LINES OF BEAUTY

Massimo Giorgetti's new rug collection for CC-Tapis takes Milan's 1960s metro system as a departure point

- LAURA MAY TODD

The fashion designer Massimo Giorgetti remembers with clear precision the first time that he rode on the Milan metro. ‘It was 1998 and I remember arriving at the red line and seeing the handrail,’ he says, referring to the elegantly curving metal tubes that run along the station staircases, designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg in 1964. ‘I didn’t know anything about Franco Albini or Franca Helg, but I started to study and soon it became an obsession.’ At the time, he had yet to move to the northern metropolis from his hometown of Rimini, or to found MSGM, his fashion label known for its bold prints and smart, youthful designs.

Since then, Giorgetti has returned time and again to this exemplar of Italian urbanism. Earlier this year, he staged a runway show in a subterranean corridor of the city’s Porta Venezia station, where he sent models across the glossy black Pirelli rubber floors holding prototypes of the handrail sourced from Albini’s archive and wearing black trench coats printed with its image. And more recently, he has collaborated with Milanese brand CC-Tapis and the Franco Albini Foundation on a new rug collection, which also coincides with the metro’s 60th anniversary.