Milan is home to Europe's largest fashion bookshop and library

There has long been debate over Milan's role as the capital of European fashion, and at the end of each fashion week, its dominance is weighed. A monopoly that over the years has often yielded to the grandeur of Paris, the extravagance of London, and even the exoticism of New York, Hong Kong, Copenhagen. In a scenario where it seems that the home of Made in Italy has lost its global appeal, not everyone knows that 15 kilometers from the city center, at Via I Maggio 13 in Vanzago to be precise, an industrial space not only houses a large portion of global fashion knowledge but lays the foundation for a dynamic hub, breathing new life into the hopes of the Lombard capital. Unlike the limited editions of Rare Books in Paris or Motto Books in Berlin, Milano Fashion Library ranks as the largest thematic fashion library in Europe, with over 75,000 publications including magazines, lookbooks, and catalogs, all housed in a loft of over 500 square meters, where industry professionals, students, and casual enthusiasts meet. 

Two years after its founding, Milano Fashion Library is the largest Italian archive dedicated to the textile, apparel, fashion, and accessories sectors, with publications ranging from 1850 to today. The collection includes countless now-out-of-print titles, which provide an inexhaustible source of inspiration for all creatives. Despite the size of the archive, Pietro Valisi, son of founder and CEO Diego Valisi, emphasizes that the activity «is still in its infancy. We have 10,000 followers on Instagram, we cater to a niche, but we can conduct an analysis of a market that is certainly influenced by various factors yet follows precise patterns. There are brand catalogs that can become highly sought after for one season only to be forgotten for years. The same happens with magazines: the December edition of Vogue can cost hundreds of euros more than the November issue of the same year, perhaps because a particular photographer, model, or designer was especially trendy at the time. It’s a volatile market.»

But the services offered by MFL go far beyond simple sales and consultation, spanning from creativity to forensics. Alongside library and bookstore activities, there is a consulting service focused especially on iconographic research, the organization of exhibitions, the rental of publications for photo shoots, events, and fairs, as well as sourcing rare editions upon specific request by international companies and style offices, developing targeted research projects. Other times, the team is responsible for recreating entire archives for brands that, over the course of their history, have made the mistake of not keeping track of their work. Among the biggest challenges is still digitization: «the real problem is getting online. To list a publication for sale on the website takes about thirty minutes; if we multiply that by the 75,000 volumes in our archive, it becomes an endless amount of time» says Valisi. Yet MFL has just opened the doors of a flagship in Dubai and the first in Modes on Piazza Risorgimento 8 in Milan as part of a series of shop-in-shop spaces in major Italian multibrand fashion stores. The activity continues to achieve goals, confronting us with the most precious asset for brands in the digital age: a physical archive.