The word artist who is popular with Millennials and social media netizens splashed his signature catchphrases on key streetwear tropes.
A look from the Max&Co. &Co.llaboration collection by Pietro Terzini. Courtesy of Max&Co.
MILAN — There couldn’t be a more appropriate title for artist Pietro Terzini’s collaboration with Max&Co. than “Here We Go Again,” his second tie-up with the Max Mara Group-owned youthful brand.
After the first partnership last year, the creative, known for his catchy and Millennial-friendly word art which has appeared on paintings, scaffolding, billboards, and Milan’s OG skyscraper Torre Velasca, is back at it again for Max&Co.’s &Co.llaboration project.
“We built a great relationship with the first chapter, with a lot of energy and positive creative stream… here they asked me to develop a broader collaboration based on my fashion taste,” Terzini said.
It turns out Terzini’s introduction to fashion came via sports. As a kid in the mid-’90s he started playing basketball after watching the 1996 movie by Joe Pytka “Space Jam,” looking at Michael Jordan as a sport champ and style icon reference. Terzini said he’d have his parents drive him to Milan to buy Jordan brand’s gear and sneakers, as well as NBA jerseys at a local shop that imported them from the U.S.
“What struck me fashion-wise at 6 or 7 years old still resonates with my personal style today. Playing basketball, I was influenced by the American sports and hip-hop aesthetics,” he said. “I started to delve deeper into that subculture when in the mid-Aughts such artists as Kanye West [now formally known as Ye] and Pharrell emerged on the scene bringing together elements of Afro-American culture and fashion.”
Pietro Terzini Courtesy of Max&Co.
Terzini’s &Co.llaboration is centered on streetwear tropes, in the vein of the early days of the phenomenon going mainstream thanks to fashion figures such as Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, Raf Simons and Virgil Abloh, Terzini said.
Looking at his own wardrobe, Terzini and the Max&Co. design team distilled archetypal garments, with hoodies, varsity jackets, flannel shirts and bombers all making the cut. In keeping with the artist’s preferred medium — words as graphics — they are splashed with tongue-in-cheek catchphrases.
These include “I hope your email won’t find me” appearing on the back of a burgundy pin-striped business suit, or “I’ll check and let you know” on a flannel plaid overshirt, “heartbreaker” on a bright blue bomber and “I didn’t study at Oxford” on button-down shirts. “I’d rather stay home” splashed on a duffel bag intended for weekend getaways creates a semantic contrast.
“These are somewhat minimal pieces characterized by my writings, which are my signature trait. I really wanted phrases to interact with the garments but also that they looked nicely placed,” Terzini said. “Their common thread is irony and fun.”
Looks from the Max&Co. &Co.llaboration collection by Pietro Terzini. Courtesy of Max&Co.
Although Max&Co. is historically a womenswear brand, the capsule collection is billed as genderless.
“We didn’t really plan for it to be genderless; it came naturally. I think streetwear is a very Bauhaus segment in fashion, in that shape always follows function. These garments are influenced by sportswear and workwear, and they are universal because they were conceived with functionality in mind. They are genderless by definition, which at the end of the day is a very contemporary concept,” Terzini said.
The collection will debut in stores in September.
Max&Co.’s tie-up with Terzini marks the eighth installment of the &Co.llaboration project.
Last September the brand linked with Italian stylist and image maker Lorenzo Posocco, following British designer Richard Quinn; travel and style influencer Sofía Sanchez de Betak; stylist and fashion editor Anna Dello Russo; designer and curator Duro Olowu, and Efisio Rocco Marras, the creative director of I’m Isola Marras and son of designer Antonio Marras. The &Co.llaborations initiative kicked off with a co-branded capsule for spring 2022 created with Margherita Maccapani Missoni.
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