Gianfranco Ferré ad, 1991, Photographer: Gian Paolo Barbieri Model: Aly Dunne (V&A exhibition publicity)
I went with a friend, who is visiting from the States. We both gaped at the extraordinary workmanship on display, beautifully tailored clothes, amazing gowns, and we appreciated the detail of the designs.
The exhibition was neatly arranged by decade, clothes draped on dummies, with clips from much loved films which helped to put Italian fashion on the map - Roman Holiday, La Dolce Vita and many more.
I much admired the Bulgari jewellery on display, the diamond and emerald parure which Richard Burton gave to Elizabeth Taylor - Bulgari by the way is the main sponsor of this exhibition. I also positively drooled over the shoes and bags I encountered while moving from one gallery to another.
Photographers: Faby and Carlo. Model: myself
What was missing throughout the exhibition was the real body, as clothes have to be worn in order to be truly appreciated. I honestly don't know how this can be resolved in the context of an exhibition - maybe there could be a fashion show with real models wearing replicas? But perhaps that would be incredibly expensive to organise. Still...Maybe more films showing the clothes being actually worn? Dummies do little for me.
It seems that this exhibition is quite a milestone as within Italy fashion is only understood to be a business, not a subject worthy of academic enquiry, thus this kind of effort aimed at tracing the history of fashion is somewhat alien. I can't get my head round it, truly. Or is it that histories of Italian fashion are not available in the English language?
Photographer: Karolina Amberville. Models : myself and Alexa Taylor
I do not have an answer.
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