MONACO.- Almine Rech Monaco announces 'Francesco Vezzoli presents: KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS Tribute to a historic encounter in Monte Carlo', Francesco Vezzoli’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, on view from March 20 to May 24, 2025, in collaboration with Memphis.

"It was love at first sight. When I saw the Memphis show in September '81 in Milan. I had just got a big apartment in Monte Carlo. And had no idea how to furnish it. I had never lived in a modern building. I wanted it all modern and instantly thought that Memphis would be the Art Deco of the '80s. I was right. The influence was enormous. Memphis tried to breathe fresh air into the word "design." And what I like about all the Memphis stuff is its humor." — Karl Lagerfeld

Three qualities characterized Karl: an encyclopedic culture that he constantly nurtured, as he was one of those people who only need four to five hours of sleep; a love for the present that always takes him forward, never looking or turning back; and last but not least, an obvious sense of humor in all his creations as well as in his vision of life and his way of expressing it. To me, Karl's trademark was his caustic, irreverent humor, which applied to everything he dealt with, and thanks to which he was able to approach the Chanel world not as a fashion historian but as an heir who was able to extend and adapt his zeitgeist to that of a bygone era.

His way of not taking things too seriously, while still respecting them, did much for our friendship. I remember a soirée in a Rome that was still that of the dolce vita. Karl had designed for me a black crêpe de Chine strapless dress with geometric gold-lamé embroidery highlights. And I surprised him, making him burst out with laughter, as I arrived with an authentic Thai dancer’s headdress brought back from Bangkok, a real wedding cake in the shape of a winged pagoda, topped by a 30-cm-high oriental Eiffel Tower! As we arrived at the party, Karl holding one of my arms and Omar Sharif the other, we met Fellini, who was leaving and who, surprised, asked me: "Stai girando?" (You're making a film?). My extravagance had exceeded his imagination!

It is this same excess, along with his creative enthusiasm, that is at the root of this 'full-on Memphis' interior that Karl wanted when he arrived in Monte Carlo.
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— Paloma Picasso