of underground clubs as if they were at the house of your best friend'. Soon the fashion system was overwhelmed by the social network phenomenon. Marcelo Burlon rode the waves and began to monetize with t-shirts and sweatshirts, then expanding with a clothing line. The foundation of the brand comes from the designer's roots, it proposes traditional stories and museum images in a creative-graphic way. To all this, there is an added cool allure that comes from the pulsating and frenetic heart of Milan, the city that gave Burlon everything.

The latest Fall Winter 2019 2020 collection confirms it: the animal world of the County of Milan is referenced by all-over animal prints and mixed with intergalactic neon details and funfair graffiti from Luna Park. A greeting to the spiritual world of Patagonia by revisiting '80s looks in a contemporary way.

Burlon's greatest success has been his 'branding', as defined by the world of marketing. Between intuition and creativity, Marcelo Burlon is an example to follow and to put in the history books of fashion and as well as forms of communication.