Milan’s now iconic concept store, 10 Corso Como, is presenting The Waves, an exhibition showcasing five of the most radical contemporary designers. At the same time, the concept store welcomes the highly anticipated Italian debut of Gentle Monster, the avant-garde eyewear brand known for its futuristic aesthetics.
Curated under the visionary leadership of Tiziana Fausti, The Waves presents the work of ALL-IN, Duran Lantink, Hodakova, Vaquera, and zomer, brands that challenge conventional notions of tailoring, sustainability, and gender identity. Through a mix of custom creations and exclusive designs, each designer’s voice resonates in a dynamic conversation between past and future. The exhibition is on view until March 30, 2025.
Taking its title from Virginia Woolf’s most mysterious novel, The Waves evokes the perpetual motion par excellence – that of the waves – as a metaphor for pure time, a circular present. Curator Alessio de’Navasques explains, “The collections of the selected designers seem to return to the past and transport it into the modern day, in that infinite rhythm of quotations and references that fashion succeeds in molding through what the German philosopher Walter Benjamin defined as the “tiger’s leap”: the constant capacity of the creative process for reinvention.”
ALL-IN, founded by Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø, is a creative space. LVMH Prize nominees Danial Aitouganov and Imruh Asha of zomer take a more instinctive approach, layering diverse materials into dramatic, fabric-based architectures.
Hodakova, led by Swedish designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson, embraces a deconstructive ethos. Working with belts, zippers, fur remnants, and even discarded boots, Ms. Larsson reconstructs garments to critique fashion’s production and consumption cycles. Her innovative approach has earned Hodakova a place in Paris Fashion Week this year.
Duran Lantink, known for his gender-fluid and experimental designs, further pushes the boundaries of reuse. Finally, Vaquera, the New York-based collective led by Patric DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee, reimagines fashion as a theatrical space for identity expression. A key visual element of The Waves is its partnership with Bonaveri, whose handcrafted sartorial mannequins enhance the presentation.
“Within the 10·Corso·Como ecosystem, where cultural design, lifestyle and fashion live on exchanges and iterations, The Waves focuses on five new fashion protagonists in a special, polyphonic tale, where alongside their respective identities a new sense of time stands out, moving between past and future,” says Ms. Fausti.
The Gentle Monster X Maison Margiela pop-up at 10 Corso Como
Meanwhile, as Gentle Monster reveals its store at 10 Corso Como, it sees the debut of the brand’s third collaboration with Maison Margiela as well, showcasing 20 eyewear designs.
The Gentle Monster store at 10 Corso Como
The collection, a blend of classicism and futurism, features 20 distinctive eyewear designs that merge cybercore aesthetics, metallic materials, cable temples, and Maison Margiela’s iconic four white stitches. Gentle Monster Milan 10·Corso·Como store is also host to the collaboration’s pop-up space, which features cybercore inspired abstract human forms, raw patterns, and sheer materials in harmonious balance.
