Relative newcomer Prada, on the other hand, is going public: The company's art arm, the Fondazione Prada, has enlisted architect Rem Koolhaas to design a new contemporary art museum on an industrial site south of Milan.

WSJ: The Fashion Set Saves Italy

In 1940 he became the first head of the industrial design department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where he organized a contemporary furniture competition that launched the careers of Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames.

FORBES: Money Follows Form

Graphic, product, and industrial design influenced by art and fashion, and vice versa, are the focus of this new design movement.

BBC: The City of Light becomes the city of design