In a landscape dominated by fast fashion, overproduction and overused trends, Canto Primo emerges as a distinct and necessary voice. With its roots between Argentina, Turin and Copenhagen, the brand was born from a common vision, shared by the three founders Lola, Carola and Franco: to reshape not only the way we dress, but also the way we think, create, and consume.
With an international outlook, the designers have crafted an aesthetic universe where literature, philosophy, cinema, and visual art coexist, using Dante’s Divina Commedia as the conceptual foundation for each collection. Adding further depth to the project is their approach to upcycling, transforming vintage garments, damaged and waste materials into sophisticated, one-of-a-kind pieces with narrative force.
While waiting for the upcoming drop of Canto Primo on June 4th, we spoke with Lola Catala and Carola Quaglia to explore the soul of their creations — combining design with reflection, resistance and sustainability.
Can you tell us about yourselves and how the project of Canto Primo came to life? What was the "spark" that led you to start this innovative brand?
We’re Lola and Carola, Argentine designers who met at the University of Buenos Aires. We studied side by side, sharing classes, ideas, and a deep fascination for what we consider the golden age of fashion: the years of Alessandro Michele at Gucci, Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy — a time when aesthetics were so powerful that felt like ideology.
The concrete idea for Canto Primo began in 2021, but the spark already ignited during the pandemic. At the time, we were both questioning our roles in the fashion world. I (Lola) was working for one of the main brands in Argentina, spending my days deciding whether a pocket should be 14 or 17 cm high, or if the red for the season should be slightly darker. At 25, I took on a production role: I was defining how many units to produce, without truly understanding sales or distribution. That’s when I understood that my decisions had environmental consequences, not just economic ones.
Meanwhile, Carola was living in Copenhagen — the epicenter of sustainable fashion — immersed in a reality we had only read about in magazines. Then I enrolled in an Italian masterclass during lockdown, and one sentence stuck with us: we’re using hundreds of liters of water we don’t have, to produce millions of t-shirts we don't need”. That moment changed everything.
Around that time, we met Franco, artist and third co-founder. Franco had been painting for ten years and his hyperrealist works, inspired by religious iconography and painted with childlike energy and bold colors, opened up an entirely new world for us, so we decided to join forces. We quit our jobs and moved to Turin. At first, we bought clothes at the Balon flea market and reworked them, inspired by Franco’s illustrations. That was our first canto - the beginning of a new way of doing fashion: more human, more conscious, more our own.
Your aesthetic is evocative, full of hidden references. What are the main sources of inspiration that guide your creativity?
Our main source of inspiration is Dante's Divina Commedia. Not just because the brand’s name - Canto Primo - comes from there, but because that 700-year-old book has become our creative guide. It pushes us to reflect on the present and reconsider emotions, ideas and situations: those subtle, often uncomfortable questions that make us rethink what we take for granted.
Why is it like this? Who decided that? Could it be different?
That’s where the magic begins: Canto Primo is the first step - but also everything that follows. A constant fusion of literature, art, cinema, and philosophy. We’re never just one thing. We don’t belong solely to Inferno, Purgatorio or Paradiso - each space holds a piece of us. And that’s how Canto Primo works: it's about fashion, of course, but also critical thought, visual storytelling and aesthetic tension.
Are there any designers or brands - sustainable or not - that influenced your vision?
Most of the creatives and movements we admire actually come from outside the sustainable fashion world. For us, sustainability isn’t a defining trait of Canto Primo. It’s simply the way we believe fashion should be made today. There shouldn’t be any other way to create.
That said, designers like Alexander McQueen, Alessandro Michele and Riccardo Tisci were early inspirations for us, back in university. As we evolved and built a more interdisciplinary language, other artists became essential: the cinema of Wes Anderson and Baz Luhrmann, Caravaggio’s paintings and Gustave Doré’s illustrations.
You take sustainability seriously - not just in words, but also in action. Where do you stand in relation to the sustainable fashion industry, and what’s your view on fast fashion today?
We’re glad it shows. Honestly, it would be much easier for us to produce in a traditional way. But this issue really matters to us, and we believe that in the long run, it will be recognized as a strength. Fast fashion is just destroying the planet. Our position? Zero tolerance.
But there’s another side to this conversation that often gets overlooked. Fashion was born to help people stand out and express their identity: fast fashion has done the opposite, it has made everyone look the same. No individuality. No authenticity. And then there’s this idea of “human sustainability” that frustrates us. Ensuring fair working conditions and decent wages shouldn't even be up for discussion. That’s not sustainability. That’s humanity.
You work with damaged and waste materials to create unique pieces through upcycling. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities in turning 'waste' into high-quality fashion?
Our creative process is actually a bit reversed compared to many upcycling brands. We start like a traditional brand: trend research, inspiration, concept development. Then we sketch every idea and only afterwards do we look for the materials. This allows us to not be limited by what we find - each piece is born from a strong design concept and a cohesive identity. The hard part is sourcing: every season, we need to search for the specific fabrics to bring our designs to life.
When we first started, we bought everything at the Balon flea market in Turin. Today, we’ve built a network of factories and suppliers who sell us their surplus and discarded materials. This has significantly raised our quality standards. For example, our new collection is made almost entirely of silk, lace, leather and denim. Of course, it’s not always easy. Sometimes we start with an idea that looks great on paper, but is impossible to recreate with the materials we have. We obsess over it, make countless tests, and in the end, the piece might never come to life. But that’s part of the process.
What’s next for Canto Primo? Any upcoming collaborations or projects you can share with us?
Recently, we’ve made the conscious decision to return to the offline world. We’re a bit tired of social media. We’re craving real, physical, human interaction again. So we hope the next few months will be full of events, presentations and in-person meetings.
We’re also working on a capsule collection with Oscalito, a historic Turin-based knitwear manufacturer founded in 1936, known for its exceptional quality.
We’ve already begun developing some pieces using their base garments, and if all goes well, the collection will launch in the second half of the year.
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Clara Ferrati
Fashion editor and archivist based in Milan currently working as SMM/copywriter; enthusiast about fashion history & trends, music, cinema, social media.
@clarafrt