Dezeen Magazine

Image of the pinball installation at the fendi show

Fendi creates oversized "pinball machine" for Autumn Winter 2023 runway show

Italian fashion brand Fendi transformed its headquarters in Milan into a "roller disco pinball machine" runway that was designed by Italian artist Nico Vascellari.

The Autumn Winter 2023 menswear collection, which was created by designer Silvia Venturini Fendi, took place at Fendi's headquarters in Milan.

Photo of the Fendi runway
The show took place during Milan Fashion Week

Informed by roller disco, the show included a large installation paired with custom disco music, which the brand explained transformed its headquarters into a giant pinball machine.

"The Fendi Men's Fall/Winter 2023-24 fashion show sees the house headquarters in Milan transformed into a giant roller disco pinball machine, with a custom disco soundtrack entitled 'After Dark', specifically created by the legendary Italian composer and producer Giorgio Moroder," said Fendi in its show notes.

Image of the Fendi runway
A pinball installation was added to the runway

The installation was designed by Italian artist Vascellari, who previously collaborated with Fendi on its Spring Summer 2019 menswear collection, while the production was led by Bureau Betak.

The show took shape as a dramatically out-of-scale, metal pinball track that was suspended above and through the centre of the runway.

The large metal track twisted over two levels and extended over the audience until it began to lower at the model's entrance to the show space.

As models emerged, multiple oversized metallic pinballs, branded with Fendi's double F monogram, rolled through the twisting metal tracks across its sloping levels.

Image of the Fendi installation
It referenced the 70s

Shimmering lights flashed within the room to create the feel of a disco ball, while the muted blue hue of the runway was incorporated into the collection by Silvia Venturini Fendi.

"Celebrating the hallmarks of Fendi materiality, double-faced cashmere, engineered leathers and jacquard silks are illuminated by the disco ball hues of silver, indigo and violet," said the show notes.

"They lift a sober palette that undulates between shades of dove grey, oatmeal, burnt umber, mocha, mauve, lavender, deep navy and black."

Photo of models on the Fendi runway
Oversized pinballs were branded with Fendi's double "F" monogram

Milan Fashion Week also saw AMO install retracting ceiling and a series of chandeliers at the Fondazione Prada's Deposito art storage warehouse for Prada's latest Autumn Winter 2023 show.

At Paris Fashion Week, Saint Laurent showed its first menswear collection, under the direction of its current creative director Anthony Vaccarello, at the historic Bourse de Commerce.

The photography is courtesy of Fendi.