International conversations at Venice Fashion Week: Dries Van Noten, Sara Sozzani Maino, Antonio Mancinelli, and Adele Re Rebaudengo discuss projects supporting young creatives with Venezia da Vivere
Dries Van Noten, the Belgian designer who in May of this year acquired Palazzo Pisani Moretta to transform it into a contemporary creativity hub blending art and craftsmanship, will be at the Royal Gardens on Friday, October 24 at 4:30 PM for the twelfth edition of Venice Fashion Week, in conversation with Sara Sozzani Maino, Creative Director of Fondazione Sozzani, Antonio Mancinelli, journalist and fashion critic, and Adele Re Rebaudengo, President of the Venice Gardens Foundation.
“I don’t care about trends, I care about ideas” Dries Van Noten
The talk The future of fashion is responsible explores projects that support new generations of creatives, who are today the true protagonists of the shift toward sustainable fashion. Joining them are Lorenzo Cinotti and Laura Scarpa, founders of Venice Fashion Week and Venezia da Vivere, projects created to promote designers and artisans and to champion Venice as a city in which to live and create.
A new future for Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice
“I don’t care about trends, I care about ideas”
Dries Van Noten retired from the runway in June 2024 after 38 years at the helm of his own brand. In May of this year, he purchased Palazzo Pisani Moretta on the Grand Canal and stated that the project is about Venice, history, craftsmanship, and creating something contemporary with deep respect for what came before.
Supporting young talent
“Supporting the new generation is not only fundamental, it is our responsibility, because they represent our future. Giving visibility to creative projects capable of transforming consumption habits is an essential priority”
Sara Sozzani Maino is the creative director of the Fondazione Sozzani, founded in Milan by Carla Sozzani in 2016 to promote photography, culture, fashion, and the arts. Together with the Foundation, she supports and promotes the new generation of designers through projects dedicated to education, responsibility, and the dissemination of contemporary creativity.
Fashion is the mirror of society
“Craftsmanship is the most disciplined form of creativity.”
Antonio Mancinelli, journalist and fashion critic, interprets fashion as a cultural phenomenon reflecting changes in society, politics, and art. To describe it with depth, a cross-disciplinary perspective is required, capable of grasping connections with contemporary art, economics, and the thought of the time: every collection on the runway is a visual translation of the social evolution of the moment.
Gardens as cultural heritage
“Restoring a garden means recognizing the fundamental role these places can play within the social and community fabric of a city, fostering a deep connection with nature based on affinity, harmony, and respect”
Adele Re Rebaudengo chairs the Venice Gardens Foundation, which in 2019 returned the Royal Gardens of St. Mark’s Square to the city—a place of peace and reconnection with oneself and nature: five thousand square meters of greenery brought back to life by architect Paolo Pejrone with an experimental botanical approach that allows visitors to measure time by the rhythm of the plants. In 2024, the Venice Gardens Foundation donated a new garden to the city: the Redentore Garden Orchard on the Giudecca.
Exhibitions, conferences, and artistic and literary events, such as the Campiello Natura Venice Gardens Foundation Prize established in 2023 in collaboration with the Fondazione Il Campiello and the 2025 Venice Gardens Foundation Nature Literary Prize for Young Readers, make the garden a living place.
Photo and drawing of the Royal Gardens: Carlo Soffietti and Anna Regge (watercolor 2017).
