ARCHIVIO J.M.Ribot Brings Its Immersive Installation to Dover Street Market Beijing

ARCHIVIO J.M.Ribot’s immersive special installation, A Body Without a Body, has recently arrived at Dover Street Market Beijing in Wangfujing Central, accompanied by the brand’s 21st capsule collection and 10th-anniversary capsule, “The Hollow Carnival.”

Founded by designer Karim Fares, ARCHIVIO J.M.Ribot is rooted in his long-standing archive of antique textiles, vintage clothing, and old objects. Rejecting the fleeting narratives of trend cycles, the brand remains committed to slow, locally made Italian craftsmanship, preserving rather than erasing the traces of time inherent in its materials. Faded textures, mending stitches, and worn imperfections become inseparable parts of each piece. Drawing on the colorful remnants left after a carnival has ended, “The Hollow Carnival” serves as a metaphor for contemporary society: people continually pursue instant consumption and sensory pleasure, while beneath the appearance of abundance lies a sense of emptiness and melancholy. This is the conceptual core of the 21st collection.

The installation makes use of the site’s architectural structure and the flow of visitors, with the building itself forming part of the work. The exhibition space is enclosed by antique screens, while layered scraps of aged wallpaper cover the screens and the venue’s columns, evoking geological strata built up from accumulated memories. At its center, an antique sofa displays timeworn vintage teddy bears marked by repairs, accompanied by arrangements of dried flowers and ribbons. Together, they hold a collective memory in which childhood, emotion, and time intertwine. The central work, “A Body Without a Body,” is composed of layers of clothing piled one atop another. Beneath torn, weathered fabrics, layers of old garments gradually emerge. Each textile layer is a sediment of memory: though the body has vanished, the wear and mending preserved in the fabric recall the traces of human presence.

The exhibition also presents ARCHIVIO J.M.Ribot’s two principal creative threads: a limited collection newly made from antique fabrics, and the one-of-a-kind Riforma collection, created by reworking vintage garments. Every piece is handmade in Italy. Industrial overlocking is eschewed in favor of interior details such as hand-worked buttonholes and irregular stitching, inviting visitors to linger over the stories held within the materials.