Sunnei creative directors Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo announce their departure

A double surprise at Sunnei. First, a show that wasn’t a show. Then, an unexpected announcement two hours later. In a statement issued on Friday evening, Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo explained that they are leaving their mens- and womenswear ready-to-wear label.

“After ten years, we feel an urgent need to change form, but not direction. We will continue to work in the realm of creativity, with even greater freedom, radicalism and a desire to experiment,” they stated in a brief note.

A few hours earlier, the duo behind Sunnei had taken the liberty of showing no looks at all to a room packed with guests. In place of a traditional runway show, they staged a larger-than-life auction in the middle of fashion week, in collaboration with Christie’s—a thinly veiled denunciation of the commodification of creativity.

Once everyone had taken their seats in what appeared to be an auditorium, with an antique wooden lectern bearing the name Christie’s in large gold letters at centre stage, a voice announced that what was about to unfold was not a fashion show but “an urgent act”. Attendants then handed out what looked like a catalogue listing the lots for sale, complete with descriptions and estimated prices.

The first surprise was that the only two lots presented were two enormous wooden crates. The first lot was described as “a testament to Made in Italy, imbued with creativity and a bold aesthetic”, while the second “is sold as a pair.”

“The work is characterised by a continuous dialogue between digital and physical reality, extending to multidisciplinary projects that blur the boundaries between fashion, design and aesthetic exploration.”

At this point, the models entered the room and took up positions behind two huge balustrades on either side, simulating bidders, phones pressed to their ears, while the auctioneer took his place at the lectern and launched the bidding. The first crate contained the Sunnei brand, founded in 2014 and known for its colourful, relaxed fashion with a highly graphic sensibility. The bidding quickly escalated, and the starting price, set at 6 million “fashion dollars”, soared to 112 million.

The second crate was carefully brought onto the stage by white-gloved movers equipped with electric screwdrivers. When they removed the lid, the two designers appeared—Loris perched on Simone’s shoulders. The starting bid was 17 fashion dollars. The lot went for 95 million to resounding applause. Once the sale was over, the models slipped backstage.

Only Messina and Rizzo could have imagined such a scenario to bid farewell to their brand, carrying their demonstration to its logical conclusion at a time when marketing and storytelling prevail over the product, and a mercantile society dominates. As their statement of intent put it, “Fashion is finance, creativity is for sale.”

“More than ever, today’s industry is driven by hidden but powerful dynamics. This performance is not a direct critique, but a hyperbolic theatrical metaphor for this mechanism. The Sunnei auction is intended as both a disruptive artistic act and a conceptual statement—a visual, contradictory staging of the system, where the symbolic defies the concrete and where desire itself is called into question,” they said.

The image of designers selling themselves to the highest bidder is both telling and apt in the current context, where the big luxury groups appear ever more voracious and omnipresent on the global market, while young designers and small independent labels find it increasingly difficult to survive.

This is not the first time Sunnei has challenged the fashion world. Two years ago, the label invited the public to rate its show. Over the years, its presentations have become cult, each time attracting an audience of connoisseurs, blending immersive experiences with artistic performances.

The two designers were the first to stage a show atop the Pirelli skyscraper, beneath Milan’s ring road repainted white for the occasion, and at the bottom of a drained swimming pool. At times, they had their models sprint in a headlong race, launching them into the crowd in a jubilant, airborne glide. Most recently, they marked Sunnei’s tenth anniversary with an all-senior cast.