Milan Fashion Week is currently taking place in its digital format, but the city will try to reopen next week its museums after the closures due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The city of Milan will reboot its cultural scene with the MuseoCity 2021 events, a special week dedicated to 85 museums. There is a wide range of events scheduled, from private visits to exhibitions and digital presentations (in case Lombardy becomes orange – a colour-coded alert indicating the Coronavirus risk and restrictions in place the digital events will still be taking place).
Among the events there is as usual the Secret Museum itinerary that allows visitors to discover one work of art from a museal institution, archive or collection.
The Fondazione Pirelli will be joining this special itinerary and has also launched a series of virtual events for children and grown-ups that will take digital visitors through the streets of Milan to discover the locations of the Pirelli story and its industrial architectures as well (you can join in by writing to the email [email protected]).
The institution is taking part in the Museo Segreto inviting people to rediscover black and white pictures from the Museo Storico delle Industrie Pirelli (Pirelli Industries Historical Museum).
The museum opened in 1922 in the Milan-based Pirelli-HQ at the Bicocca, the industrial heart of the city. One of the first examples of corporate or brand museums in Italy, it was opened to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company that at time was already a huge multinational with factories in Italy and abroad.
The museum displayed the products, but also presented visitors sections about the materials and the manufacturing processes, with selections of rubber trees and photographs, and highlighted the importance of graphic design in iconic adverts and catalogues. After the Second World War, the museum was dismembered and most of its displays became part of the historical archive at the Fondazione Pirelli (in Viale Piero e Alberto Pirelli 25, Milan).
How can tyres inspire us in fashion? Well, in a way they have already been an inspiration for different fashion designers: Thierry Mugler's Spring-Summer 1997 Haute Couture collection featured the iconic tyre suit in rubber and leather, made in collaboration with the designer Abel Villareal.
Alexander McQueen S/S 1995 collection featured designs covered with tire marks (and a runway that resembled a street). The print, made by Simon Ungless, led to McQueen being accused of being a misogynist at the time, but he replied to his critics explaining "I design clothes because I do not want women to look all innocent and naive because I know what can happen to them. I want women to look stronger."
The tyre theme vaguely returned in McQueen's A/W 2009 collection with knitwear and knitted headpieces that called to mind twisted, bent and knotted tyres. So never underestimate the power of industrial materials as inspirations for a fashion collection.
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