The Karl Lagerfeld label joins forces with Toan Nguyen, Thom Browne with Frette

Milan’s Design Week offers the fashion sector the perfect opportunity to launch or present all kinds of projects. Among those spotted during this frenetic week were the Karl Lagerfeld brand, which unveiled its second home collection, by designer Toan Nguyen; the Thom Browne label, which launched a line of household linen with Italian manufacturer Frette, specialising in top-of-the-range products; and the Value Retail group’s Fidenza Village, which partnered with French artist-designer Cyril Lancelin on an immersive project.

Like last year, Karl Lagerfeld has taken over an elegant flat in Via della Passione, which has been completely refurbished with the brand’s new furniture line. From the bedroom to the dining room and study, not forgetting the various living rooms, accessories and carpets, the new furnishings were designed this year by Milan-based French designer Toan Nguyen, who also works with Fendi, another house where Karl Lagerfeld has worked. Only the dressing room and kitchen feature elements from the first collection, launched in 2023.

With sketches and photos of the legendary German couturier, as well as knick-knacks bearing his likeness, the effect is surprising. You have the impression of wandering through his home, as if he had just left. The brand’s senior vice-president of image and communications, Caroline Lebar – or Karo to her friends – is a true mistress of the house, welcoming visitors with a smile and guiding them from one room to the next. “I started working with Karl in 1985 when the brand was launched. I worked with him on all his decorating and design projects. As a result, I now play the role of artistic director for all aspects of architecture and design,” she tells us.

The brand presented its very first home collection, including furniture and objects, last year, in collaboration with interior designer Matteo Nunziati. It is produced and managed under licence by Italian company The One Design. “The idea is to bring in a new designer every year. The first collection was more a representation of Karl Lagerfeld, with a sleek and organised style, a bit in the German spirit of the Bauhaus. The goal was to announce that the brand was moving into furniture. Now we’re in the process of establishing ourselves with a more contemporary design, in line with the current market demand,” notes Caroline Lebar.

“The aim is not to interpret Karl. We ask the guest designers to interpret elements from his world to create a Karl Lagerfeld collection. Toan Nguyen did an incredible job, taking elements and details from his fashion designs, as well as from the décor of his Parisian flat on Place Saint Sulpice in the 1970s,” she continues. Inspired by the curved lines of some of the dresses designed by the couturier, designer Toan Nguyen has interpreted and integrated the designer’s rounded lines into his furniture. For instance, in the curves of the bed, or the undulating waves that make up a set of armchairs and a chrome-plated Seventies style sofa. Hence the name ‘Wellen’ (waves in German) given to this collection.

Other key pieces in the collection include footstools and a sofa with an undulating design in coloured velvet, made up of ten modules, as well as an imposing table in labradorite stone. “It’s just four centimetres thick and rests on four steel-covered legs without any structure. The whole thing weighs 300 kilos. It’s a very hard, dense stone. It’s difficult to work with. But depending on the lighting, it takes on an iridescent blue colour in places, and looks light,” observes Toan Nguyen.

A change of scenery at Thom Browne’s Palazzina Appiani. This nineteenth-century neoclassical building, immersed in the Sempione Park, serves as the entrance to an amphitheatre reminiscent of Ancient Rome, which today houses an athletics track. With its panelling, friezes and grand chandeliers, the salon provides the perfect backdrop for one of the American designer’s famous productions.

To launch his brand new line of household linen, Thom Browne has set up six super-luxurious cots equipped with mattresses, sheets, cushions and cosy grey cashmere blankets decorated with four white stripes, on which six models sit wearing elegant sleep masks to snooze the evening away to the sound of a gentle lullaby.

“In fact, I’ve been a Frette customer for a long time and this collaboration came about quite naturally. I imagined a collection that was a little utilitarian, very simple and clean, and at the same time very luxurious,” says Thom Browne, who entrusted the development and production of his line to the Italian luxury textile manufacturer.

The collection includes terry towels for the home and the beach, cotton sheets, cotton or cashmere pillowcases, blankets, a beach bag and a bathrobe, all in white or grey. It is sold via Thom Browne’s e-commerce site and boutiques.

“Thom Browne is a customer and he contacted us. We’ve been working on the project for two years. It’s taken time because these are sophisticated products full of details. The fabrics have been specially made for the label. The prices range from 350 euros for the bag, 380 euros for the bathrobe to 2,400 euros for the blanket,” Frette CEO Filippo Arnaboldi tells us.

Not all fashion brands take part in Design Week to present and sell their design collections. Many also take the opportunity to be seen and to communicate. Like Fidenza Village, one of the Italian luxury shopping destinations in The Bicester Collection, the series of brand villages managed by the Value Retail group. For the occasion, the brand has set up shop at the Università degli Studi in Milan, which ech year hosts the most spectacular installations of the Fuorisalone, the “off” programme of the Furniture Fair.

With its moving gantries mounted on castors in the shape of golden spheres, its installation entitled “A Thousand Mirrors” did not go unnoticed. It was created by Cyril Lancelin from Lyon, who is often called on by the fashion world – he has worked for Victoria/Tomas, K-Way and Coach, among others. “The connections between different fields such as fashion, music and performing arts are increasingly important. Here, I imagined a playful and immersive sculpture, where the public can move around. It’s open, with paths and gaps,” he explains.

“This is the second year we’ve taken part in Milan Design Week. The idea is to make the public understand that we’re not just focused on shopping, but we’re also a leisure destination, with restaurants, sport, art and music. In a particularly tough competitive environment, this is a way of differentiating ourselves. We offer a five-star service to our customers,” says Edoardo Vittucci, CEO of Fidenza Village, who is particularly pleased with the first-quarter sales. “There’s a big return to physical shopping,” he notes.