Milan, Italy
Matthieu Blazy and Bottega Veneta enlisted 82-year-old architect and furniture designer legend Gaetano Pesce to handle the fashion house’s scenography for the summer 2023 presentation in Milan.
For the event, Pece produced 400 canvas and his hallmark resin chairs, each unique, some with hand-drawn elements. And they came with a message.
Pesce issued a blunt statement at the label’s show:
“This space is a tribute to diversity,” he said of his poured resin runway and hundreds of bespoke, multicolored chairs.
“It is about the human being; we are all different. People who say we are all the same—fuck them!”
“We are all different and this is our defining quality—otherwise, we are just a copy.”
He added, “Who makes culture today? The museum or the fashion company? It is food for the brain—not for pay. If we see the same thing each day, then we die.”
The chairs, a new design by Pesce, are fashioned out of cotton canvas dipped in colored resin and are part of a collection called called “Come Stai?”
They are one component of Pesce’s site-specific Bottega Veneta set, which was akin to an enormous immersive art installation at the Fabbrica Orobia, a former factory space.
The Pesce-designed chairs filled the Milanese building and followed the sculptural shapes of the floor that marked the runway in tones of pink, blue, orange, and lilac.
A gleaming navy poured-resin floor featured a path of swirled pastel hues that served as the runway.
Blazy said he was inspired by Pesce’s theme of celebrating diversity for his second collection for the house.
In a statement, he likened the collection to “the world in a small room.”
“As a designer, I make originals, not standardized series,” that’s the old way—this is a new way,” said Pesce.
“And this is a fashion company that did a fantastic job in helping me realize such a project.”
“It is a message that is super political—and it is not a museum or a gallery that is helping me convey it,” he added.
“Who makes culture today? The museum or the fashion company? It is food for the brain—not for pay. If we see the same thing each day, then we die.”
Project: Bottega Veneta’s Summer 2023 Runway Show
Designers: Gaetano Pesce
Client: Bottega Veneta
Photographers: Matteo Canestraro
