The Australian Financial Review has a rather straightforward tour of the large number of fashion tycoons who have become arts patrons through private museums and foundations. The most visible example is Bernard Arnault’s Louis Vuitton museum in Paris but the story looks at Max Mara, Prada, Marc Jacobs, Bulgari and Kering (though not Artemis and Francois Pinault’s collections in Venice.) Here’s Miuccia Prada on being an anti collector:

“I hate the idea of being a collector,” she said. “I really hate it. I’m not a collector. I grew up with the idea that art is for everybody and not a matter of private ownership, but sometimes you want to have it.

“I am and want to be an active part of shaping culture, but I am patronising nothing. I hate all of that. I don’t want to be perceived like that, which is why we never sponsor exhibitions.”

It is no overstatement when I say Milan has been desperate for a stimulating cultural hangout like this for too long, the city being devoid of the world-class art attractions that London, New York, Paris and Berlin have to offer. But it takes a private enterprise to do it, as the Italian economy struggles to rebound from its longest recession on record. In the same spirit, Arnault’s Fondation Louis Vuitton gives Paris a new private museum at a time when private museums in France are few and far between.

Luxury Branded Art Galleries Are a Growing Trend (Australian Financial Review)