Four inmates of the Vercelli women's prison near Milan have turned themselves into fashion designers, creating a line of garments inspired by post-war jail uniforms.
The 'jailwear' line consists of a mixture of T-shirts, reversible sweatshirts, loose trousers and mini skirts. All are in the neutral colours traditional in prisons: grey, cream and khaki.
Many of the sweatshirts have a stripy prison design on one side but can also be turned inside out so they become simple greys or blacks, in keeping with the dominant colours for city fashions.
About 50 creations were modelled on a Milan catwalk this week, in a show which marked the undisputed high point of their creators' just launched careers.
In 2002, as part of an experimental work experience programme, they were put in front of three sewing machines and a button-hole cutter and told to make something.
Initial misgivings quickly gave way to enthusiasm which grew rapidly as the four inmates - all in prison for long stretches - began to see their 'tailoring' hours as their reason for living.
One of the four designers, a Rom woman whose name was withheld for security reasons, even gave up a day release option in order to carry on working on the spring/summer collection in the run-up to the Milan show.
"Outside prison, time spent working is not considered free time. But for them it's the opposite," said project coordinator Caterina Micolano.
The clothes they have come up with are being marketed under the 'Codice a sbarre' label with a logo incorporating the black and white vertical lines of a retail bar code. 'Codice a sbarre', which means bar code, is a playful reference to the prison bars.
The clothes bear many of the hallmarks of prison attire. For example, they only use plastic zips because in jail metal ones weren't allowed; they fall into the category of dangerous objects.
All decorative elements are printed onto cloth. This is because in prison no sew-on patches are permitted because they might be used to hide drugs.
Similarly all pockets have to be the external patch type - that way prison warders can look into them easily and they could not be used to carry weapons
The materials used also recall the needs of life behind bars: non-crease cotton, or cloth that can be ironed quickly and easily.
"In prison you have to book the iron a long time in advance," Micolano explained.
The idea behind the line of clothes, which has distribution outlets in 13 of Italy's 20 regions, is that the clothing needs inmates are not that different to people on the outside.
"In prison you wear the same clothes for the whole day, so they have to be comfortable, practical, reversible," one of the four inmate-designers said in an interview to Corriere della Sera a day before the fashion show.
