Boasting a clientele from Andy Warhol to Madonna, Cher and Jackie Onassis, luxury label Fiorucci reopens in Milan’s San Babila, where it closed twenty years ago. Today, the store is part of a digital experience including a virtual pop up and a limited edition capsule.
Fiorucci Reopens In Milan With An Experiential And Virtual Pop Up
By scanning a QR code, consumers can enter the virtual store located in Piazza San Babila where the brand’s physical store stood until 2003, and explore three interactive rooms that combine Fiorucci’s iconic archival designs with contemporary influences.
From pop culture references to bold graphics, each room reflects the spirited ethos that forms the DNA of Fiorucci. It’s a space where heritage meets innovation in real-time. A new way to connect with Fiorucci’s aesthetic and cutting-edge storytelling technologies.
“We are thrilled to return to San Babila, a place that holds a crucial role in Fiorucci’s history, and to do so with the opening of a digital store! Thanks to our collaboration with Publicis, we are celebrating the launch of a capsule collection in a digital space, offering an immersive and utopian experience that will come to life in San Babila—in true Fiorucci spirit,” explains Alessandro Pisani, CEO, Fiorucci.
Fiorucci Reopens In Milan With An Experiential And Virtual Pop Up
Will the limited edition capsule collection become a collectible?
Fiorucci has also launched a limited edition capsule collection to celebrate the pop-up store: a t-shirt, a cap and a sweatshirt, available only in the virtual store or can only be purchased by those who visit the virtual pop-up. These exclusive pieces are the first of their kind, designed specifically for the digital space. The Fiorucci Virtual Store San Babila is open till 27 March, while the capsule collection will be available on the brand website worldwide from 28 March. With this initiative, Fiorucci has leveraged digitalisation so that loyal consumers, and new ones, can connect with its brand heritage, design aesthetic and new drops.
The history of Fiorucci
Italian label Fiorucci, founded by Elio Fiorucci in 1967, exposed Milan to British and American classics. By the 1970s, the direction of stylistic influence reversed, and its store in New York became famous for the foreign fashions it introduced to the United States. Known as the “daytime Studio 54”, it attracted trendsetters from Andy Warhol to Madonna.
As a leader in the globalisation of fashion, Fiorucci scoured the world for trends, introducing the mass market to thongs from Brazil and Afghan coats. The label popularised camouflage and leopard-skin prints before the invention of stretch jeans.
However, the brand was marred by legal battles over trademarks and several relaunches failed to make an impact. A month after it was sold to Janie and Stephen Schaffer, Elio Fiorucci was found dead in his Milan home on 20 July 2015, at 80. A destination store opened in London’s Soho in September 2017, where Cher rubbed shoulders with Jackie Onassis, Calvin Klein and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Meanwhile, the brand continued to bring new products including velvet slippers from China and a collection made from DuPont Tyvek fabric. Shortly, it launched the first stretch jeans with Lycra, and the 5-pocket “Safety” jeans in partnership with Wrangler Jeans. In 1987, Fiorucci produced the Junior Gaultier line designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and in 1989, they made a deal with Vivienne Westwood.
In 1981, Benetton bought Montedison’s 50 percent stake in Fiorucci, which was reduced to 33.3 percent in 1986 when Elio Fiorucci brought in Iranian businessman Massimo Aki Nuhi as a third partner. Benetton sold their remaining stake to Fiorucci and Aki Nuhi in 1987.
The New York store closed in 1986, and the rest of the US retail locations in 1988, after a franchise dispute. The company went into administration in April 1989. Fiorucci was rescued by the Tacchella brothers of Carrera S.p.A., who sold the company to Japanese group Edwin Co., Ltd. One of Edwin’s first acts was a deal with Coles Myer that would see 68 Fiorucci concessions in stores across Australia and a new store in Milan in 1993.
Meanwhile, the brand continued to thrive in Europe, and regained its notoriety in 1995 with a provocative campaign. In 2015, the luxury brand was sold to Janie Schaffer, ex-CEO of Victoria’s Secret, and her former husband Stephen. Their plans to relaunch Fiorucci began in 2017 with pop-up shops in Barneys New York, and Selfridges and Harrods in London.
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
