«Un day, All the department stores will become museums and all museums will become department stores »Andy Warhol thought with a pinch of pop extremelyism. Passionate about mass culture and advertising, the great artist already idealized a union between art collections and temples dedicated to consumer products: but over the years, that idea has turned into something much more chic. If to talk about shopping and art often leads us to imagine capsule collection created with great artists, Luxury today makes art literally more accessible.
The boutiques openings of the best known maison offer the best of the latest fashion collections, but also of splendid artistic collections, as shown by the most recent cases in the quadrilateral Meneghino di Monte Napoleone. There are those who would not find it a novelty, thinking about how the shops in Milan (and in the world) have already exhibited iconic works of art and design. But in this case, in number and magnificence, the game becomes serious.
Shopping and art: Louis Vuitton in Milan
Three years of work requested by Monumental shop Louis Vuitton. A declaration of love for the aesthetics of a typical Milanese railing house complete with glass skylight, alternating works by Mimmo Paladino, Carla Accardi, Peter Halley and Alfonso Clerici on four floors. Between furnishings covered in leather and tall cabinetteer, the Dava by Da Vittorio restaurant, Louis Vuitton hosts a pink pink panther panther Katherine Bernhardt: an ironic touch in an environment that combines the excellence of French style and Italian taste.
«The presence of works in the boutiques has been a strong trend for years now. It is part of a larger phenomenon that includes the infinite collaborations of the brands with artists, the fashion shows in museums, the sponsorships of biennials and institutional exhibitions “explains the gallery owner Francesca Kaufmann.
Works by Alfonso Clerici in the Louis Vuitton boutique in via Montenapoleone.
“When, in 1996, Germano Celant and Ingrid Sisch cured the first Arte-Moda Biennale in Florence, the art world trembled for this combination! Since then there has been a great change. Today we all know the foundations of art related to brands. The entrepreneurs themselves have become important collectors, “new patrons” of our time who also gave birth to a business model: to offer customers unique experiences. To do this, what’s better than showing a work of art? The recognition of the artists themselves remains fundamental: they are the authors of the works and creators of this symbolic surplus value ».
Shopping and art: between diamonds and perfect statues
When Azzedine Alaïa opened the first boutique in New York in 1988, it was his friend Julian Schnabel who created his bronze sculpture. Today large colored canvases, a table and even colorful chairs bring Schnabel’s signature to the new Tiffany & Co. shop (the largest in Europe, with over 1,200 square meters). In this space, invaluable gems and works come together with ease: by entering, it welcomes Michelangelo Pistoletto color and light color, not far from the majestic stratuified statue of Daniel Arsham’s Stratified Venus of Arles who, in a lively coffee space, reinvents an Italian statue of the first century AC between bronze and steel, with a patina inspired by the well -known Tiffany Blu. And then canvases by Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo Pistoletto and the work Tiffanies & Tiffany, commissioned to Urs Fischer.
Daniel Arsham’s statue in the Tiffany & Co.
Further on, in 750 square meters divided on three floors, Bulgari marries the charm of the Roman décor to the elegant Milanese discretion. A classic but contemporary atmosphere, which returns to the works of Luca Pignatelli and in the Venus played by Fabio Viale for the Maison: exhibiting that innovative use of the marble with which the artist sculpts ancient figures decorated with gritty tattoos (here, intertwined with lines and symbols dear to the Bulgarian history and aesthetics).
Close to fashion, between art and coffee
“In the eighties, Paolo Gucci asked the Gaspero del Corso gallery owner (husband of the great journalist Irene Brin) to create an art gallery in the New York Gucci boutique” says Maria Luisa Frisa. Theoretical of fashion, teacher and curator, explains how historically art and fashion have long been looked at from afar, and then getting closer and closer. “The moment Miuccia Prada puts the artists in the fashion shows in the front row, even without extinguishing them in the shop, he declares to include them in his stylistic world, and not only in his famous Foundation”.
The statue of Fabio Viale in the Bulgari boutique.
The “Experience” (the unique event that emotionally involves, editor’s note) serves the brand to strengthen its value, but also its values: a cultural system that speaks through the “style” of the artists chosen by the brand. «Offering a unique reading of your world is essential for each maison. Not to mention how works can help large companies to tell their story, thanks to a dialogue with art itself »confirms Frisa.
Another virtuous effect? Countering the well -known “embarrassment” tested in front of the windows of brands that have become status symbol: young people almost afraid of the idea of getting in touch with their favorite fashion and adults who see this world too far away are now welcomed by cafés and works to say the least museums.
A detail of the Hermès boutique in Milan.
On this tour of the quadrilateral, a visit among the over 100 works of the Boutique Hermès, the pretensignano of the trend brand: the artistic atmosphere dear to its shops brought works by Michele De Lucchi, Memorabilia Equestri of the collection Émile Hermès, a painting by Milvia Maglione and drawings by Sonia Delaunay, is inevitable. Loewe also hosts examples of his art and craft collection in his spaces: Bley, Stephanie Heinze and even a Picasso ceramic.
Excellent coffees, splendid works, jewels and dream dresses that would make Aristide Boucicaut proud: founder of the Parisian The bonsciarioin the nineteenth century Boucicaut brought museum exhibitions in reading rooms dedicated to gentlemen patients, to be admired while waiting for their wives to find their happiness in that first shopping temple.
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