Even as you speak to Anna Zegna and become aware of what a seasoned professional she is (her answers are not rehearsed, exactly, but she certainly never strays off point), you cannot help but be drawn in by her easy Italian charm. The third generation of the family behind the luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna, she is sharp, dynamic, eloquent – the kind of woman who is still all-too-rare in the upper echelons of the luxury industry.
Zegna, whose official title is image director for the Zegna Group, is wearing a simple white blouse and a necklace made from wooden beads – a restrained choice, one thinks, for a member of one of Italy’s best-known fashion dynasties. But this particular Zegna is notoriously down-to-earth – the type pf person who compliments you on your outfit, happily poses for selfies and, when the conversation strays to the subject of ageing, claims: “I really don’t care. Each wrinkle makes us wiser”, before referencing the Italian actress Anna Magnani, who famously said: “Please don’t retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them”.
We meet in Zegna’s Antonio Citterio-designed headquarters on Milan’s leafy Via Savona. It’s the opening day of the Milan Expo and to mark the occasion, Zegna, the company that Anna’s grandfather established in 1910 with the launch of the Lanificio Zegna in Trivero, in Italy’s Biella province, is hosting a party. Not just any party, you understand. By that evening, the contemporary, concrete-clad building will be bursting at the seams as hundreds of people, including longstanding Zegna clients, Italian glitterati, media from around the world, children and even the odd dog, gather to witness what happens when art, food and fashion collide.
The event, Fabulae Naturae, is a reminder that there is more to this company than exquisite, eye-wateringly expensive suits and world-class fabrics (used, incidentally, by some of the biggest names in fashion, including Tom Ford). Ermenegildo Zegna may be one of the world’s largest luxury menswear brands, but it is also eager to promote its commitment to philanthropy, the arts and the environment.
Plenty of brands talk a good game when it comes to corporate social responsibility but with Zegna, it has been an inextricable part of the company’s DNA since Ermenegildo began producing fabric on his four looms over a century ago. Way ahead of his time – an eco-warrior before the term even existed – he understood that the success of the company was linked to its relationship with the local community, and that natural resources should be respected and protected. He built medical centres, nursery schools and the Panoramica Zegna, a 14-kilometre road linking Trivero to Bielmonte. He also planted half a million conifers, as well as rhododendrons and hydrangeas, transforming Trivero’s barren mountainside into a garden that was open to all. In 1993, this early effort at environmental reclamation was officialised with the opening of Oasi Zegna, a 100-square-kilometre, freely accessible nature park extending between Trivero and Valle del Cervo in the Biella Alps.
Anna reflects on the most important lessons learnt from her formidable grandfather: “He taught me two lessons. First of all, the way he related to people. He had a kindness and a respect for everybody. He was a man of the people.
“The other thing that I was always impressed by was his respect for nature. The way he transformed this mountain, I think he was an artist. He really shaped the landscape and through that he gave us two messages. First of all, of a great sense of hope, because when you plant trees, it is not for today, it is for tomorrow. And then, a belief in man, because he knew that what he did would not only last for him, but for future generations. So he had a great sense of believing in mankind, and for me, this is a great message.”
It has also left in its wake a great legacy – a heavy responsibility that this current generation of Zegnas, including Anna’s brother Gildo, the company’s chief executive, and their cousin Paolo, its chairman, must bear. “Whatever we do today will have an impact on the future and must also be a positive enhancement of what we have received as a legacy,” Anna acknowledges.
On the night of May 2, the message is translated into a multisensory journey centred around a new project by artists Lucy + Jorge Orta, which combines performance art, nature-inspired visuals and limited-edition collectibles. Bold, multicoloured floral murals engulf the walls; an oversized metal tree snakes across the floor, its branches leading to food stations serving up gastronomic delights by Italian uber-chef Davide Oldani; and books from the archives of the Heberlein Fund, a collection of 2,200 fabric samples acquired by the Zegna Group in 2011, are highlighted in glass boxes. The project was commissioned by ZegnArt, a platform founded by the company to support contemporary visual arts. “We think that beauty is part of style. We work with beauty every day and art has always been a great inspiration,” says Zegna.
Lucy Orta took her inspiration directly from the Heberlein Fund, looking in particular at two volumes from the 1970s featuring colourful geometric floral patterns. Translations of these motifs are also to be found on a collection of 500 specially created, limited-edition Royal Limoges porcelain plates that are put on sale over the course of the evening. Proceeds from the sale are to contribute to the restoration of Punta Mesco, near Levanto, with every plate sold going towards the planting of a row of vines at the historic estate.
When it came to selecting artists for Fabulae Naturae, Zegna says the Ortas were an obvious choice. “They are inspired by the same topics that we are. They work with nature, they are very much engaged with the major themes of environmental protection, sustainability and highlighting the dangers, but also the beauty, of nature. I think today we have to inspire people, not just point a finger at what doesn’t work.
“When Lucy Orta came to Trivero and studied the flowers in the Heberlein Fund, she immediately connected the archive to the local landscape, to the point that she designed plates that carry the Carabus beetle, an endangered species that in Italy can only be found in Oasi Zegna. It is a very small insect, but we know how many species are disappearing every day, and this species is part of the greater biosphere and biodiversity.”
The beetle takes centre stage that evening, as part of a live art installation. Dressed in the army blankets that are a recurring theme in the Ortas' work, actors symbolising endangered species (ranging from the obvious to the seemingly insignificant) amass on the stairs of the headquarters and offer up a musical performance entitled Symphony for Absent Wildlife, a haunting blend of flute notes and bird calls.
As is often the case with contemporary art, some guests will, no doubt, be left nonplussed by the spectacle, but in its entirety, the evening acts as a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of this company. Everything – from the fashion to the factory, the community to the collections, and the environment to the arts – is tightly interwoven, much like the famed fabrics themselves.
So the floral wall murals link back to the Heberlein Fund and to the idea of fabric, the very foundation upon which the Zegna brand was built; but they are also a symbol of Oasi Zegna, a long-standing example of the company’s respect for nature and the environment; this loops back to the importance of natural resources, particularly water, in the milling process – it is the water that is found in the hills of the Biella province that makes it such an ideal location for the fabric-making process.
Water is also a key focus of the Fondazione Zegna, a not-for-profit organisation launched by the family in 2000, which supports cultural, social, medical and environmental projects in Italy and beyond. The foundation has partnered with initiatives as wide-ranging as the World Wildlife Fund in China; Oceana, an international organisation focused on ocean conservation and reclamation; Care & Share, a non-governmental organisation in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, India, which provides various forms of assistance, including education, for poor and needy children; and Amref, the largest NGO in Africa, which is engaged in health education, medical assistance and crisis-management programmes.
Anna, who is the foundation’s president, explains why water is such an important focal point. “Water is so central to our business, but it is also the heart of any society. Water is what allows a community to blossom because it means health and it means education, because it means that women don’t have to walk 12 kilometres every day to go and get water.”
Anna admits to having wanted to run off and join Mother Teresa as a young girl, but she is certainly not naive in her world view. While the Zegna Group is doing its bit to make the fashion industry more sustainable, she is well aware that there is plenty of work to be done at the grass-roots level, among people who have probably never heard of the company and its gorgeous garments.
The night before, on May Day, rioters took to central Milan rallying in part against Expo 2015. “They destroyed not just the windows of banks, but also the trees and flowers that people had put in front of their shops to create a beautiful city,” says Zegna. “And when they interview these people and ask them: ‘What is your dream?’, they say: ‘To destroy everything’. This is what makes me sad. There is so much to do before we even get to the issue of aware consumption.
“What really makes me suffer is how the world is being divided by a lack of respect for other peoples’ values. Because these people in societies that do not respect human life and my beliefs and your beliefs, what is the world of tomorrow that they are building? What is the message that they are trying to convey to their children?”
Of course, there is also the small matter of selling suits. How, if at all, does Zegna’s ethical approach affect customers? “You don’t just buy a suit; you buy a mindset,” Zegna retorts, as firm and on point as ever.
sdenman@thenational.ae
