Triennale di Milano

Exhibition Design - Milan

"Workwear" (Abiti da Lavoro)
Curated by Alessandro Guerriero
Exhibition set design by Atelier Biagetti

“The idea was to create a gallery effect, but at the same time I wanted it to feel like an imaginary boutique,” explains Biagetti. To wit, he devised a thick gold hanging rail that spans through four rooms in the Triennale, from which all of the clothes are suspended on invisible thread. “The clothes look like we’ve gathered butterflies together in a barrel,” remarks Guerriero. “But the goal of this exhibition is for people to leave and to ask themselves, Did I just see art, design or fashion? If you’ve got questions, I’ve done my job.”
JJ Martin (Wallpaper.com)

a gallery effect, an imaginary boutique

“Designed to look both like a gallery and a boutique, the specially constructed installation inside the Triennale – created in collaboration with Italian designer Alberto Biagetti – features works created by 40 creatives hailing from the fields of art, architecture, design and fashion, many of whom have produced garments that are actually not meant to be worn. Instead, they serve a role as bizarre or indeed thought-provoking encounters, thereby transporting visitors away from their mere functionality as clothing.

Some of the ‘fashion artworks’ on display get straight to the point, as seen for example in Vivienne Westwood’s lumberjack ‘costume’ (complete with a shiny axe for wood chopping purposes). Others are more enigmatic or indeed surreal, such as Angela Missoni’s ‘uniform for a dreamer’ or the ‘cloud hunter’ dress by Antonio Marras. The most controversial piece in the entire exhibition however has to be Issey Miyake’s coat, pants and boots set, which is made out of gold foil and is meant for the exhausted African immigrants docking, in their infamous boats, at the Italian island of Lampedusa.”

Kiriakos Spirou, yatzer.com