FAY ICONS: Fay unveiled the “Iconics” exhibition at Milan’s La Pelota space on Friday evening, displaying 40 portraits lensed by Michael Avedon, together with the brand’s fall 2025 collection.
Fay collaborated over the past year with the grandson of Richard Avedon and “Icons” was staged in collaboration with James Dylan, founder of the American independent magazine Breach, and grandson of Bob Dylan.
Andrea Della Valle, vice chairman of Fay’s parent Tod’s Group, said the exhibition was a way to celebrate the brand’s signature garments such as the “Morning Jacket,” the “Double Coat” and the “Virginia” while “supporting young creative talents.”
“Icons,” said Della Valle, “captures the philosophy and spirit of how Fay approaches the younger generations. Michael did a great job and there is already a lot of curiosity and interest around the exhibition, so we are thinking it could also be itinerant.”
In New York, Avedon photographed the likes of Levy Dylan, James’ brother; musician Eliot Sumner, Sting and Trudie Styler’s son; actor and musician Donald Cumming; artist and musician A.L. Batha; photographer and cinematographer Barron Claiborne, and actress Perla Haney-Jardine.
Avedon also traveled to Los Angeles and London photographing Duke Nicholson, actor and nephew of two-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson; Dree Hemingway; Matthew Avedon, jazz guitarist and Michael’s brother; Danielle Mareka and Marlon Sexton.
Levy Dylan
In Milan, the images were fronted by Gala Zohar Martinucci, Edoardo Dionea Cicconi, Francesco Conforti and Meika Woollard.
“I like to isolate my subjects in my personal work and now I’m seeing this body of work come together, and seeing emotions that are obviously mysterious,” Avedon said. “That’s the nature of portraiture, you don’t know what’s going on psychologically, you can presume and assume and it’s so mystifying, that’s why Rembrandt is the greater portraitist – and there’s no better painter than Caravaggio.”
Asked about the relationship with Fay, Avedon enthused that “it has been just unbelievable for us to explore these individuals in the world, with their own creative insight but allowing us to take liberties and there was a lot of spontaneity and that’s cool.” The works, he added, “are not conceptual, they are environmental and natural.”
