This Online Auction, Featuring Archival Prada and Maison Margiela, is Raising Funds for Lebanon

It all stems from conversations with friends like Francesco Risso, the Marni creative director whom she met since she moved to Milan five years ago. “One of these discussions led Risso to generously offer his entire archive.” Other friends volunteered their time, like the Venturini sisters behind Medea, who walked around the halls wearing Ask Me stickers to help provide information to the attendees, or the Lebanese bakery Oslo Made In Heaven who offered sweets at the event. Thus the physical sale was born. “Organizing this initiative with the support of my company and my community in Milan—a place where I often feel distant from the liberation front—was a very inspiring exercise, and a hopeful respite from the disorienting despair of the past year,” Emme explained. “The willingness of people to show up in community and mobilize alongside one another has been encouraging, and the spirit behind the initiative has crossed our daily routines and opened a space for people to get involved. Beyond the funds raised (over 100,000 euros), for me it was an achievement to bring so many people together for a common cause.” Another detail she calls special was going around and meeting people, seeing their reactions to the clothes and how they fit on their bodies taking on new life. “I think there’s a lot of energy that comes out of this kind of exchange.”

Some of the garments that will be sold at the Super Cedar Auction

Some of the garments that will be sold at the Super Cedar Auction

About the Super Cedar Auction

Some of the 1,000 people who came to the sale in Milan came from far and wide to participate (Emme mentioned people traveling from Spain and Brazil), but the place that generated the most involvement was online, so it was necessary to turn to digital as well. The online auction, will run from December 4th until the 14th on the dedicated site. “Scrolling through the pieces we received felt like a survey of contemporary fashion history, particularly those from Francesco’s archive, who was at Prada for 30 years and is now for Marni,” she shares. “We decided to set aside 21 of the most valuable lots—unique pieces that make up a huge part of the canon of the last 30 years of contemporary fashion history—and put them up for auction online. These are standout pieces that many of us have dreamed of from the runway shows, but also unique pieces that inspired the creation process.” I ask her to give me a few examples of what we will find online, as I sound out precisely in my mind what I found at the sale: I remember a Gucci by Tom Ford leather dress (which I missed) and a Prada Spring Summer 2015 summer dress (which I took instead). “A futuristic jacket in wool and shearling by Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga, Miuccia Prada’s iconic collaborations with artists James Jean and Christophe Chemin, or a vest from Martin Margiela’s ‘A Doll’s Wardrobe’ collection; it was wonderful to remember the dreams that brought us here as we analyzed the pieces.”

Breaking free from accumulation as a political gesture

According to Vogue Business by 2027, the resale market will generate $350 million and will have Generation Z and Millennials as its most loyal consumers (2 out of 3), partly because they espouse the cause of sustainability, which often does not seem to go exactly hand in hand with the accumulation and overproduction that the fashion industry seems to propose instead. Saam tells me that the very idea of getting rid of some pieces she kept gathering dust in her closet was cathartic, yes, but above all a gesture shot through with political and social awareness. “Like Francisco, I too have collected pieces over the years that have remained in my heart, but my relationship with accumulation has also changed. Endless consumption has become an unwanted distraction,” she explains. “It becomes difficult to hold on to matter when you see whole worlds being wiped out.” Purifying from the accumulated excess and releasing it into the world: Emme’s hope is that that unleashed energy will be alchemized in some other way and open up new possibilities for action and engagement in people.