Forget the frivolous stereotype; Italy’s most successful fashion designers are as involved in improving the community as they are in high couture
Text Lisa Gerard-Sharp
Image 4Corners
Capital of Italian fashion, Milan is a poised, polished monument to consumerism. People here don’t so much name-check designer brands as eat, breathe and sleep them. So you might be excused for thinking that the city lacked a soul. But despite the abundance of branded bling here, the Milanese fashion industry is more than a cynical money-making machine. It’s an operation underpinned by a highly developed sense of charity and community – duty decrees that fashion’s biggest names give something back to the city that has nurtured them.
It’s a very Italian idea – this sort of self-aggrandising instinct dates back to the days of the Renaissance princes. But this time around, rather than covering the city in art as testament to their own munificence, the new princes of patronage are building for the benefit of the whole community.
In terms of wealth, Giorgio Armani is the grandest of fashion grandees, but like most reticent Milanese designers, he’s unforthcoming about the extent of the brand’s vast patronage. Since 1992 he’s supported Convivio, a Milan-based charity founded to raise both money and awareness about AIDS. In 2005 he created a capsule clothing collection for RED, the global fund to fight AIDS in Africa spearheaded by Bono. Over 40% of the collection’s profits go to the fund. After becoming Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations in 2002, Armani used his high profile to help refugees, and has also raised funds for an exhaustive roll call of good causes, including breast cancer charities, drugs clinics and organisations like Telefono Azzuro, an Italian-based emergency phone line dedicated to children.
A stolid supporter of the FAI, the body dedicated to preserving the Italian heritage and environment, Armani is passionate about his adoptive home town, saying: “Milan is my city. It gave birth to me and nurtured my growth.” He’s consistently supported Milanese exhibitions and museums, sponsoring events such as the 2006 premiere of Memoirs of a Geisha and his own recent retrospective at the Triennale. He’s also president of Milan’s basketball team, a role he assumed out of a keenly felt sense of gratitude, and intends his forthcoming fashion museum to be used as a resource for local people.
Prada, the perennially profitable partnership between Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, displays a similarly charitable streak. Despite weak consumer spending, the brand has weathered the economic downturn – net profits soared by 66% last year, meaning Miuccia can continue to play fairy godmother to Milan’s artistic community. The designer has been vocal about her commitment to Milan’s cultural life, saying that she aims to “keep the spirit of contemporary art alive”.
Since 1993, she’s done just that, with the company’s charitable arm, Fondazione Prada, sponsoring two major international shows a year. Highlights have included exhibitions dedicated to Anish Kapoor in 1995, Marc Quinn in 2000 and Nathalie Djurberg in 2008. Although many are staged in the Fondazione space, others occupy local landmarks, like Laurie Anderson’s, which was staged in the San Vittore Prison.
Then there’s the Trussardi dynasty. The family, who began as simple glove-makers in Bergamo, their ancestral home, now wield global influence from a Milanese power-base beside La Scala. Their contribution to Milan’s cultural life began in 1986, when the late Nicola Trussardi founded the Palatrussardi music venue. His daughters continued his good work, going on to exhibit a ‘hidden collection’ of Picasso works in 1996, and three years later forming the Nicola Trussardi Foundation. The not-for-profit organisation stages contemporary art projects in Milan’s public spaces, and aims to “imbue the city’s everyday life with art”, making “forgotten buildings” come alive. To date, they’ve held events in iconic venues like La Scala opera house, San Siro Stadium and the Fascistic Milan Central Station. Last year, they displayed part of the Pop Art collection of François Pinault, the French luxury goods magnate.
Inspired by the Serpentine Gallery in London and by similar institutions in New York, the family is seeking to bring art closer to the people of Milan. By doing so, the brand balances hard-headed business logic with a commitment to the Italian notion that the wider community should be treated as extended family.
In the past, the grandest princes of patronage interpreted this obligation as a cradle-to-grave commitment and provided schools, clinics and leisure facilities. The Milan-based designer Ermenegildo Zegna, who specialises in menswear and luxury fabrics, is heir to this old-fashioned Piedmontese paternalism. The company’s charitable foundation, the Fondazione Zegna, sponsors both local and global projects, with a firm emphasis on environmental and sustainable development. These projects range from working with the WWF to create a ‘Panda Corridor’ in China to sponsoring FAI conservation schemes closer to home. There’s also generous provision for the arts. The foundation has sponsored opera at La Scala, provided music scholarships and is currently creating art installations in key sites around the city. The first, All’Aperto (In the Open Air) will be by Daniel Buren, the provocative French conceptual artist.
But the company’s most lasting legacy will be the Oasi Zegna nature reserve, which covers over 100km2 of land in the foothills of the Alps. Inspired by the Italian tradition of industrial patronage that dates back to the 1840s, Zegna opened the reserve in 1993. Today, 15 years on, locals can hike, climb, ski, eagle spot and even take wine-tasting classes here. When talking about the foundation’s work, Anna Zegna echoes the Trussardi dynasty’s inclusive definition of family, saying that “family unity comes from a shared vision, not just a common heritage”.
There’s a phrase often used to express the city’s indomitably generous spirit – ‘Milan el coer in man’ (Milan with its heart in its hand). And whether you call it enlightened paternalism, brand reinforcement, creating a legacy or commercialisation by the back door, the fact still remains that when designers turn their hand to giving something back, everyone feels the benefit.
FR Les Grands du Stylisme: les Princes Protecteurs de Milan
Milan, la capitale de la mode italienne, est un monument érigé à la gloire du consumérisme. Mais malgré l’abondance de marques clinquantes que l’on y trouve, l’industrie de la mode milanaise s’avère être plus qu’une machine cynique à fabriquer des devises. Sous ce milieu affairiste, se profile un courant marqué par un sens caritatif très développé ainsi qu’un souci de la communauté – les plus grands noms de la mode ont le devoir de rendre une part de leur gain à la ville qui les a nourris.
C’est un concept très italien- ce genre d’instinct de grandeur remonte à l’époque des Princes de la Renaissance. Aujourd’hui toutefois, les nouveaux Princes Protecteurs bâtissent au profit de la communauté tout entière.
En termes de richesses, Giorgio Armani est le plus grand des grands noms de la mode. Depuis1992, il soutient Convivio, une association caritative de lutte contre le SIDA, basée à Milan. En 2005, la maison a créé une collection de vêtements capsules pour RED, le fonds engagé dans la lutte contre le SIDA en Afrique. Armani a toujours soutenu les expositions et les musées de Milan, il est président d’une équipe de basket milanaise et a l’intention que son prochain musée de la mode soit utilisé comme espace pour la population locale.
Depuis 1993, Prada sponsorise deux importants événements artistiques internationaux par an. Et si bon nombre d’expositions sont montées dans leur Fondazione, d’autres occupent le territoire de Milan, comme l’exposition de Laurie Anderson, présentée à la Prison de San Vittore. Pendant ce temps-là, la maison Trussardi a mis sur pied la Fondation Nicola Trussadi. Son objectif est d’ “imprégner le quotidien de la ville avec l’art” et des projets artistiques ont déjà été produits dans des lieux comme l’opéra de la Scala, le Stade San Siro et la Gare Centrale de Milan, de facture fasciste.
Emenegildo Zegna pour sa part a octroyé des bourses pour l’apprentissage musical et des financements pour des projets environnementaux répartis sur toute la planète. Mais ce qui restera par-dessus tout gravé dans les mémoires est la réserve naturelle Oasi Zegna, fondée par la société en 1993. Sur plus de 100 kilomètres carrés du territoire des Alpes, les gens de l‘endroit peuvent se promener, escalader, skier, observer les aigles et même prendre des cours de dégustation de vins.
NL De Milanese modewereld en zijn beschermprinsen
Als hoofdstad van de Italiaanse mode is Milaan een evenwichtig, opgeblonken monument van het consumentisme. Maar ondanks de overvloed aan merkenglitter is de Milanese mode-industrie meer dan een cynische geldmachine. Het is een onderneming die wordt geschraagd door een uiterst ontwikkeld gevoel voor liefdadigheid en gemeenschap. Want de grote namen uit de modewereld mogen nu wel iets terugdoen voor de stad die hen grootbracht …
Die opvatting is op-en-top Italiaans. Dit soort van zelfverruimend instinct dateert nog uit de dagen van de renaissanceprinsen. En deze keer bouwen de nieuwe beschermprinsen voor de hele gemeenschap!
Als het op centen aankomt, is Giorgio Armani de reus onder de modegoeroes. Al sinds 1992 steunt hij Convivio, een Milanese liefdadigheidsorganisatie voor aids. In 2005 ontwierp hij een capsulecollectie voor RED, de wereldwijde stichting voor de bestrijding van aids in Afrika. Hij bood consequent steun aan Milanese tentoonstellingen en musea, is voorzitter van de Milanese basketbalploeg en wil zijn aangekondigde modemuseum openstellen voor locals.
Sinds 1993 sponsort Prada twee grote internationale kunstshows per jaar. Hoewel veel shows in hun Fondazione-ruimte worden georganiseerd, vinden andere plaats in Milanese monumenten, zoals de San Vittore Prison, waar Laurie Andersons show wordt opgevoerd. Ondertussen richtte het huis Trussardi de Nicola Trussardi Foundation op. De stichting wil “het alledaagse stadsleven doordrenken met kunst” en stelt kunstprojecten tentoon in ruimtes zoals de opera La Scala, het San Siro Stadium en het centrale station van Milaan.
En hoewel Emenegildo Zegna zich wereldwijd inzette voor muziekbeurzen en fondsen voor milieuprojecten zal het bedrijf altijd worden gekoppeld aan het natuurreservaat Oasi Zegna dat het in 1993 oprichtte. In het meer dan 100 vierkante meter grote alpenlandschap kunnen bewoners trektochten maken, klimmen, skiën en zelfs wijncursussen volgen.
No comments yet.
