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Oct 6 - Oct 13,2002 |
Portraits of ladies recounts high fashion
Rome's Made-in-Italy week reminisces on the origins of famed Italian moda and elegance
By Carmela Piccione
Originally Published: 2002-09-22
Exhibitions, happenings, and parades made High Fashion a protagonist in Roman life, with numerous events that were a triumph for Made-in-Italy designs.
During the High Fashion Week, which took place in Auditorium Park this summer, sophisticated displays accompanied the parades of the big designers. These included the splendid Ritratti di signora (1840-1940), ["Portraits of ladies, 1840-1940"] prepared by Mara Parmegiani at Palazzo Conservatori on Capitol Hill and at the Montemartini Centre; the exhibition by Bonizza Giordani Aragno devoted to Donne tra Brividi ed Emozioni ["Women Between Shivers and Emotions"]; and the collection of Covers 1988-2002 of Vogue Italia at the Vittoriano.
A return to an historic past by retelling the story of the birth of Italian high fashion through extraordinary dresses. "The elegance of the past must be loved, known, studied, analyzed," wrote Gianfranco Ferré in his introductory essay in Ritratto di signora, published by Matilde Scandurra. "Not in order to reproduce uncritically lines and models that today have no more reason to exist, but to acquire a sort of awareness of our roots, without which future fashion could be devoid of any content. I've always thought that 'creating' means looking ahead, reading the reality where we live, feeling its characteristics, its ferments, its signals of evolution; elaborating complete and original expressions through the filter of individual sensitivity and intuition."
Rome's Vice Mayor Enrico Gasbarra supported Ferrè's opinions with programs and ideal choices. "Rome must return to 'wear' the garments of High Fashion," he explained. "And be a reference for world taste, like in the past. We harbour ambitious projects; new ideas must be conceived, a strong identity asserted, with the purpose of binding art, culture and history in a lasting and visible way. For instance, by allowing designers to exhibit their creations among the prestigious Roman monuments."
This is exactly what happened in Rome. The old Ostiense power plant was 'inhabited' all this month by a century of feminine fashion. Crinolines, sumptuous costumes (such as that of Eugenia of Montijo, Empress of France and wife of Napoleon III, who once, at a court ball, wore a dress decorated with as many as 103 ruches) enriched with embroideries, flounces, sequins, wooden decorations and fine braids.
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