They're called trends and they return every so many years, a bit like zombies in horror films. After all, fashion functions following a cyclical pattern and every so many years a specific trend - think about flared trousers or high-waisted jeans - comes back. But there is an inspiration in fashion that keeps on coming back every few years and that is verging towards saturation – the Memphis Milano collective.
In fact, let's admit it: rather than being just an inspiration, Memphis Milano is an irresistible addiction that spreads at different levels and in different contexts. You GOTTA love it.
After all, even the boxing ring in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" is not a real boxing ring, but a bed on which you can just roll, reminiscent of Memphis Milano's Masanori Umeda's Tawaraya Ring seating unit/bed, proving that there are correspondences between some of the objects in the game and famous interior design pieces.
If you use the design feature in the game and come up with some basic black and white vertical stripes you may even be able to customise the ring bed in the game and turn it into a basic version of the Memphis Milano design.
The Milan-based interior design group, that takes its name from Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again", operated between 1981 and 1987. The group attached an emotional value to everyday objects, transforming them into items capable of creating a new relationship between human beings and the domestic habitat surrounding them.
Bizarre, unpredictable and looking like toys thanks to their clashing patterns and colours, the function of Memphis Milano's table lamps, sofas and armchairs, fabrics, vases and teapots wasn't always so clear, but those bright and bold colour combinations and fun shapes turned these pieces from what conservative critics initially thought were tasteless displays of vulgarity, into cool, beautiful objects capable of standing the test of time.
And so at least ever two to five years, fashion jumps on the Memphis Milano bandwagon and designers produce collections inspired by the collective.
Ten years ago the shapes of its vases and dishes reappeared in Dior's Autumn/Winter 2011-12 Haute Couture collection. Then it was the turn of footwear brand Sergio Rossi with its Spring/Summer 2013 collection with unmistakable graphic zigzag lines or black and white stripes broken by colourful elements reminiscent of Michele De Lucchi's tables and lamps, or by the contrasting shades and patterns of Nathalie Du Pasquier's porcelain vases and fruit bowls.
The pastel shades in Prada's A/W 2015 collection looked entirely lifted from Michele De Lucchi's Girmi prototypes, while Arthur Arbesser's Resort 2016 collection borrowed from Ettore Sottsass' works and Valentino's A/W 17 collection featured prints by Nathalie du Pasquier.
The latest designer to turn to Memphis Milano for inspiration was Saint Laurent's creative director Anthony Vaccarello. The reason why Memphis Milano is a constant inspiration is almost too easy to understand: the crazy textures, clashing colours and patterns, symbols of the optimism and ebullience of the '80s immediately put you in a good mood and, as Coronavirus brought a dark shadow on our lives, it is only natural for Vaccarello to look up at the collective for their energetic and dynamic prints.
This year the collective celebrates its 40th Anniversary, so, as part of the Saint Laurent Rive Droite project, Vaccarello created a capsule collection comprising two multicolored checkerboard hoodies, two dresses, one shirt and two pairs of sneakers.
The capsule is accompanied by an exhibition (until 23rd June) in both Saint Laurent Rive Droite stores in Paris (213 rue Saint Honoré) and Los Angeles (469 Rodeo Drive), that also include Ettore Sottsass' Carlton room divider, De Lucchi's Riviera chairs and Masanori Umeda's Tawaraya Ring seating.
Apart from the designs, the shops and Saint Laurent's site also offer a selection of ashtrays, vases, plates, glasses, decorations and textile accessories by Memphis Milano and a few books as well about the history and works of the collective.
And this is where you wonder if Saint Laurent is taking the piss out of consumers: all the items are marked as "Exclusive to Rive Droite", but of all the books available - Brigitte Fitoussi's "Memphis"; Barbara Radice's 1984 and 1986 editions of "Memphis: Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design"; the catalogue of the 1991 exhibition at Musées de Marseille, "Memphis Céramique, Argent, Verre" and "Sottsass Associates" - only "Memphis Céramique, Argent, Verre" is very rare, while the others can still be found on a variety of sites including Amazon and eBay often at slightly more affordable prices than Saint Laurent's (yes, Fitoussi's 1998 edition may be out of print, but the 2002 edition si still available and usually it costs less than €40; at Saint Laurent what looks like the 1998 edition costs $195).
On Saint Laurent's site Radice's 1984 edition of "Memphis" is priced $275, but its price at vintage and rare book stores goes between €129 and €220); besides, only the first edition of "Sottsass Associates" is really worth over €300, reprints are worth €50-€60 and the edition available on Saint Laurent's site comes as $275 but we aren't told if that's a first edition.
But there are discrepancies also for what regards some of the Memphis Milano pieces: Nathalie du Pasquier's "Onion" fruit bowl is priced $475 on Saint Laurent's site, on Yoox it costs €355; Maria Sanchez's "Squash" ashtray also seems to be slightly cheaper on Yoox.
But Memphis Milano purists won't get annoyed at the prices, but at the description of some of the prints, such as the black pattern on fuchsia background used on the dresses and shirt.
Ettore Sottsass' iconic "Bacterio" print for Abet Laminati is described on Saint Laurent's site as "squiggle confetti" - was that an attempt at sanitising it to avoid any possible negative connection with illnesses and with Coronavirus in particular? Who knows.
Yet, if this was a genuine collaboration, they should have bothered at least calling the prints with their correct names, or maybe the collection is not aimed at Memphis Milano fans but at vapid influencers posting on Instagram their pictures in front of Ultrafragola, Ettore Sottsass' 1970 sinuous pink lamp-cum-mirror for Poltronova, finding it irresistibly cute and mainly using it as a prop, without even bothering to check who designed it.
Hopefully, some of the original Memphis Milano designers will develop their own fashion collection at some point (what about T-shirts with their iconic pieces?), until then we will be "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues". Again and again.
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