MILAN - The fashion crowd is not new to social events, but the event Sunnei plans to host here on Saturday could be unprecedented.
Placeholders at the seated dinner, which will take place at the Palazzina Sunnei brand headquarters, will read the names of members of the press, friends of the house - and then some. Mr. Darcy, Richie Tenenbaum, and Seth Cohen are all on hand to watch the event, so there's certainly no risk of dull moments.
More from WWDThe gimmick is Sunnei's latest fun move. The brand's Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo are known in the circuit for their unpredictable show formats infused with irony and social commentary. But this time they met their match at Lessico Familiare, the Italian indie brand that the duo decided to support during Milan Men's Fashion Week and provided a venue for its presentation.
Founded during the pandemic and rooted in sustainability, Lessico Familiare is the brainchild of Riccardo Scaburri, Alberto Petillo and Alice Curti, who met while studying at the fashion, art and design school NABA. After taking different paths in the industry, they decided to launch the quirky label in 2020 by looking at what their home environment had to offer. Therefore, curtains, mats and discarded clothes were upcycled to transform a "trusted lexicon" (as the brand's name translates into English) into new artisanal pieces, characterized by a froufrou and a bit of costume-like aesthetic rich in bows, ruffles and patchwork.
For autumn 2024, this approach formed the basis for the reinterpretation of iconic looks of fictional characters or real pop culture personalities, which have occupied Lessico Familiare's universe of references, built up through glossy magazines and TV series marathons. These characters' main outfits were disassembled, reassembled and enlarged in exaggerated proportions without regard to functionality, with patchwork of fabrics, ruffles and lace inserts clashing in a concise arrangement with no chromatic coherence or coherence of silhouette.
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The collection, called "Literally Me," will feature 17 looks that openly nod to Nina Simone, Cindy Sherman, Joan Didion and Natalia Ginzburg, whose book "Family Lexicon" inspired the indie brand's name.
Each personality was chosen for a specific reason, as stated in a press release that read: "Martin Luther, for the reform. Cecilia Lisbon, for her candor. Florence Welch, for the lungs... Gwyneth Paltrow, for Goop. Sofia Coppola, for the girls... Luke Danes, for coffee. Seth Cohen (wearing Spider-Man's mask) for indie pride. Lady Diana, for everything."
While Lessico Familiare isn't new to pop references - the 'Cocktail' range unveiled last year already had nods to the characters 'Desperate Housewives' and 'The OC' - the statement revealed the tongue-in-cheek tone the brand shares with Sunnei.
"The collaboration with Sunnei goes back to before the summer, when we had a conversation with Loris and Simone after meeting them during one of our presentations," Scaburri recalls. "When I think about our aesthetics, I can't find any common points and that's why we find this collaboration so fun and effective: there is a cross-pollination of ideas, but without distorting the project. Then I think of irony, conveyed in a different way, and I believe that is what connects us."
Scaburri said the idea for the brand's lineup originated with an outfit featured in Coppola's 2013 film 'Bling Ring.' ' No, because there are some beautiful ones that we've always been in love with, worn by icons that fuel the brand's imagination. And to these characters, to whom we partly owe our ethical and aesthetic education, we have decided to dedicate this collection."
Sunnei's founders did not want to contaminate the range with their own fashion codes, but supported the project by providing the location and ensuring greater brand visibility through their network of contacts.
"We know how difficult the location issue can be, especially in the beginning, and since we had already used our space for our shows, we thought we would make the space available to them and create a special moment," said Messina.
"As always, the idea is to enter Palazzina Sunnei by opening your mind to everything that can happen inside. The guests know that they have been invited to a dinner and that on that occasion the new Lessico Familiare collection will also be presented," he continued, keeping further details about the format secret.
This is the latest in a series of initiatives through which Rizzo and Messina support emerging talents across industries, from design to media.
"We have always been clear that the term Sunnei should refer to something far beyond the items available in our store," Rizzo said. "It is more than a brand, it is a speaker of creative expressions and perhaps for this reason it does not seem strange to us to help another reality like Lessico Familiare... We were in the shoes of these guys not so long ago , so we know what it means and we remember all the mistakes we had to make to finally learn.
Rizzo believes that "there is no project like Lessico Familiare in Milan", while praising the brand for its "very spontaneous way of responding to current needs, such as minimizing waste and overproduction" and underlining that such a choice "the result was from their vision and not from following trends or labeling themselves in any way."
At the same time, Sunnei's founders believed that the project had not yet expressed its full potential and wanted to offer their experience as mentors. The approach is in line with the duo's previous initiatives, such as the launch of their first mentorship program in collaboration with Milan-based fashion, art and design school Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, better known as NABA, in 2022.
Last year, the founders also sponsored the release of Media, an indie illustrated publication that Rizzo and Messina supported from the song's concept definition to the launch event celebrated at the Sunnei flagship in Milan. The founders discovered the magazine in 2021, marking the start of a two-year collaborative journey that culminated in an issue full of different graphic projects for four hands and a layout that challenged the viewer's perception.
