Italiana. Italy through the lens of fashion 1971-2001
Italiana. Italy through the lens of fashion 1971-2001.
An exhibition aiming to explore the myth of ‘Made in Italy’ in it’s symbolic home, Milan, is open at Palazzo Reale until May 6th 2018.
A gift from Milan Fashion Week
Milan Fashion Week 2018 and its busy schedule are over, but a gift is left for us to enjoy at Palazzo Reale: a fun, elegant, clever exhibition dedicated to the Italian fashion. Italiana. Italy through the lens of fashion, is set out over nine rooms and is worth a visit for more than one reason… starting with the simple, yet definitely gratifying pleasure of being surrounded by beautiful designers clothes.
Fashion victims, you are welcome!
The cultural and social value of Italian Fashion
On a deeper level, in a Country that has such a lead role in fashion industry, too little was left to the understanding of its history, and even less to the acknowledgment of its cultural role. Have you noticed that the ‘capital of fashion’ has no public -not to say national- museum dedicated to it?
So, an exhibition like this one, comes in help.
The idea here is not that of retracing the dynamics of the entire thing, so to say, from the post war beginnings up to nowadays, that would be really too much. Nonetheless, the curators – Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi, both seriously committed to fashion since a long time – have undertaken an ambitious task: retracing that crucial period that goes from 1971 to 2001.
30 years of Italian fashion on show in Milan
Why focusing on this time interval? Because both years are emblematic and could be seen as the starting and end of a certain idea of ‘made in Italy’.
1971 is the year that symbolizes the birth of Italian ready to wear fashion. It was then when Walter Albini, a mythical, yet sadly often forgotten designer decided to present its collection in Milan, at the Circolo del Giardino. It was a big change as fashion shows traditionally took place in historic Florence at Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti. He did it for a very practical reason: to be close to his means of production. Non the less, it truly was the birth of Italian prêt-à–porter well as the day one of ‘Milan capital of fashion’.
Made in Italy, ready to wear, stilista… a vocabulary of Italian fashion
It is since this pivotal moment, that a different concept of the relationship between design and production started to define what we simply call ‘made in Italy’: a full circle of production that goes from manufacturing, to design, to marketing.
Since then the ‘stilista’, which is still an untranslatable term was born.
Since then ‘Italian style’ become shorthand for good taste.
The story of Italy through the lens of fashion
The nine rooms of the exhibition focus on a series of themes – Identity, Democracy, Logomania, Diorama, Project room, Bazar, Postproduction, Glocalization, The Italy of objects – trying to retrace the story of Italianness through the lens of fashion.
Other creative fields also play a role. Iconic design objects as well as images by iconic photographers like Oliviero Toscani, Alfa Castaldi and Paolo Roversi are on show. Michelangelo Pistoletto, Maurizio Cattelan, Francesco Vezzoli, and Alighiero Boetti are some artists whose work also contributes to the narration of this story.
A story that comes to an end in year 2001.
2001 is not only the moment when 9/11 terrorist attacks shook up the whole international system, it also symbolizes the transition from national to international. The year when Gucci was sold to a French luxury retail group…
In a world where global is the keyword for everything, this exhibitions tries to retrace a crucial period of recent history when ‘made in Italy’ meant something easy to distinguish as Italian only.
ITALIANA. Italy through the lens of fashion 1971-2001, some practical info
February 2 / May 6, 2018
Palazzo Reale, Milan
open daily
For more details check the exhibition webpage.
And if you wish to visit the exhibition with us, send us an email.
You might also wish to know some more about fashion and museums in Milan, if you do , check this out on our website.