Renata Molho

Drinking Milan. Renata Molho. Interview by Federico Sarica. Vice. Spring 2008. 

excerpted quotes:

"In a certain sense. Of course, we still had hierarchies, and I couldn't speak informally to everyone, but there was a certain egalitarianism. For example, in the via Totona area, which has now become Milan's fashion hub with 300 bars and restaurants and showrooms and studios, there was only one bar. It was called Telex. We all used to go there, every last one of us. It was just a normal Italian bar, but the owners would prepare mountains of fresh oysters and liters of campari and you'd sit in this bar with Richard Avedon or Olivier Toscani or David Bailey."

"Right, it was the era of Craxi, and the Milan-based Socialist party ruled the country. Easy money, constant partying, and one out of two people in the street was a foreigner. It was a very superficial atmosphere, but it was vibrant. The fashion money funded the arts. Think about the Fiorucci store that was entirely painted by Keith Haring. There was a sensation that everything was possible."

"The two things are too connected. But it is undeniable that money was the fuel of that period. When the money stopped coming in, everything else stopped too." 

"Seeing one picture of Chagall is much more important than reading all the issues of Vogue ever published."