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It is not a one-way path that links fashion and furniture design. The macroscopic phenomenon, which has seen a strong acceleration in recent years, is the growing interest of fashion companies in opening divisions or structured companies dedicated to the home, with the dual objective of seizing new business opportunities and completing their lifestyle offer, extending the identity, values and style of your brand to furnishing objects. But there is also another side of the coin, which contributes to this increasingly intense osmosis between the two worlds, and it is the progressive approach of many design companies (especially those positioned at the high end) to the strategies of fashion on the on the distribution front, with growing investments in the opening of single-brand stores, and on communication, to consolidate a “lifestyle brand” image that many aspire to.
There is a further aspect of contamination between the two worlds, which instead has to do with creativity, observes Andrea Rosso, creative director of Diesel Living, which since 2008 has been designing furniture and lights produced under license from partners such as Moroso for furniture , Scavolini for the kitchens and bathrooms, Lodes for the lamps, Iris for the ceramics, Seletti for the accessories, Berti for the wooden coverings, Wall&Decò for the wallpapers and Mirabello Carrara for the linen. «Today many fashion designers are approaching the aesthetics of objects – explains Rosso -. There are undeniable points of connection between the two sectors, but there are also profound differences. The world of furniture design has different rules, for example regarding the time needed to create a product, but the lifespan of the products is also different. A time that the fashion designer is not used to, because he thinks in terms of seasonality.” On this aspect, the contamination between the two sectors is still fully evolving: «It will be interesting to find out how it will end. And I believe that already at the Salone and Fuorisalone this year we will see interesting innovations”, adds Rosso.
Expectations for this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan – which will be held from 16 to 21 April at Fiera Milano – are very positive and, consequently, also for the so-called Design Week and the Fuorisalone to which, traditionally, companies of fashion that have a home division participate by presenting the new collections in their showrooms in the city.
Among these, brands such as Trussardi Home, Versace Home and Dolce&Gabbana Casa, all three produced under license by Luxury Living Group (LLG), a Marche company that is part of the Lifestyle Design holding (in turn owned by the American group Haworth), which last December it also added Ralph Lauren Home to its stable of fashion brands. The first collection resulting from this partnership will be presented next week in the Ralph Lauren showroom in Milan. «2023 was a year of rebalancing of the markets, after a two-year period post Covid which had recorded very important growth – says the CEO of LLG, Andrea Genilini -. We closed in line with our objectives and we are satisfied, because the group’s consolidation process continues, thanks to the progressive growth of all our brands, in particular the latest additions to our portfolio, Versace and Dolce&Gabbana.” LLG therefore continues to strengthen its sales network, especially through “group” mono-brand stores and individual brands (14 directly managed and 300 through resellers, all over the world).
«Retail remains a fundamental channel, but we see excellent opportunities on the contract front, which is expressed both in so-called branded projects, i.e. apartments or buildings that bear the brand of our brands, and in projects developed by developers, together with whom we create interior design”, adds Gentilini. A rapidly growing trend for luxury brands, capable of interpreting that concept of belonging that customers who are passionate about a specific brand require. Projects are underway with Bugatti in Dubai, where important creations have also been made for Trussardi, with Dolce&Gabbana in Miami and others are underway in Korea and the Far East.