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Raf Simons’s maxim “No neoprene no futurism, just cotton and wool” traces Arte Povera,the political art movement of 60s Italy – as in his vote prints. Futhermore, the Italian penisula has been nicknamed “Lo Stivale” –TheBoot. Hence Raf’s sweaters withPuss in Bootsdetailing.

Arte Povera rejects technocracy and industrialization, both previously favoured by theFuturistsin Italy. Now in France, the leaders of arte povera are running through mens’ collections like water pipes through concrete slab, from Raf to Junya towards Rick.

At Thom Browne, Erwin Wurm raises a Jannis Kounellis scarecrow for Browne’s timber amish barn and then shoots two birds with one stone by framing a V for Louis Vuitton.

Not unlike Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy, Arte Povera artists looked to the Big Apple, yet remained “conscious of possessing an inalienable Europen identity that was irreconcilable with any other”, in the words of artistGermano Celant.

Still, when Gilberto Zorio and the Japanese Issey Miyake hook up, they look topleats pleaseto be true.

RAF SIMONS I

Luciano Fabro, L’Italia Ipocrita, 1996

RAF SIMONS II

Giovanni Anselmo, Il Panorama Fin Verso Oltramare, 1996

JUNYA WATANABE

Giovanni Anselmo, Grigi Che Si Alleggeriscono Verso Oltramare, 1994

RICK OWENS

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1966

THOM BROWNE

ABOVE Jannis Kounellis BELOW Erwin Wurm, O.T (Cajetan Gril als Mnch), 2001-2003

LOUISVUITTON

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2005

GIVENCHY

Michalengelo Pistoletto, Wollen, La Mera Reintegrata, 2007

ISSEY MIYAKE

Gilberto Zorio, Untitled, 1967

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To hell with poverty