Designer Dries Van Noten is set to open his new Fondazione at Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice on April 25 with an exhibition titled “The Only True Protest Is Beauty.” The presentation features around 200 works blending fashion, craft, and art from various makers and periods. Van Noten describes beauty as essential in challenging times, drawing from a 1960s line by Phil Ochs.
Palazzo Pisani Moretta, with its 18th-century stuccoed ceilings and ornate rooms, hosts the inaugural show. Anchored by large-scale photographs from Canadian artist Steven Shearer, the exhibition displays ceramics, clothing, glass, and jewelry by emerging and established creators. Highlights include a 2024 Comme des Garçons sculptural look topped with a Julien d’Ys headpiece, Kaori Kurihara’s gilded Pierrot Fleuri (2025) piece, Alexander Kirkeby’s crystalline works alongside 18th-century family glassware, and Christian Lacroix’s final robe de mariée in the Camerino d’Oro room filled with antique Chinoiseries. A monumental sculpture by Peter Buggenhout greets visitors in the portego, made from scraps yet poetic and forceful, as Van Noten noted during preparations on the eve of the opening. He explained the title’s origin: “A couple of years ago, I came across a 1960s Phil Ochs’s line: ‘in such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.’ It stuck.” Van Noten emphasized beauty’s role beyond decoration, helping people endure reality. He included pieces by Ayham Hassam, a designer from Ramallah, whose words resonated: “We, as Palestinians, don’t get the luxury of turning away. But we also can’t only mourn... That’s why beauty matters. That’s why fashion matters.” Fashion acts as a punctuation mark, limited to Comme des Garçons, Hassam, and Lacroix, including a storied 1988 Vogue cover jacket by Lacroix worn by Michaela Bercu with Guess jeans. Patrick Vangheluwe, Van Noten’s partner and Fondazione co-founder, remarked, “There’s beauty that hurts,” capturing the unsettling aspects amid opulent harmony. The exhibition aims to provoke questions about beauty’s nature amid memento mori themes and vanitas. It opens to the public April 25, 2026, with reservations via the Fondazione’s website.
