When the archive becomes a cage: three exemplary stories

The three exemplary stories of Etro, Emilio Pucci and Missoni tell us how the obligation of a brand’s new designer to confront identity codes and archives can hide significant pitfalls. Especially if the work of reinterpretation does not correspond to contemporaneity

by Domenico Casoria

When a brand presents a new collection, one of the first ways to read it is to understand how much is archival. That is, how much of what we see corresponds to the codes that make it recognisable. Some archives, however, more than others, resemble monoliths that are difficult to scratch. This is the case with brands that have such a clear pattern in their DNA that they become a cage, as in the case of these three exemplary stories.

Three exemplary stories

Emilio Pucci, for example, founded his own label in the 1940s and immediately became famous for his vibrant prints. Ottavio Missoni and Rosita Jelmini, on the other hand, opened a small knitwear workshop in Gallarate in 1953, exploiting the potential of an expanding market. Gimmi Etro set up his own textile company in 1968 in Milan, making a name for himself over the years for the extreme refinement of his prints and his Paisley pattern, the brand’s emblem. Three exemplary stories that today influence (negatively) those who try to reinterpret.

Emilio Pucci

Camille Miceli, the creative director of Emilio Pucci, presented her second collection for the brand in April. In Rome, in the historic Palazzo Altemps, the reinterpretation of Pucci’s heritage was staged. Very Vivara, as the collection was called, was a journey into the vivid, hyper-saturated prints that made the brand famous in the international jet set of the 1960s. Vivara is named after the pattern that Marquis Pucci had devised to describe the glitz of the time.

Missoni

During the last Milan Fashion Week in September, Missoni’s creative director, Filippo Grazioli (who later left the brand), reinterpreted the historic knitwear brand by focusing on volumes, bright colours and a new idea of the female body and taking a step forward and trying to remove Missoni’s aura of ‘fashion brand by halves’.

Etro

At Etro, however, there was a “repulisti”(a cleanup). Marco De Vincenzo, the creative director, was inspired by the south, bringing a layered, brightly coloured collection to the catwalk, combining the brand’s iconic prints with those that recall Mediterranean vegetation.

When the archive becomes a cage

The thread running through these three collections is clearly the archive as a starting point. Which, however, risks becoming a hindrance if not reinterpreted with respect to contemporaneity. For example, knitwear continues to represent one of the significant investment chapters for fashion houses, but in the case of Missoni and its colours saturated with history, it needs to be redefined.

Grazioli himself had focused on a different way of talking about the body, setting aside, however, the knitwear’s potential as the perfect canvas for disruptive messages or as a manifesto for political slogans and social demands. The same applies to prints, which bring with them maximum rigidity and which, in recent years, have partly disappeared from collections, shop windows and almost entirely from the streets. Polluting them with other materials and textures could bring those prints into the present day. This is the only way to avoid the long sunset path. If you can’t break down the obstacle, go around it.

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