FLA FlavioLucchiniArt Museum & art.box, Superstudio Più. Press Preview: Sept 25–28, 10 AM–6 PM. Public Opening: Sept 30 – December 23, Tue–Fri, 2:30–6:30 PM

An exhibition born almost on impulse, on the thread of memory and gratitude. “Thank You Giorgio – The Influence of Giorgio Armani in the artworks of Flavio Lucchini” is Lucchini’s personal and affectionate tribute to the great fashion designer who has passed away, separated from him by only a few years, a friend and fellow traveler who left an indelible mark on Italian fashion and culture. In the artist’s personal museum, the FLA FlavioLucchiniArt Museum at Superstudio Più in Via Tortona, the Atelier space hosts a selection of works—sculptures and paintings created by Lucchini over the years with Giorgio in mind—preceded by a window installation on the street, in the art.box gallery at the entrance of Superstudio. A tribute to the King of Fashion, whose sudden passing deeply affected the whole world and revealed how his influence, beyond his closest collaborators and friends, also touched other spheres of society, as witnessed by the 16,000 people who attended his lying in state.
Flavio Lucchini was not only the first to recognize Armani’s value at the beginning of his career, launching him in his prestigious magazines (Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, Donna, Mondo Uomo), but was also directly influenced by him when he chose to leave publishing for art. Many of his works indeed recount the fashion of the ’80s and ’90s, drawing inspiration in lines, shapes, and colors from Armani’s rigorous style which, while “softening” the stiffness of men’s clothing, gave new confidence to the career woman without diminishing her femininity. Jackets with strong shoulders, neutral tones, the famous greige, and necklines with sharp, daring cuts outlined the new Italian style after the excesses of the early ’80s.
Flavio Lucchini and Giorgio Armani were always close—from 1974, when the art director hand-crafted Armani’s first logo using Bodoni, the original typeface of Vogue America, to when Armani chose Via Bergognone for both his Teatro and Silos, located between the two Superstudio founded by Lucchini and his wife Gisella Borioli: the photographic studios in Via Forcella where Armani produced his campaigns, and the event hub in Via Tortona used on various occasions. A collaboration spanning more than fifty years, where esteem and friendship needed no further confirmation.