Elio Fiorucci, a retrospective at the Milan Triennale celebrates the visionary designer
"Elio Fiorucci", curated by Judith Clark, opened on November 6. The stylist and cool hunter is celebrated in an exhibition at the Triennale in Milan, where no one has forgotten his legendary store.
Experimental, visionary, pop. Elio Fiorucci was a stylist, designer and "cool hunter" and revolutionized Italian customs and fashion, anticipating the desire for freedom that exploded in 1968. His shop in Milan was a place of worship, a meeting place and connection with foreign avant-gardes, the one in New York, in '76, the place to be for intellectuals and artists such as Basquiat , Keith Haring who will restyle the store in via Passerella with his graffiti and Andy Warhol , who chose Fiorucci, on 59th between Lexington and Park Avenue, to present his magazine "Interview". Today at the Triennale Milano , the exhibition that bears his name, curated by Judith Clark (from 6 November 2024 to 16 March 2025), aims to restore his different creative dimensions and is proposed as "the largest and richest in works and documents ever dedicated to him" . L'OFFICIEL previews a more intimate vision, speaking with his sister Floria Fiorucci.
L'OFFICIEL: What was Elio like, and what years were they in Milan when you were kids?
FLORIA FIORUCCI: We were five brothers, with mom and dad who had a slipper shop on Corso Buenos Aires - she sold Friulane in the 1930s -, and a special grandmother, who raised us. With the war and the bombings in Milan, we had moved to Piona, at the end of Lake Como. And for us kids it was like being on vacation. Elio goes to school there but, as the teacher used to say, "he always looks out the window": he was fascinated by the sheep grazing, by the geese he took to the lake, bathing with them...
LO: What happens next?
FF: When we returned to Milan, our father gave him an ultimatum: "either you study or you work", and Elio went to the shop, he was 15 years old, but at the time we were grown up, after the war there was a desire to rebuild. He fell in love with the shop. He said it was "the place of encounter and of the soul".
LO: Then the love at first sight with London?
FF: Our mother sent him, worried because her little sister was there , to see if everything was okay. In London he found music, young people, fashion, the Beatles. It was a trip that opened him up to the world, a beneficial shock. He returned home with a different vision and with the novelty of the moment, miniskirts.
LO: Is that when the legendary San Babila shop opens?
FF: First, he opened a shoe store in via Torino, and it was a success, I remember the flip-flops with daisies, and the matching earrings... In 1967 he moved to San Babila, entrusting the project to Amalia del Ponte, who was an artist and sculptor, creator of the Gulp boutique in via della Spiga, because he wanted an unusual container to show the new brought from London. But what is important is not enough, and so he organized a production with a style office, with tailors, model makers. And the collaborations began. I remember the wedges, the ones you see today we had made in the Sixties.
LO: And the jeans...
FF: The girls wore jeans and Elio started making them tight, feminine, with an elastic fiber made with Montedison, lycra. We brought jeans to America! The New York store opened in '76.
LO: A brilliant, visionary spirit who changes the rules and brings a new vision of Italy abroad?
FF: He didn't do it alone, Tito Pastori was with him, together they had vision and skills. And in everything there was always a concept of freedom , of play, of fun. A subtle provocative line, but with grace and never vulgar. He was ironic, you can see it even in the photo shoots of the time. Oliviero Toscani said that "all stylists are indebted to Elio Fiorucci"
LO: A continuous hunt for trends.
FF: In the shop there was clothing - versions of jeans, Mickey Mouse t-shirts that everyone wanted, faded tracksuits, a collaboration with Paolo Buggiani, street artist - and many realities found abroad. Lots of trendy materials, always new, and a quantity of funny gadgets, pins, accessories. I remember the boule de neige, the cups that changed color, the kitchen accessories, and the furniture... A world that was always joyful and colourful.
LO: How did you experience the popularity you achieved in NY? Friendships with Andy Warhol and Basquiat or a very young Madonna?
FF: Tito introduced him to the world of art, but for him there was no difference, he came from an education of great respect for everyone.
LO: And where did he work, what was his office like?
FF: It was an apparent mess, only he understood it, there was a creative chaos from which he drew and took nothing away. As with people, if he liked them he collaborated, he was curious, never satisfied with seeing the new. And even after the sale of the brand, in 1990, Elio continued to experiment, to then create the Love Therapy project, in 2003, with the idea of bringing a vision of love and kindness.
