Thayaht

Pseudonym of Ernesto Michaelles (1893-1959). Italian painter and sculptor. He shifted his artistic aesthetic into the field of fashion. He discovered couture in 1918, when he met Madeleine Vionnet in Paris; he designed for her outfits with rich geometric combinations and daring color assortments: furs, eveningwear, sports apparel, and swimsuits. At almost the same time as the Soviet Constructivits, he designed a sort of overalls with many pockets as an everyday outfit. The 20 July 1920 edition of La Nazione documents it: it is a men’s overall, T-shaped, with a belted waist and four pockets. This is not a work uniform, but a handy, modern item of clothing, for everyday wear. In 1929, he made contact, through Marinetti, with the Second Futurism and Aeropittura. In 1932 he wrote the Manifesto per la trasformazione dell’abbigliamento maschile (Manifesto for the Transformation of Men’s Clothing) with his brother Ruggero, who called himself Ram. He conceived a spare wardrobe that lacked pockets and buttons in order to lower production costs. Stimulated by Aeropittura, he invented such new items as the aeroshoe, comfortable and very light.