The Tamesis
Every April, Italy’s financial capital transforms into a furniture and interior design hub for a rare week. If you’re not driving your Vespa to the more than 350 events surrounding Milan Design Week, you’re taking 20,000 steps a day. Around Milan, the most popular events see queues around the block, while crowds spill into the streets during aperitif time.
There are official exhibitions and trade shows, the interior design-focused Salone del Mobile (or Salone del Mobile), and satellite events such as Alcova, spotlighting international and emerging talent. Several communities, including Brera and Isola, hold their own design festivals simultaneously, and almost every shop and gallery has special offers or installations to attract hordes of potential customers.
However, fashion doesn’t always dominate here. But serial attendees say salons are now, like Fashion Week, “overcrowded” at their respective brand events. tank Magazine CEO Caroline Issa. More than 30 fashion brands are on this year’s calendar, including Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Prada, Gucci and Gelsander. It makes sense: Salone del Mobile is an increasingly popular global event, with enough parties going on to generate buzz and enough money flowing to make it worth brands’ time. But standing out in a crowded schedule is never easy, and attendees have to work hard to justify their presence.
“Sometimes fashion events can feel too gimmicky or over-the-top, too irrelevant and lacking in authenticity,” says Issa. “[It seems like some brands are] Do something for the purpose of issuing a press release about participation. “
This year, fashion and automotive brands have further stepped up their participation, with many attendees bemoaning the increasingly commercial nature of the salon and the struggle to find truly game-changing, underrepresented talent. Other art fair attendees report a similar story: Fashion brands have also recently felt the gravitational pull of Art Basel and Frieze, citing opportunities to win over high-net-worth individuals. Margherita Maccapani Missoni, author, designer and member of the Missoni family, said the current salon has “two increasingly divergent levels” – the professional furniture world and the “big marketing moment” that every brand seems to be vying to capitalize on.
“Salone was originally a fair and still exists. Then, Fuorisalone [the decentralized side program] It started to take shape because all these creative people from the design world came to town at the same time, so fun gatherings and get-togethers started happening. The more popular it becomes, the more the fashion community starts to get involved,” Missoni said. “I actually think it’s a great opportunity. This also happens at a time of year when fashion is very active and major collections drop so I’m not bothered by contamination. ” (One of the year’s most surprising crossover events was an auction of ceramic Bambis hosted by Maccapani Missoni’s mother, Angela Missoni, from her personal collection).
