FMC #06

09.10 / Second Module on Modern Mythology at UNITO
The Modern Mythology & Communication Design Lab is designed to train experts in communication practices and narrative strategies for the Cultural and Creative Industries. These will be the “voices” of change, able to translate emerging trends and data into innovative cultural communication – designed to resonate across generations, with a deeper awareness of the ongoing evolution shaping our world.

14.10 / STATUS QUⒺST at XR4ED DemoDay Bootcamp

After workshops in Rovereto and Turin – and valuable feedback gathered from both sighted and non-sighted users – we are now ready for the official presentation and launch of the prototype game STATUS QUⒺST.
More info coming soon on how to download and try it out!

21.10 / THE MYTH OF SUPERHEROES
The major exhibition on the Greco-Roman mythological roots of contemporary superheroes, curated by Fabrizio Modina for Fondazione M-Cube, Federica Montani, and Eugenio Martera for Contemporanea Progetti, opens at the Archäologisches Museum in Hamburg.
After its preview in San Diego (USA) and the main exhibition currently at Vapriikki Museokeskus in Tampere, Finland (open until January 18, 2026), this German edition offers a continuous dialogue between past and present, exploring the archetypes of superheroes rooted in ancient myths and legends.

2.11 / Discovering the Myths of… The Lifetimes Tour
A must-see FMC event at the crossroads of music and pop culture: American superstar Katy Perry arrives at the Unipol Arena in Bologna for the only Italian date of her world tour. With over 115 billion streams, 70 million albums, and 143 million singles sold worldwide, Katy Perry remains one of the most beloved artists of all time.

13.11 / Discovering the Myths of… The Mayhem Ball
The concert-event of the year: Lady Gaga returns to music after her film ventures, with a massive show balancing between decadent baroque and dark neo-gothic.
FMC will be in the Golden Circle at Lyon’s LDLC Arena (FR) for a live reportage.

by Emanuela Zilio

Today I take you to Berlin, into the beating heart of the Volksbühne. Here, far from the spotlight, 47 artisans work tirelessly to bring to life the sets and costumes that the audience admires on stage.

Photo: @Makar Artemev

On September 25, the theatre opened its new season with Peer Gynt. While most of the staff enjoyed the summer break, the workshops reopened early in mid-August: there was still much to be done to complete the Bühne and the Kostüme that had been in progress since spring.

Every stage design begins as a digital model, sketched on a computer in the workshop offices. Once it receives approval from the director’s team, the project becomes material: wood, metal, paint, and decorations take shape thanks to the skilled hands of the Werkstatt, led by Stefan Möllers. In the Pankow warehouses, the carpentry, metalwork, and decoration departments transform the vision into three-dimensional reality, while on the fourth floor of the Volksbühne, the master tailors turn the costume designers’ ideas into fabric.

Photo: @Makar Artemev

The costume workshops are divided into two: one for women’s costumes and the other for men’s. Here, work is always a race against time: unlike opera, where the schedule is set at the beginning of the season, theatre productions allow for constant changes up until the last moment. On average, there are six weeks to transform sketches into stage-ready garments. And yet, despite the rush, the atmosphere remains calm and collaborative. Last August, for example, the team was already working on the costumes for Goodbye, Berlin by Constanza Macras, scheduled to premiere in October.

Even with a rich historical wardrobe – overseen by Ulrike Köhler and her assistant Jasmina Knitter – 80% of the costumes are still created from scratch for each new production. “If the work were outsourced,” Köhler explains, “the proportions would probably be reversed: 80% purchased, 10% newly made, and 10% taken from reserves.”

And the work doesn’t stop with creation. There is the Ankleide, the department where, every evening, costumes are cleaned of sweat, blood (real and fake), vomit, excrement, foam, and all the other substances that the Volksbühne’s conceptual theatre requires. It may not be the most glamorous job, but it is indispensable for the show to go on. As Mina Fichte, Gewandmeisterin of the women’s wardrobe, reminds us: “Many people are involved. Many are essential to the system. And none can exist without the others.”

Discover the video talks by Fondazione M-Cube, starting with fashion and then gliding into many other worlds of Modern Mythology!

Coming this September: new episodes of Doppia Zip.

Double Zip

curated by Grita
filming and editing by Simona Rapisarda

The Artisanal Know-How

Fashion designer and pattern maker Claudine Vincent tells us about the “invisible” professions behind every garment and accessory.
Why is technical work not valued as much as creative work?
Fashion is a collective craft in constant evolution, which is why our conversation naturally turned to sustainability and upcycling.

Follow us so you don’t miss the next episodes!

Discover the FASHION HERITAGE ACADEMY
300 hours of advanced training for professional

Contact & Info

educational@fondazionemcube.it
Secretariat +39 392.6328942 // Mon to Fri – 14.00-16.00

The news of Giorgio Armani’s passing has marked the end of an era – not only for fashion, but for that shared cultural imagination in which his style became a universal language. Among the many images he leaves behind, one belongs more to cinema than to the catwalk: Richard Gere opening a wardrobe in American Gigolo (1980), carefully browsing through Armani jackets and shirts (American Gigolo – Matching Shirts & Ties). In this simple yet magnetic scene, a myth takes shape: the birth of the “Armani man,” an icon of effortless, sophisticated, and sensual elegance.

Armani’s arrival in Hollywood with American Gigolo, directed by Paul Schrader (trailer here: American Gigolo – Trailer), was not merely a lucky episode of product placement. It was the sign of a profound change in the visual language of both fashion and cinema. At the dawn of the 1980s, Western society was entering a decade defined by individualism, image worship, and new forms of consumerism. Fashion stood at the very center of this transformation: clothing became a declaration of identity, a symbol of belonging to a certain status and community, and a tool for social affirmation.

Armani’s style—defined by clean lines and neutral tones such as blue, sand, and gray—fit perfectly within this landscape. Elegant yet restrained, refined yet discreet, it stood in stark contrast to the chromatic excess and flamboyant tailoring of the 1970s. His encounter with cinema was a natural one: Hollywood needed new codes to portray contemporary masculinity, and Armani provided them with clarity. In American Gigolo, Richard Gere became the face that embodied this aesthetic: the suits, the lightness of the fabrics, the purity of the lines all helped define the character of Julian Kay. On screen, we do not see a street-level gigolo but a professional navigating the upper echelons of society. The audience understands this not so much through dialogue, but through the suit itself, an emblem of a decade that would elevate appearance and self-care to the level of a true religion.

It is no coincidence that those same years saw the rise of the first supermodels and an obsessive attention to the body and luxury brands. If Gere and Armani embodied the new face of masculinity, co-star Lauren Hutton represented its feminine counterpart. Already an established actress and model, a glamour icon of the time, her presence tied the film directly to the fashion world. She was dressed by Bottega Veneta—another pillar of Italian style, already synonymous with refinement and sophisticated craftsmanship. The clutch she carries throughout the film becomes an iconic accessory, perfectly expressing the idea of “quiet luxury”: no visible logos, no ostentation, only the unmistakable woven leather, which more than forty years later still dominates catwalks and celebrity wardrobes. Proof that fashion constantly reinvents itself.

Armani and Gere on one side, Bottega Veneta and Hutton on the other. Two poles, narrating male and female elegance yet united by the same vision of style. Together, they projected an image of aesthetic modernity that launched American cinema into dialogue with Italian fashion, an artistic collaboration that would shape the years to come.

Even today, in environments such as Wall Street, a sort of dress code still persists, built on the “must-have” status of certain iconic garments—markers of the highest economic achievement: an Armani suit and Gucci loafers remain essential.

We bid farewell to Giorgio Armani not only as a designer but as a visionary.
His work will forever remain a point of reference, and if, as he once said, “elegance is not about being noticed, but about being remembered,” we can certainly affirm that he achieved exactly that.

in collaboration with Scuola Internazionale Comics (Turin, Italy)

After an extraordinary year together with the students and teachers of the International School of Comics… we are thrilled to present our new series: MiniMyths! One short film every week, just for you… to discover together that Mythology is still alive today—and that every day, we’re building new pieces of it ourselves.

Picture Perfect Future

by Fiammetta Camattari

NEW FORMATS FOR YOU
Coming soon… the irreverent magazine “LETTERALMENTE” (curated by Annarita Clemente).
And more: a COSPLAY magazine with Angela De Marco, a FILM SERIES with Nicolas Casari, and a PODCAST with Giorgia Casari—sharing real-life stories, breaking down prejudices, and finding the courage to open up about all aspects of human experience.

RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Fondazione M-Cube’s research continues in collaboration with the New York Institute of Technology (USA), Auckland University of Technology (NZ), HTW-Berlin (DE), and the Universidade Aberta (Lisbon, Algarve – PT).
We are exploring how Modern Mythology permeates and impacts: urban spaces (“Myth Cities”—a first chapter was presented at KUI 2025 at the Kulturforum in Berlin).

…the food world (think of Coca-Cola or Nutella), the way we dress and design clothes (we still wear garments like jeans—born in the late 19th Century), and even how to imagine new forms of protection for artists’ Intellectual Property.
There’s still much to discover, understand, and share with all of you!

EU & INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Currently in submission: two new projects in response to the latest Horizon calls, developed in collaboration with 40 partners across Europe, the USA, and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, we’re also awaiting evaluations for proposals submitted in the field of music.