Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1528557
NOTES Ancora! Balenciaga Music has unveiled a collaboration with Italian Icon Mina — a blend of fashion, design, art, music, and technology that's long overdue. It's the first time the groundbreaking artist, whose career spans more than 50 years, has officially collaborated with a fashion house. Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia, who first heard Mina while in a cafe in 2011, has launched limited- edition merch, a three-hour original playlist featuring a personal selection f r o m M i n a ' s preferred artists, and the exclusive pre-release of her new track, "L'Amore Vero," accessible via Balenciaga Music | Mina products. The single previews the self-exiled artist's forthcoming album, which will be released in November. The Balenciaga Music | Mina Series includes l i m i t e d - e d i t i o n sunglasses designed by Demna Gvasalia with a continuous black-tinted lens inspired by Mina's s i g n a t u r e e y e makeup, alongside an exclusive QR code that unlocks "L'Amore Vero." Also included is a T-shirt printed with Mina's visage and a list of her 106 albums; the tag is embedded with an NFC (Near Field Communication) FASHION chip that also reveals the new track when activated by a compatible device. Balenciaga Music | Mina Series, at select Balenciaga boutiques, balenciaga.com. Things That Make You Go ... Wow! Tapping into his sense of wonder and adding a touch of sweetness, Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy revealed The Ark lounge chair collection at this year's Milan Fashion Week. The design reinterprets the low-slung Sacco chair, which was designed in 1968 by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, and Franco Teodoro and shares the same softness and anti-formalism as Bottega Veneta's early bags. For The Ark collection, Blazy plays off the chair's malleability, changing its shape into 15 joyful animal forms in various colorways. The Ark is available December 1 through 8 at Design Miami; the light gray rabbit and white chicken will be sold exclusively at the fair. As Blazy says, "The door is open to the possibility of strange realities and wonder, impossible scenarios that banish disillusion. This is about the power of sincerity over strategy." bottegaveneta.com. Miu Miu goes to Art Basel Miuccia Prada has a fascination with the lives of women. Inspiration from experiences, histories, and stories became Miu Miu Women's Tales, a platform for female filmmakers to present their views on femininity. Since 2021, the biannual Miu Miu runway show has become a forum for dialogue with artists through installation and motion image, exploring multiple ideas but always turning its focus back to women. As part of the brand's collaboration with Art Basel Paris, Miu Miu announces Tales & Tellers, a major project at Palais d'Iéna headquarters of France's Economic, Social and Environmental Council, which is also the site of the Miu Miu runway shows. Created by interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga and curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose (director of MACBA, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona), the exhibition draws its title from "the conveyance of knowledge, an expression of meaning, the imparting of histories and stories," as explained in the press materials. miumiu.com. By Steven Hempel Mina x Balenciaga Fendi By the Way bag Balenciaga Music | Mina Series Bottega Veneta's 2025 runway set Bottega Veneta's The Ark Sacco chair 38