Just when you thought 16Arlington’s creative director Marco Capaldo could withstand no further events in his jam-packed schedule, along comes another big-time project, and this time it’s nothing to do with fashion. As it turns out, the designer has had a busy few weeks. First he presented his spring/summer ‘25 runway collection during London fashion week, which, true to the brand’s DNA, delivered on sophisticatedly sultry staples that made a convincing case for minis in the boardroom, and hailed the return of the bouncy blowdry (courtesy of Sam McKnight). And in between working on the next collections and dressing Kylie Jenner, who’s already donned a new-season runway look, Capaldo somehow found the time to curate his debut art exhibition, in collaboration with the art gallery Almine Rech, as part of London’s Frieze art fair, titled Memories of The Future.
‘I was approached by Almine Rech, the gallery, and they presented me with this really exciting project, and essentially gave me carte blanche to curate an exhibition and to come up with a theme,’ says Capaldo. ‘And the concept on which we landed - Memories of the Future - came from my intrigue in how the past shapes our future. It’s this idea of memory and dreams and reality and bringing that all together in a space.’ And why an exhibition now - does he ever sleep? ‘I’m very tired,’ he quips. ‘But this has been a year-long project. The team at the gallery saw my interaction with the arts and the people that have become a community and part of the brand. So, I was so excited and honoured by the opportunity, and it just felt like the right thing to do,’ he continues.
Busy schedules aside, it transpires, this foray into the art world has been bubbling beneath the surface for some time now, for Capaldo’s brand has become increasingly intertwined with the elusive spheres of the fine arts, propelling 16Arlington’s scintillating showstoppers far beyond the dance floor. For his autumn/winter ‘24 collection, Capaldo was inspired by Charlie Fox’s exhibition My Head is a Haunted House, exploring the monster in all of us. And when working on his most recent collection, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In was close to thought, again turning the macabre beautiful. The set design, too, made a nod to Capaldo’s proclivity for the arts, having collaborated with the artist Jesse Pollock, whose welded metal flowers towered in the centre of the runway, and on the wrists of the models as bracelets.
Now, Pollock’s work is featured in the new exhibition. As is the work of George Rouy and Remi Ajani, who sat front row at his shows. ‘It’s amazing to see the world through their eyes and how each and everyone, regardless of their discipline or their inspiration, has such a strong emotional connection to what they put out. It's just been incredible to kind of witness and watch and learn from them,’ he says.
Elsewhere, the exhibition boasts institutional pieces, such as John Giorno’s Dial-A-Poem, and Warhol still life polaroids as well as a portrait of the famed Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland. The works featured in the show strike an emotional balance between moments of personal memories for the designer, and those that transported him into the intimate inner workings of the artists whose works he picked, proving that his curatorial eye confidently encompasses far more than the realms of fashion.
‘I'm very passionate and drawn to what I’ve done and it’s something that happened very naturally, and I quite like that. It didn't feel like something that was planned or forced. It just very organically came to life. And I think that's part of the beauty of it, because there was no kind of set goal or ambition, and I'm just excited to see what comes next from it.’
As it turns out, the hottest ticket on London’s fashion week schedule doesn’t only draw in the crowds to the runway, but his newest pastures have the selfsame crowd-pleasing appeal: from Maya Wigram to Simone Ashley and Hans Ulrich Obrist, queues formed outside the Frieze 9 Cork Street gallery to join Capaldo for the opening, followed by a dinner at London’s Groucho Club.
Memories of the Future is now open and runs through until Saturday, 19th October 2024 at Frieze No.9 Cork Street, London, W1S 3LL.