The House of Peroni NYC Opening with Francesco Carrozzini, Solange Knowles, Vanessa Beecroft, & More

Last eve, The House of Peroni celebrated its first New York opening, inside Patricia Field’s former Bowery boutique, the parfait venue for the NYFW-timed event. There to host were Nastro Azzuro and creative director, photographer, and film director Francesco Carrozzini, and joining them to toast the grand opening were New York’s fashion and art crowd including Tali Lennox, Solange Knowles, Catherine Martin, Jamie N Commons, Victoria Gucci, and more.

After several years of success in Europe, the House of Peroni officially debuts in the U.S. from September 8 to 10. The multi-level boutique will host a variety of fashion, art, and cultural events, including artistic collaborations by Italian contemporary artist Beecroft, award-winning costume designer Martin, and London-based sound designer Max Cooper.

We chatted with Carrozzini about his inspo for the space and what’s next on his list of creative projects

What’s the idea behind the U.S. version of House of Peroni?
This is the first time the House of Peroni is hosted in New York City—it’s a model that Margherita Missoni started hosting in London. Throughout these four days we’ll see performances, lectures, and videos. The idea started with trying to put into this space what I like and who I’m a fan of. Catherine Martin is also a dear friend, and she was married to Baz Luhrmann who is also a dear friend—he’s in my film that I just presented in Venice. She’ll discuss her work and what it means to make movies and costumes and sets in movies and how that influences pop culture and current culture. She’s showing costumes from Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, and The Get Down. Vanessa Beecroft is a super long time friend and Kanye [West] collaborator. She’ll show us a video from his performance at MSG. Max Cooper is doing an incredible art installation with sound and light, which is mind-blowing. We have lots of music as well. It’s a lot of different artists doing different things. It’s exciting because a brand can communicate their message by promoting art, rather than pushing products, which to me, was the appeal of this project.

What’s your creative concept?
For me, this was curating. I haven’t produced any original content. I didn’t want to—I shoot enough pictures and I just finished my latest film, so I wanted to do something that would take me out of me being involved, first-person.

How do you see Peroni colliding with fashion and art?
Italy is fashion and design…these days, it’s only fashion and design! That’s what we’re strong at. I think Peroni wants to use that by using different curators and artists. It’s not a direct thing. It’s a DNA thing. This is not a fashion event, this is an event that relates to style. Fashion is something you follow, whereas style is something you have.

This space was Patricia Field’s boutique. Have you met her?
No, I haven’t! But I used to hang out a lot in this area. What we tried to do and who we involved makes the space very high level, but it’s also very young and downtown. When we found out that this space was available we knew it was the perfect fit.

What other projects do you have in the works?
I am spending quite some time promoting my film. The Venice Film Festival was only the the beginning. We have around 10 film festivals to attend from here to the end of the year. And I just wrote a story that I would love to turn into a script and make my next film.