The second Future of Fashion exhibit launches at Salone del Mobile
Our “Future of Fashion: An innovation conversation with Stella McCartney” travelling installation launched this week at the 60th annual Salone del Mobile, the world’s biggest furniture fair. Running from 7 to 12 June, the exhibit is hosted at Milan’s historic Porta Nuova – one of the city’s historic six gates, built between 1810 and 1813 by architect Giuseppe Zanoia.
First launched at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, the 200-square-metre Future of Fashion exhibit references our Summer 2022 collection and campaign theme: fungi are the future of fashion and our planet. Launched in collaboration with Bank of America, it will also introduce the world to our first-ever interiors partnerships.
We collaborate with legendary furniture maker B&B Italia to reinterpret their iconic Le Bambole armchair. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, it was originally designed by Mario Bellini in 1972 and has been reimagined with conscious materials and upholstery featuring our Summer 2022 hand-drawn Fungi Forest print.
Representing the future of furniture, the chair can be fully disassembled for potential recycling and repurposing at the end of its life. This special edition ‘Le Bambole’ will be available to purchase later this year, marking the beginning of an ongoing collaboration.
The Fungi Forest print has also been reinterpreted as a wallpaper by heritage British luxury interiors house Cole & Son. It is crafted with a substrate derived from 79% renewable fibres and a manufacturing process using 30% less greenhouse gases than traditional non-woven wallcoverings. Available to purchase later this year in burgundy and navy, it decorates our Future of Fashion space.
An edit of conscious ready-to-wear and vegan accessories is also available to purchase. Curated items are made from Bolt Threads’ Mylo™️ mycelium leather, grown from mushroom roots; vegan alternatives to animal leather; plant-based fibres like forest-friendly viscose and regenerative cotton; and regenerated materials crafted from waste.
Visitors can experience the beauty and magic of mushrooms for themselves in our immersive infinity room, illuminated by towering fungi sculptures crafted from recycled materials, with music composed by Cosmo Sheldrake using bioelectric sounds from plants and fungi.
It is the first event held at CASELLI 11-12, a space dedicated to showcasing emergent and established practices through a programme of partnerships and research-based projects. We are proud to be part of the space’s regeneration for the first time in 20 years.
Future of Fashion is an evolving installation, with more editions to come soon. Stay tuned.