Creative collab

When Gucci and Adidas Originals join forces, it’s a clash of cultures. Couture takes to the streets. For Milan’s Fall-Winter 2022 Fashion Week, the Italian luxury house mixed its vintage codes and a little bit of fun with the streetwear lexicon of the German giant with three stripes. A mishmash of styles that is resolutely assumed and necessarily mastered, which the emerging Parisian label Y/Project also indulged in by associating its neglected chic with Fila’s technicolored sportswear for the 110th anniversary of the Italian label.

American design queen Kelly Wearstler has selected a palette of eight shades inspired by her beloved California for the Farrow & Ball paint company. Sand, Citrona, Palm, Salt, Faded Terracotta… The new colors are obviously bursting with sunshine and caressed by marine inspiration. A great start for Farrow & Ball, which signs its first capsule with a decorator.

At the prestigious publisher MÉRIGUET CARRÈRE PARIS, three French artists reinterpret wallpaper to their taste. The ceramist-painter Florence Bamberger illustrates with a continuous line a country botany and a wildlife walk while Damien Poulain proposes two abstract panoramas with constructivist forms and vitaminized colors. Victor Cadène renews with creativity, neoclassicism and mischief the frieze through an elephant in a china store and intertwined snakes.

Ten years of creative collaboration between the Italian brand Mutina and the Breton brothers Bouroullec were celebrated last November through « Ensemble », a retrospective event on the pieces they imagined together.

Les briques Bloc, les céramiques Pico, Rombini, Punto, le parquet Pico Bois se sont ainsi retrouvés comme les membres d’une même famille et ont rencontré de nouvelles éditions imaginées pour l’occasion.

Collaborations between design labels also give rise to freshly marked collections that mix genres and juxtapose styles. Ellen Van Dusen, the designer behind the Dusen Dusen brand, has happily reinterpreted the Cleo chair by Dims, itself designed by Norwegian designer Stine Aas. The result: Nordic minimalism meets the colors of Memphis and De Stijl, two movements that inspire Dusen Dusen on a daily basis.

Another colorful collaboration: Montana Furniture x Teklan. The Danish brand that cultivates the colorblock technique like no other has collaborated with Tekla colorist Evelina Severin on a new color chart. The Swedish woman, who shares the same passion for chromatic compositions, has created a harmonious range in which simple lines and sharp shades gently compete for attention.

Earlier this year, Loewe also made a splash with its Loewe X Spirited Away capsule inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s famous Spirited Away. Designed in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, the pieces feature a character from the animated film: the young heroine Chihiro, the mysterious Haku, the witch Yubaba, the faceless spirit Kaonashi… These appear embroidered or in the form of intarsia patterns, a crochet technique alternating colored threads to arrive at a final design.

In the continuity of Miyazaki’s universe, a dreamlike scenography came to perfect the exhibition of these singular pieces. The floor is transformed into an aquatic pond, the bridge is made of red wood, the furniture is in the colors of the anime’s landscapes… everything is carefully staged to recreate the fantastic universe.

The culinary creation studio Balbosté has also created a series of delicacies specific to the Japanese film in the Loewe corner at Le Bon Marché. On the program? Konpeitos, the little Japanese sweets eaten by the little working creatures in Chihiro’s Journey, furniture and jars inspired by the boiler room of the old Kamaji, and pastry mochis in reference to Miyazak’s floral universe.

Also at Le Bon Marché, Philippe Katerine was given a « pink card » for his exhibition Le Mignonnisme. An installation where big, pink, silly-looking men meet, artistic performances, unique plastic creations, and a collection of dedicated products. The new demonstration that department stores also have a role to play in the collaborative universe.

As part of its « X » operation, Le Bon Marché brings brands together for unexpected collaborations. Thanks to the department store, the geekosphere joins the fashionsphere. First for Maison Labiche, which uses the universe of Marvel comics and especially Batman for its exclusive capsule. Then Baccarat signed a collab for the least surprising by associating with the character Pikachu, adorable creature of Pokémon. Revived since Pokémon Go, the yellow animal is transformed into an exceptional object for the pleasure of collectors.