Installed within the opulent neoclassical shell of a historic palace, the set design for Mercedes-Benz Bucharest Fashion Week orchestrates a striking dialogue between ornate permanence and ephemeral minimalism. The grand hall, with its richly ornamented vaulted ceilings, gilded stucco work, and allegorical frescoes, forms a dramatically layered backdrop for a spatial intervention defined by clean lines, smooth surfaces, and calibrated illumination.

Foto: Vlad Pătru

Builder: Mediascope

At the core of the installation is a monolithic architectural insertion—a pair of matte white walls forming a stage-like portal, sharply contrasting the baroque exuberance of the ceiling above. This contemporary gesture interrupts, yet frames, the historical interior, allowing its decorative ceiling fresco to become a theatrical proscenium for the fashion presentation. The lighting design further accentuates this interplay: warm, directional spotlights carve the silhouette of the temporary structure, while a vivid gradient of orange-red emanates from the central aperture, projecting a chromatic heat that dissolves the boundary between object and atmosphere.

A soft knitted textile runway—vibrant red and textured like a cable-knit garment—stretches across the marble floor, introducing a material intimacy that offsets the otherwise rigid geometry of the set. This tactile gesture grounds the installation, tying the performative body to the architecture through a thread of softness and domesticity, echoing the handmade within a setting of grand institutional power.

The mirrored columns and stage lighting rigs dissolve the edges of the space, refracting viewers and architectural fragments alike into shifting patterns. This momentary architecture—discreet yet bold—leverages the tension between contemporary reduction and historical excess, producing a scenographic experience where fashion, body, and built environment cohabit in a carefully choreographed tension.