Carlo Capasa

Capasa cofounded CoSTUME NATIONAL with his brother in 1986 and they presented their first collection at the Milan Fashion Week. He became its CEO.^[3] The brand received favorable reviews globally.^[4][5] He and his brother exited the brand in 2016.^[3]

In 2015, Capasa was selected as president of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana succeeding Mario Boselli, who stepped down and took on a role as honorary president.^[6] He was most recently reelected in June 2022 for his fifth two-year term atop the chamber.^[7]

Capasa's term encountered controversy starting in 2020 when a member of Camera della Nova, Stella Novarino, took the stage at a Black Lives Matter protest to decry racial discrimination in Italy including within the fashion industry.^[8][9] She founded an initiative to promote BIPOC designers which Capasa initially expressed support for.^[10]

He later withdrew his support for the anti-racism initiative after Novarino continued her public criticism of racial discrimination and lack of inclusion in the industry.^[11][12] In 2023, Novarino withdrew from Camera della Moda under Capasa's leadership and began a hunger strike due to the lack of diversity and inclusion of designers of color.^[11]