Wearable Works of Art

Colomba Leddi

Art Room

22 February 2026 — 28 March 2026

‘Sketches are never entirely precise,’ writes forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort in her new column. ‘They may diverge from the final execution and therefore possess a vivid dynamism.’ Colomba Leddi’s sketches are artworks – and at the same time patterns for garments that you can cut out and assemble yourself. ‘When she discovered the allure of watercolour, she realised that her drawings could invite others to create clothing together with her.’ In this Art Room, discover Leddi’s iconic hand-painted watercolours on cotton – patterns you can transform into wearable pieces.

Lidewij Edelkoort

‘Do-It-Almost-Yourself is Colomba’s proposal to the amateur: to sew a garment by perfectly following the deliberately imperfect contour, allowing variations and interpretations to emerge and enabling the design to be tailored to fit. Each work thus becomes different and uniquely itself; every maker influences the outcome. Yet for Colomba, rendering a paper pattern is also a moment to draw inspiring canvases featuring creations such as pink girls’ dresses or blue boys’ suits, a light green overcoat and a BIC-blue blazer—iconic garments that, sketched together, form a collection that holds her fashion in palpable tension.’

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Colomba Leddi was born in Milan and grew up in a creative household with a mother who was a music teacher and a father who was a painter. She studied at the Istituto Marangoni and joined the Frammenti Group in 1992, where she began experimenting with artisanal techniques in fashion. In 1996 she opened her own Atelier on Via Revere in Milan, where she collects natural elements such as petals, feathers and stones, transforming them through digital processes into textile prints for clothing and interiors. Alongside her label, she works as a costume designer for theatre and film and teaches at NABA in Milan.