‘Born in Oasi Zegna: The Book’ looks back to the house’s Alpine roots

Published by Rizzoli, ‘Born in Oasi Zegna’ looks towards the Oasi Zegna natural territory in the Italian Alps, where ZEGNA opened its first wool mill in 1910 and has since fostered a thriving natural ecosystem of more than 500,000 trees

Oasi Zegna, the natural territory where ZEGNA was founded in 1910, which is celebrated in a new Rizzoli-published book ‘Born in Oasi Zegna’
(Image credit: Courtesy of Zegna)
By
published

In partnership with ZEGNA

Amid the picturesque peaks of the Biella Alps in Piedmont, northern Italy, lies Oasi Zegna, a 100 sq km slice of Edenic natural territory where Ermenegildo Zegna – founder of the eponymous Italian house – opened his first wool mill in 1910. Marking not only the birthplace of ZEGNA, it also set out the house’s commitment to the natural world: alongside the mill, Ermenegildo would begin fostering a thriving ecosystem by planting conifer trees, which now number 500,000 and counting. 

Born in Oasi Zegna: The Book

Born in Oasi Zegna Book Cover

‘Born in Oasi Zegna’, published by Rizzoli New York

(Image credit: Courtesy of Zegna)

A richly illustrated new tome from the brand, ‘Born in Oasi Zegna’ celebrates this heritage over a century on (it also marks three decades since Oasi Zegna was designated a natural territory in 1993). Published by Rizzoli New York, the book comprises texts by Italian journalist Chidozie Obasi alongside a catalogue of archival and contemporary images capturing the territory’s lush vegetation and vast undulating landscapes, some adorned with playful illustrations by Paolo Bacilieri, Cecilia Carlstedt and Giuseppe Ragazzini. ZEGNA says that it is a celebration of where its values were born. 

BORN IN OASI ZEGNA_BOOK spread

A spread from the book, featuring an archival photograph of Ermenegildo Zegna, the house’s founder

(Image credit: Courtesy of Zegna)

These values infuse ZEGNA’s collections under Alessandro Sartori, whose oeuvre celebrates the natural fibres that have long been the bedrock of the brand. Recent seasons have seen him exalt cashmere and linen, the runway shows themselves backdropped with vast piles or bales of the fabric in its rawest form. ‘Every road and every path at Zegna starts from and leads to Oasi Zegna,’ says the house. 

BORN IN OASI ZEGNA BOOK INSTALLATION_ZEGNA HQ MILAN

The accompanying ‘Born in Oasi Zegna’ exhibition, which was show at ZEGNA’s HQ during Milan Design Week

(Image credit: Courtesy of Zegna)

The release of the book was celebrated during Milan Design Week this past April with an immersive exhibition that took place at the ZEGNA headquarters and featured vegetation evocative of that found in the territory. On the street, meanwhile, ZEGNA has been named the ‘custodian’ of the flowerbeds on Milan’s Piazza Duomo, which have been planted with flora inspired by Oasi Zegna. 

'Born in Oasi Zegna: The Book’ is published by Rizzoli New York. Out now.

zegna.com

Jack Moss
Fashion Features Editor

Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.

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