Objectivity, the first principle you get taught in journalism school, doesn't exist in fashion reporting. Let me explain: actually, it does exist, but it is not respected in favour of other "values" and "principles". Objectivity implies indeed healthy doses of integrity and criticism, things that usually get you automatically expelled from runway shows and cause losses of advertising money (ask Women's Wear Daily - a feud with D&G over a negative review published in the depths of time, resulted in a ban that still lasts...).
This silent rule about objectivity also implies that any investigation into fashion-related dark matters will land you in trouble: accusing an editor of nepotism or a brand of consistently copying a designer from the past or wondering where mysterious investment funds come from, will turn you into an instant pariah and outcast, even when you have tangible proofs or even when the evidence is in front of everybody.
This version of "fashion objectivity" means that, when somebody decides to relaunch a brand investing a substantial sum in it, most articles about this piece of news in official fashion magazines are extremely encouraging mainly because you know that, one day, when that brand becomes again re-established, you may win their favour, that translated means runway invitations and advertising money. Besides, in these cases fashion tends to talk about "entrepreneurs" and "investors": it is indeed easier to call everybody like that rather than actually wondering where the money they have invested comes from and discovering the source of that entrepreneurial wealth. But, if you're brave or crazy enough to do a little investigation and open Pandora's Box, you will discover unexpected surprises.
For example, it was recently announced that Switzerland-based investment platform Bidayat has acquired the intellectual property and a substantial part of the archives of Italian fashion designer Walter Albini, and plans to relaunch the brand.
The Walter Albini archive (now with its own Instagram account) was owned by Barbara Curti, whose mother, Marisa Curti, had been a long-term Albini collector (Barbara Curti will continue to act as an archive curator and advisor to Bidayat).
On the group's Instagram page, Bidayat Founder and Chairman Rachid Mohamad Rachid stated, "We are honored having unearthed this hidden jewel of Italian high fashion and are currently studying Walter Albini's vast heritage to set the foundations for the future."
Born in Busto Arsizio in 1941, Albini is considered as the forgotten gem of Italian fashion. After a spell in Paris where he worked as fashion illustrator for different magazines and papers, Albini returned to Milan where he worked for Krizia and Billy Ballo.
In the '70s he designed collections for five different brands – Callaghan, Basile, Escargot, Mister Fox and Diamant's – and presented them with an ambitious catwalk show featuring hundreds of models that took place at Milan's Circolo del Giardino and that influenced the final choice of moving the fashion catwalks from Florence to Milan.
In 1970 French journalist Hélène de Turckheim accused the world of Italian ready-to-wear to actually employ six Parisian designers, and highlighted that, among the genuine Italians only Walter Albini was deemed to be remembered on an international level. Two years later, Women's Wear Daily compared Albini to Yves Saint-Laurent: the Italian designer was indeed a forward-thinker, a man who also became known for experimental fashion presentations and mixed-media exhibitions.
His fans may remember the exhibition at Milan's Galleria Eros that featured phalluses personalised by Albini himself and transformed into cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse or designers (Armani, Basile and Ken Scott) or his 1977 Spring/Summer menswear collection.
Presented at Milan's Galleria Anselmino, this was actually a "non collection" as it featured twelve panels with collages of clothes Albini had taken from the collections of fashion designer friends and from the wardrobes of photographers and journalists exhibited with white masks of his face. The project aimed at poking fun at consumerism and at the relentless rhythms of the fashion industry while trying to make people ponder a bit about fashion culture.
When he died in 1983, at just 42, Albini had already managed to trace a path that, even nowadays, many fashion designers are unconsciously following.
An example? His 1979 "Cazzo" (literally dick, but it can also be translated in English with the exclamation "fuck") T-shirt, for example, reappeared on Vivienne Westwood's S/S 17 runway, almost a testament to the subversive punk ethos of the Italian designer.
Like Miss Maxwell, the powerful editor in William Klein's Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966) who praises clueless designer Ducasse about his unwearable and bizarre outfits at the end of his show, enthusiastically shouting "He's recreated woman!", as soon as it was announced that Bidayat had acquired Albini, a chorus of voices emerged, praising the return of the brand.
As news spread, in less than three hours, most people on the Internet had turned into Albini experts, even though the designer, who died prematurely in 1983 was largely forgotten for decades.
Then, after hailing the news of the return of the real "father of Italian fashion" on the scene, speculations started. Will Alessandro Michele - ousted from Gucci in November 2022 after a seven-year run - be called to revamp the brand? After all, he may suit the task: as the seasons progressed at Gucci he moved from librarian chic to more refined moods à la Walter Albini, ending up injecting also his subversive moods in Gucci's S/S 23.
At the time of writing this piece, we don't know yet who will lead Albini, but, whoever will be assigned the task to do so, will not have an easy job. After all, restarting a brand takes decades; rebooting it successfully as it happened with Chanel is a magnus opus. In Chanel's case it was easier as the collections were helped by a famous fragrance and it wasn't also so difficult to rebuild the house's archive. But other experiments didn't prove so successful, think about Vionnet or Poiret, while it took over a decade to re-establish Schiaparelli and, even now, with no perfume and no shocking pink lipstick to bring the brand to the masses, the house mainly caters to the red carpet and thrives on its grand Insta-fame.
With Albini it may be more difficult: there is some semblance of an archive, but his clothes remain rare for two main reasons - the people who bought them actually wore them, besides, when he died, the concept of fashion archives and museums wasn't still that popular (the only recent exhibition about him, "Albiniana" at Pitti Uomo in 2010, was actually an installation assembled from magazine cut-outs and colour photocopies).
Yet what's interesting now is not considering the pros and cons of relaunching Albini or if Michele will helm it, it is indeed more fascinating to look at who bought it.
Albini was bought by Switzerland-based Bidayat, an investment platform with a cool site promoting a portfolio focused on smaller brands, including Egyptian accessories brand Okhtein, jewelry house Azza Fahmy, and furniture design platform Fromm.
Launched in 2021, Bidayat was founded by Rachid Mohamed Rachid and it is a subsidiary investment vehicle of Swiss-based firm Alsara Investment Group, the family office of Rachid, who is also CEO of Qatari investment fund Mayhoola that owns Valentino and Balmain (Rachid is chairman of both the brands). Most fashion sites describe him as an entrepreneur, some also as a "prolific Egyptian investor".
Over ten years ago, before his glamorous adventures in fashion started, Rachid was in the global news for other reasons. Rachid has indeed had a financially turbulent past linked with politics. After serving as president of Unilever's Middle East, North Africa and Turkey division, Rachid became the Egyptian Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment from 2004 to 2011.
He eventually fled Egypt with his family in February 2011, during the course of the 18 day-uprising against the regime of president Hosni Mubarak, and moved to Dubai, Qatar, where he obtained a diplomatic passport.
Accused of squandering public funds and of illicit gains during his tenure as trade minister, in June 2011, Rachid was sentenced in absentia to 5 years in prison over graft and corruption charges; he dismissed allegations about his wealth as "plain lies", adding he had struggled to "fight the corruption against prominent characters" and claiming he was "ready for questioning" by authorities, but did not return to Egypt following Mubarak's resignation.
In August 2011, Rachid was sentenced to another 15 years imprisonment for corruption and a fine of EGP 1.4 billion for squandering nearly EGP 600 million in public funds after issuing questionable licenses to steel business tycoon and former National Democratic Party (NDP) leading figure Ahmed Ezz.
In March 2014, Rachid and his daughter were referred to the Criminal Court by Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority (IGA). They were accused of financial crimes and smuggling LE500 million to private accounts in Cyprus, concealing the sum from their financial disclosures after Rachid stepped down from his position following the events of January 2011.
Subsequently, in August 2014, Rachid and his daughter were sentenced in absentia by the Cairo Criminal Court. They received a 15-year prison term and were fined LE522 million, with an additional amount to be repaid to the government. The conviction was based on charges of illicitly acquiring gains exceeding half a billion pounds. Their actions involved obtaining insider information about an initial public offering (IPO) of the Hermes company to manipulate its capital, as well as information on bank loans and financial interest rates, to generate personal profits from the EFG-Hermes Holding Company.
In 2015 Rachid's name emerged again in a journalistic investigation called Swill Leaks about a giant tax evasion scheme allegedly operated with the knowledge and encouragement of the British multinational bank HSBC via its Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse). The investigation revealed that 100,000 clients worldwide, among them businessmen, ministers and public figures, held private bank accounts at HSBC Suisse for illicit activities such as money laundering and tax evasion. Among those there was also Rachid (and Khadija-al Gamal as well, his daughter-in-law), who joined the bank in 2003 and kept as much as $31 million in his accounts between 2006 and 2007.
In 2016 there was a reconciliation proposal by Rachid to Egypt's Committee to Reclaim Public Funds and Assets: Rachid agreed to pay to the state half a billion Egyptian pounds in exchange for officials dropping legal charges against him and his family.
Egyptian officials asserted that an investigation confirmed the preexistence of all the finances and investments of the Rachid family before Rachid assumed the position of Minister of Trade and Industry in 2004. However, political economists consistently questioned the lack of transparency and external oversight in this process. While it is possible that Rachid faced repercussions for his political positions or his association with Mubarak, the charges against him carried serious accusations alleging the acquisition of gains through the abuse of power and conflicts of interest. Nevertheless, Rachid was absolved of all charges related to the acquisition of his assets and wealth. As per the reported settlement, all criminal charges against Rachid were dropped, thereby clearing him of allegations that he exploited his position for personal gain.
"Cazzo", we may say, quoting Albini, fascinating stuff, isn't it? We will never know where the money used to buy Albini and being pumped into other investment funds linked with Rachid came from. I volunteer to write a Netflix series about it (only after the end of the WGA strike, obviously). It could be as glamorous as the series dedicated to Halston, but with a lot of twists towards the end, with politics, embezzlement and mysterious funds involved. Who knows, it may actually turn out to be even more successful than the actual relaunch of the brand. Draft title for the project? "Never Wake a Sleeping Beauty".
You see, in fashion, when they talk about dormant brands and forgotten design houses being rebooted, they often use the "Sleeping Beauty" metaphor, saying that you really need to shoot a gun in the air to wake the "Sleeping Beauty", to say you really have to be loud in these cases and plan the relaunch with a bang. Mind you, though, if you have to awaken the "Sleeping Beauty" to make her confront the questionable contents of a Pandora's Box that nobody wants to open, maybe it would be better to let her sleep.
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