Dover Street Market to Spotlight Italian Indie Brand Lessico Familiare

MILAN — Italian indie brand Lessico Familiare is at a turning point. 

On Saturday, the sustainable label known for its quirky one-off pieces will present its new collection at Dover Street Market in Paris via an event and installation, which will remain on site for a week. The range will then be available at the store, therefore marking the brand’s first real foray into physical retail. 

“The collaboration is the result of a chat with Carla Sozzani and Adrian Joffe during a visit to our studio ‘Casalessico.’ Talking about the project and browsing through the booklets of each collection, the idea of ​​doing something together in Paris popped up,” said Riccardo Scaburri, who founded the brand with Alberto Petillo and Alice Curti.

“Linking up with a partner like Dover Street Market represents a sort of watershed for us,” Scaburri continued. “If until now we only existed in our studio and some magazines thanks to the support of press and friends. [From tomorrow] we’ll be present in retail — but not just any retail, the type that most reflects our approach to clothing, [a mix] of commerce and storytelling at the same time.”

Lessico Familiare’s narrative for the event promises to be unexpected. The brand is looking to bring a flavor of its rustic roots by staging an event resembling a country fair rather than a glamorous fashion gathering.

“We chose to stage this presentation in December because, in addition to being out of any fashion season, it is a month of bittersweet folklore: traditions, rom-comedies, dinners. Three key elements in our melting pot of references,” Scaburri said. 

In particular, the tie-up sparked the founders’ desire to look back at their starting point and childhood. Dubbed “La Bruma e I Fossi,” the new collection aims to portray memories of growing up in the Po Valley, the stretch of land roughly going from Turin to Venice and crossed by the Po river. 

“We thought about the places where we grew up, our first sources of inspiration, made up of a sense of rigor and conviviality typical of the lowlands,” Scaburri said. “It’s a tribute that aims to offer a different narrative from the usual Italian one. It is as if, between the fog and the centrality of Milan, that land had remained a little low-profile and we want to celebrate it.”

In doing so, founders were inspired by “The Tree of Wooden Clogs,” a 1978 Italian film directed by Ermanno Olmi that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. The movie depicts the life of Lombardy peasant families working on farms for the same landlord during the late 19th century, casting actual farmers and locals instead of professional actors.

Lessico Familiare’s quirky and nostalgic nature was mostly translated via cocooning and deconstructed shapes in a nod to farmers’ day of rest. Coats, shirts and nightgowns were also assembled from deadstock fabrics and textile scraps as per the brand’s practice, making each piece unique.

The outcome was less froufrou compared to previous efforts that were rich in bows, ruffles, flounces and patchworks, as the more streamlined hybrids better expressed the rigor of the theme. Still, accessories added a whimsical touch, including precious bonnets, crowns and headpieces crafted by artist Patrizia Benedetta Fratus, daughter of the protagonist of the movie Maria Teresa Brescianini.

The brand will reimagine the basement of Dover Street Market to evoke the same rustic feel. Produced by Venice-based gallery and creative studio Mare Karina, the installation will include the works of artists from the Po Valley, from contemporary names such as Stefano De Paolis and Jacopo Velentini to older masters, like the late Cremonese landscape artist Enrico Erba. 

Victoria Genzini, who joined Lessico Familiare’s founding trio as image director and curated the installation, said artworks were picked to “pay tribute to a bucolic realism in which we believe a lot.”

The brick-and-mortar debut won’t change the label’s approach to business. The founders have always considered this a domestic project rather than a proper fashion brand, as it follows no season but embraces experimental initiatives instead. As a consequence, its pieces have so far been mainly available on its e-commerce, given its artisanal, handmade production.

Scaburri, Petillo and Curti met while attending the NABA fashion, art and design school. After taking different paths, in 2020 they decided to launch Lessico Familiare, looking at what their domestic environment could offer. Hence curtains, mats and discarded clothes were upcycled to turn a “familiar lexicon,” which is what the brand’s name means in English, into new artisanal pieces.

That year, the founders did a shoot with legendary model and journalist Benedetta Barzini, who remains a friend of the brand and features also in the images promoting the new collection. 

“After Paris, we will be back in Milan, for the first time during the women’s fashion week in February,” said Scaburri, who didn’t provide any details on the next line, save for teasing that alphabet will play a central role.