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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