SCHMOOZING: PALM ANGELS CELEBRATES LAUNCH OF FOUNDER FRANCESCO RAGAZZI’S PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK
The brand Palm Angels started as a photography book by art director Francesco Ragazzi, drawing inspiration from skateboarders frequenting the beaches of Venice in Los Angeles. During Milan Fashion Week, the Palm Angels family celebrated its origins on Saturday, September 21st, at a former military space in Via Vincenzo Monti, Milan. The event hosted the launch of Decoding Palm Culture, a new book by Ragazzi that captures and contextualizes the essence of Palm Angels.
The launch marked a decade since Ragazzi released his first book, also published by Rizzoli New York. Prefaced by Pharrell Williams and featuring Ragazzi’s laconic, dreamlike images of the sun-saturated L.A. skate scene, that original 2014 volume was the Big Bang of the Palm Angels universe.
“Palm Angels the book was a passion project born from my love for photography. It also became the seed of Palm Angels, the fashion brand. That transformation was a happy, unexpected consequence: a spontaneous and wild creative genesis. Ten years on, it seemed right to return to the roots of Palm and revive the process that first birthed our journey into Palm culture. It’s a way of looking back to look forward – a return to the source,” says Ragazzi.
The new volume, Decoding Palm Culture, is curated by Stefano Tonchi and is a portfolio of 50 never-released photographs selected from Ragazzi’s ongoing photographic practice. These images were at the heart of September’s event, where they were installed as a comprehensive exploration of the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of palm trees through the lens of Ragazzi’s photography. The essayist Luca Scarlini, philosopher Emanuele Coccia, and the author Giovanni Aloi have also each penned texts that dive deeply into the artistic and cultural resonance of the palm as a symbol of shelter, aspiration, beauty, and achievement. The book also includes an essay by Ragazzi that explores the origin and achievements of Palm Angels and a foreword by Tonchi.
