This month, our exploration of style is pinned to the context of Milan Design Week (or Salone del Mobile, as it is referred to here in Italy). The Salone is one of, if not the most exciting moments to be in town, and attracts the biggest players in furniture design, from star architects to sought after interior decorators, storied producers, manufacturers–and over the last decade or so, your favorite fashion brands. Rich in its offering and inspiration, pre-pandemic attendance boasted 386,236 visitors from 181 countries. That’s a lot of cultural flavor up in these Milanese streets, Pretty Birds. With so much to see and experience, Imad and I captured a selection of the most popular installations, including Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades, Hermes Collections for the home, Loewe Chairs, Nomad Milan Artists in Flux powered by Gucci, Byredo Bal D’Afrique by Dozie Kanu and Dimore Studio’s two entries Silence and No Sense. It was as much a joy to experience each space as it was to connect with new and old friends in our ever-expanding community.
We realized that we had to share this special energy with you, so we are including additional imagery in hopes that our joy will travel to your homes and important spaces.
Photographer: Imad Skhairi
Byredo: ‘Bal d'Afrique’ by Dozie Kanu
It is said that Byredo’s 2009 iconic scent Bal d'Afrique is house founder Ben Gorham’s love letter to the African continent. In a year-long re-exploration, Gorham wants his friends and collaborators to truly interpret the fragrance through their lens and cultural vantage point. Creative liberty given and received, what better way to showcase the richness of the African diaspora and its contribution to global culture than additional inspiring love notes conceived through thoughtful correspondence?
On the heels of a stunning campaign filmed in Nigeria by the Artist Gabriel Moses, Gorham invited artist Dozie Kanu to create an immersive exhibition for Salone del Mobile. Houston born, New York School of Visual Arts educated, Dozie tapped into his Nigerian heritage and global experience to appoint his sculptures, objects and imagery that converse within his "Bal d'Afrique" pavilion. To deepen the dialogue Kanu collaborated with the Saman Archive, a repository of negatives from across Ghana, to include some of their most celebratory images which provided a sort of family album of extended village members and animated the sculptures. We serendipitously met Dozie outside of the installation space and shared a lovely conversation with him which ended with him inviting us to the celebratory dinner. People from the diaspora are often warm and welcoming. Each encounter, no matter where in the world, even a Milanese sidewalk, adds to the culture’s aroma.
I’m wearing: Celine by Phoebe Philo Top, Belt and Skirt, Margiela Shoes
Marie Laure Dubuisson
For Dimore Studio’s 20th anniversary, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci created two completely different but utterly marvelous installations: Silence at their impressive new industrial style Dimorecentrale location, and No Sense at their historic apartment HQ on Brera’s Via Solferino. Silence features four capsule sets with curated peepholes into the Dimore codes that have solidified the studio’s stellar reputation in the design and decor business over the past two decades: Ambulatorio a Chicago, Salle à manger a Marrakech, Il rifugio di un collezionista ad Amburgo, and Pied-à-terre con vista Napoli. While the fifth capsule set represents Dimorestudio's turn toward the use of a new language that finds its voice in a return to classicism, a refined sophisticated, aristocratic bon ton, absent of excess or ostentatious expressions. The installation notes provide that the five dreamlike time capsules enclosed in deliberately rough boxes, are reminiscent of Irving Penn's photographic sets: five interiors different from each other, five identities, five characters. Right up my alley. As many of you know, I live for a variety of options in life.
No Sense is a return of Dimore Studio, Dimoregallery and Dimoremilan’s origins. It is a holistic reflection on the ingredients mixed, divided and multiplied to create the DNA of the Dimore Universe over the years. The setups are described as an apocalyptic but sophisticated union of art and design. The feeling is organized creative chaos, which is often the perfect and necessary environment for the most sublime and timeless results as we’ve seen all along at Dimore. Congratulations Britt and Emiliano on Dimore’s 20th Year Anniversary! Celebrating your day one and all that is to come in the future!
I’m wearing: Pre-fall 2023 Jil Sander Dress, Handbag and Bottega Veneta Boots.
Get the look: Rodarte Dress
Leslie Hard, Allison Hoeltzel, Roki Prunali
For the 2023 edition, Louis Vuitton presented 11 new Objets Nomades by Atelier Oï, Raw Edges, Atelier Biagetti, Marcel Wanders, Zanellato/Bortotto, Studio Louis Vuitton, and Estudio Campana. Staged at historic Palazzo Serbelloni, the display of modern objects and furniture by these renowned designers felt exceptionally harmonious within the neoclassical architecture. Also wonderfully inspiring was how excited the designers were about their latest Objets. Atelier Biagetti beamed that the light within their Flower Tower lamp, inspired by Louis Vuitton’s iconic Monogram, was similar to white meditative light that pulsates up through our chakras to our crown and up to the cosmos. Later when we spotted Marcel Wanders as he chatted away on his smartphone, we were sure he was thinking: where to next? I’m sure we’ll find out soon as Louis Vuitton’s annual exhibition of nomadic architecture featured a pavilion by French architect Marc Fornes which will house a series of upcoming exhibitions.
I’m wearing: Louis Vuitton Top, Skirt and Louis Vuitton Petite Malle.
When the title of your installation is Collections for the Home, your guests, after viewing the essential beauty tied to know-how and craftsmanship threaded through every object and piece of furniture, tend to stick around in enjoyment of the simplest luxuries: the sunlit courtyard, joyful conversation with new and old friends, a cup of coffee and all around good vibes. This is the mood we found at Hermes, Collections for Home.
I’m wearing: Hermes Dress, Louis Vuitton Shoes
Get the look: Hermes Dress and Ferragamo Shoes
Ini Archibong, Ryan Black
Legendary Sell out: No more than two Loewe Chairs were available for sale by cocktail hour on opening night. Conceived by Loewe Creative Director, artisans handcrafted antique and new stick chairs with materials like leather, raffia and metallic fibers. The results were a whimsical, one of a kind range of joy inducing chairs. The kind that are the perfect accent for a favorite room, the perfect conversation piece, and perhaps an actual seat for the person who purchased the silver metallic fiber style. She’s so pretty, I would keep her in the object of admiration zone. Not even a thousand squats could get my booty to delicately perch upon her.
Nomad’s Artists in Flux powered by Gucci ascended the Milan Design Week stage showcasing the work of New York based creatives at the Kostyál Milan Gallery. According to the exhibit notes, “Revolving around the notions of mobility and encounter, the project reflects the spirit of NOMAD, which aims to create a unique platform where art, design, and architecture can dialogue on a global scale.” At the center of the Milan Design week stop are questions surrounding cultural translation, circumstances, and mental architecture. Nomad selected works of multidisciplinary art collective CFGNY, Design studio Objects of Common Interest, formed by Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis and artist Rebecca Ness whose respective bodies of work delve into exploring these topics. Through their work CFGNY’s Daniel Chew, Ten Izu, Kirsten Kilponen, and Tin Nguyen highlight the “intersectionality of fashion, race, and sexuality and questions preconceptions associated with the Other.” Objects of Common Interest’s Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis focus “on creating still life installations and experiential environments and objects, revelatory of an interdisciplinary practice with an overriding concern with materiality, concept, and tangible spatial experiences.” Rebecca Ness is “interested in personal belongings and their valorization, as well as the constitution of a collecting mentality.”
I’m wearing: Gucci Top, Skirt, Bag and Shoes
Get the look: Gucci Dress
