RITRATTI
by CAROLINA CASTIGLIONI

Plan C debuts RITRATTI by Carolina Castiglioni, a new multifaceted project combining art, fashion and design. 

The project was presented during Milan Design Week at Galleria Il Vicolo.

Plan C’s founder and creative director Carolina Castiglioni created a limited-edition capsule collection, letting her creativity take on new forms.

Having always been inspired by figurative and abstract art, the designer selected 4 stylized prints previously used on a range of Plan C items as starting points to ideate a set of sculptures.
The subjects of the sculptures are Carolina herself, her children Margherita and Filippo, as well as one of their friends. The prints were originally pictures that Carolina took during her spare time with her kids. For the first time the designer took a different creative direction and channeled her passion for art into a project very close to her heart.

The colorful, eye-catching resin sculptures are handmade by skilled artisans in Milan starting from white chalk and polymeric clay artifacts used to create silicone rubber molds. These molds are then filled with resin, later sleekened and hand painted. 
The four sculptures immediately reflect the distinctive aesthetic of the effortlessly chic luxury brand that is Plan C.

In addition to the set of scultpures, Carolina also transposed them in the apparel world as intarsia on mohair sweaters and as sequined embroideries on pencil skirts coming in four different color combinations matching with the artistic objects.

At the same time, the graphic elements also appear on four different carpets developed under license by French homeware brand Trame Paris, that worked with artisans in Morocco to craft these exquisite wool creations available upon request.

“The most exciting thing about this project is that it enabled me to express my vision through different creative forms,” comments Carolina. “I love designing fashion collections, but at the same time opening to different fields, like visual art and design, give me bigger chances to fully express myself. This has always been a key element of my career and I think in the future this will strongly influence the further development of the Plan C brand.”

This colorful and sophisticated constellation of items was the core of a suggestive installation at Milan’s art gallery Il Vicolo, where Carolina’s creations was on show on a rotating life size music box.

The gallery also housed a pop-up show, where the limited-edition collection, that includes canvas tote bags and printed shirts, was available for purchase for the entire duration of Milan Design Week.
The "Ritratti" project was also hosted by the milanese store Biffi in Corso Genova with an exclusive installation in the store's windows.

Following the Milanese debut, RITRATTI traveled around the world.
After being hosted by New York fashion store La Garconne in May, in September it stole the spotlight at Tokyo’s Isetan department store and Berlin’s luxury shopping mecca Andreas Murkudis ended the Ritratti tour on a high note.