THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COSTUME MUSEUMS AND COSTUME EXHIBITIONS OF ITALY
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COSTUME MUSEUMS AND COSTUME EXHIBITIONS OF ITALY
Italy is world famous for its creativity, innovation and high manufacturing skills in fashion. Italy is also rich in fashion museums and exhibitions to preserve its creative heritage. In addition to the world-renowned museums such as the Ferragamo Museum in Florence and the Fortuny Museum in Venice and the new Armani Silo in Milan, there are many other treasures to discover. Amour Fou & Art has compiled them here. Hopefully a trip to Italy will be permitted soon.
FLORENCE
PALAZZO PITTI
The Museum of Costume and Fashion (formerly known as the Costume Gallery) is located in the Palazzina della Meridiana next to the south wing of the Pitti Palace. The dynasties, from the Habsburg-Lorraine family to the House of Savoy, including the reign of Maria Luisa of Parma and the brief reign of Elisa Baciocchi, have left their mark on the furnishings and decorative murals. The Costume Museum was founded in 1983 and was the first state museum in Italy dedicated to the history of fashion and its social significance.
The collections include clothing, jewellery and accessories from the 18th century to the present day, as well as a fascinating group of stage costumes worn by film, theatre and opera stars in works by famous 20th century directors. Among the antique garments are the 16th century mourning dresses of Cosimo I de' Medici, Eleanor of Toledo and her son Garzia de' Medici.
Palazzo Pitti
Piazza de' Pitti, 1 50125 Firenze
THE COSTUMES OF THE FONDAZIONE FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI
Over 250 works by the legendary director are on display in one of the most beautiful buildings in Florence. Sketches, drawings and costumes from operas and films, including Julia's costume.
Franco Zeffirelli Museo
Piazza San Firenze, 5
50122 Firenze
info@fondazionefrancozeffirelli.com
FERRAGAMO MUSEO
The museum is in the basement of the palace and has changing exhibitions. In the past, the shoe of Cinderella from the famous film adaptation with Drew Barrymore was on display. There is also an impressive collection of Marilyn Monroe's costumes and shoes.
An impressive quote by Salvatore Ferragamo is the following:
"I shall go on for ever. I have only just begun to work. I am still perfecting myself for the work I have to do in the future. I have plenty of time. I know I am going to do it. If it is not done with this body it will be done with another. We are all flowing with the eternal tide, and of the eternal tide only is there no end."
(From Salvatore Ferragamo's autobiography, The Shoemaker of dreams', Electa, Milan 2020, Chapter XXII p. 238)
Ferragamo Museo
Piazza di Santa Trinita, 5R, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
PRATO
MUSEO DEL TESSUTO
The Museo del Tessuto is the largest cultural centre in Italy dedicated to the promotion of historical and contemporary textile production and art. The museum represents the historical memory and cultural interface of the district of Prato, home to Italian textile production since the Middle Ages. There are over 7000 textile companies in Prato. The museum was founded in 1975 within the Industrial Technical Textile Institute "Tullio Buzzi". 600 historical textiles were donated. Since 2012, the museum has the status of "Museum of Regional Importance" according to art. 20 and 21 of the Regional Law no. 21 of 25 February 2010.
Museo del Tessuto
Via Puccetti 3
59100 Prato (PO)
VENICE
Photo: Alex Dinaut
VENICE
THE MUSEUM OF PALAZZO MOCENIGO
The last descendant of the family, Alvise Nicolò, bequeathed the palazzo to the city in 1945 on condition that the city make an "art gallery to complete the Correr Museum". In 1985, the palazzo was opened to the public and became the seat of the Centre for the Study of Textile, Costume and Perfume History, which houses the extensive collections of antique fabrics and garments of the Civic Museums of Venice - most of which come from the Correr, Guggenheim, Cini and Grassi collections. Palazzo Mocenigo also houses a well-stocked library specialising in the history of fabrics, costumes and fashion.
The rooms reflect the different aspects of the life and activities of a Venetian nobleman between the 17th and 18th centuries. Fashion and costumes have always played an important role in the history of Venice.
THE MUSEUM OF PALAZZO MOCENIGO
Santa Croce, 1992, 30135 Venezia
www.mocenigo.visitmuve.it
FORTUNY MUSEO
History of the palace actually Palazzo Pesaro Orfei is linked to the Spanish-born artist and designer Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo. He was a painter, sculptor, stage designer, lighting designer, fashion designer, textile manufacturer and inventor. He had bought the palace in 1898 to set up his workshop there and restored the building again and again in the following decades.
He owed his business success above all to fashion design and textile production, which he ran together with his wife Henriette Negrin and for which he invented new techniques, such as a special type of pleating, and even innovative machines.
The printed fabric company he founded in Venice, Tessuti Artistici Fortuny, is still active today. After Fortuny's death in 1956, the palace was bequeathed to the city of Venice, with the stipulation that "it be used permanently as a cultural centre related to art".
Fortuny Museo
S. Marco, 3958, 30124 Venezia
VILLA FOSCARINI ROSSI
The shoe museum was born from the initiative of Luigino Rossi, president of Calzaturificio, to exhibit the most representative pieces created by the company during its activity. Rossimoda produces luxury women's shoes, thanks to the acquisition of licences from high fashion brands.
The seventeenth-century architectural complex of Villa Foscarini Rossi is located in Stra, between Padua and Venice, on the banks of the Brenta River.
VILLA FOSCARINI ROSSI VENICE
Via Doge Pisani 1/2
30039 Stra - Venezia - Italia
Email: infomuseo@villafoscarini.it
MILANO
ARMANI-SILOS
Armani/silos is a living space that illustrates Giorgio Armani's professional experience and reveals a rich heritage of unique know-how. With his museum, the designer wants to shape the future and create a showcase for new attitudes and lifestyles that captures the changing times and cultures.
The official opening of the space coincided with the start of expo milano 2015, whose special ambassador for fashion was Giorgio Armani. Armani/silos is located in a former granary. Giorgio Armani decided to call it Silos "because this building used to be used to store food, which is of course essential for life. For me, clothing is as much a part of life as food".
His search for simplicity, preference for regular geometric shapes and desire for uniformity produced a sober yet monumental building based on the rule of order and rigour.
Armani Silos
Via Bergognone, 40 Milan, Italy
PALAZZO MORANDO
The architecture of Palazzo Morando is extremely elegant with arcades, mosaic floors and stylishly furnished rooms. The palazzo housed important aristocratic families and intellectuals such as the Casati (late sixteenth century - 1713), the Villa (1733-1845) and De Cristofori (1845-1877).
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Palazzo Morando was donated to the city of Milan by Lydia Caprara Morando Bolognini, an intellectual countess without heirs. Until after the Second World War, Palazzo Sormani housed the Museum of the City of Milan in its monumental rooms. Later, the Sormani Museum collection was moved to Palazzo Morando. Later, a costume collection was also brought in and thus Palazzo Morando, regained its dual identity as Milanese art gallery and noble residence.
Palazzo Morando
Via Sant'Andrea, 6, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
www.costumemodaimmagine.mi.it
ROME
ROME
MUSEO BONCOMPAGNI LUDOVISI
The Boncompagni Ludovisi Museum is above all the residence of a princess - Blanceflor Boncompagni Ludovisi de Bildt. Entering the sumptuous villa museum that the Swedish-born princess (born in Siena in 1891 to Baron Carl Bildt and his wife Alexandra, née Keiller) bequeathed to the Italian state in her will, and which is now part of the Lazio Museum Complex, also means searching for clues to reconstruct the personality of a woman who was icily beautiful but with a temperament ahead of her time.
She was a cultured and beautiful woman - this is evident from the portraits hanging in the halls on the ground floor of the building, furnished in an eclectic style and decorated with paintings by famous painters, magnificent tapestries and Persian rugs of rare value. Blanceflor, known to everyone only as "the princess", is the queen of this residence, whose salon is home to literary figures, artists and diplomats. But she is also the protagonist of a love story in which fate takes her side, despite the rigid labels that apply in the aristocratic world to which she belongs.
Museo Boncompagni Ludovisi
Via Boncompagni, 18 - 00187 - Roma
TIRELLI COSTUMI
In Formello, near Rome, there is a 6,000-square-metre building in which more than 15,000 authentic period costumes and more than 200,000 costumes from all periods are hung. Increased by Umberto Tirelli's passion for collecting and later by Dino Trappetti's perseverance. Tirelli's own tailor shop, which has made costumes for films all over the world, is world-renowned. This repertoire of five decades of scenic art in the service of theatre, cinema and opera is unique in the world.
The tailor shop has executed the designs of great costume designers such as Lila de Nobili, Piero Tosi, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Gabriella Pescucci, Milena Canonero, Maurizio Millenotti, Ann Roth.... to their present-day imitators such as Carlo Poggioli, Alessandro Lai and Massimo Cantini Parrini.
Tirelli Costumi
Via degli Olmetti, 44 - 00060 Formello
www.tirellicostumi.com
"Daring to wear something different takes effort."
Miuccia Prada
"I hope people will say, 'Mr. Valentino, he did something for fashion, no?"
Valentino Garavani
"I always loved aesthetics. Not particularly fashion, but an idea of beauty."
Miuccia Prada
KASTELRUTH, SOUTH TYROL
TRADITIONAL COSTUME MUSEUM OF KASTELRUTH
South Tyrolean traditional costumes are famous for their beauty. It is interesting to note that almost every village and town has its own traditional costume. These garments are worn on every festive occasion, such as religious festivals or processions. At the time of Charlemagne, the peasantry was not allowed to wear expensive clothes and people of the lower social classes were not allowed to wear more than a loden jacket or make their own clothes.
Expensive fabrics such as silk and brocade were reserved for the wealthier people in society. It was not until Empress Maria Theresa that this law was changed to allow the population to wear traditional costumes of any style.
Museum of Traditional Costumes of Castelrotto
Historical residence Lächler
Krausen Place 2, 39040 Castelrotto
CODROIPO
ROBERTO CAPUCCI FOUNDATION
The Foundation was established on 15 September 2005 together with Associazione Civita - an association working in the field of promotion and development of Italian cultural heritage. The Roberto Capucci Foundation was created with the aim of showcasing the Italian tradition of refinement, style and passion for beauty. It also aims to showcase the know-how of high craftsmanship and the importance of experimentation in the world of fashion. By developing and promoting the work of Roberto Capucci, the Foundation aims to stimulate the emergence of innovative ideas by organising exhibitions and cultural events.
The Roberto Capucci Foundation's heritage consists of:
465 dresses and sculpture dresses
296 illustrations
Around 22,000 original sketches
52 sketchbooks
374 audiovisual works
Around 50,000 photographs
Around 50,000 press articles
fondazionerobertocapucci.it
Villa Manin, Piazza Manin 10, 33033 Codroipo
VIGEVANO
MUSEO INTERNAZIONALE DELLA CALZATURA
This museum is one of the most beautiful shoe museums in the world. It is a fascinating multimedia project that has a Shoe Style Lab, a collection of shoes from all periods and a "Stanza della Duchessa" that tells the story of Duchess Beatrice D'Este and her shoes.
Castello Sforzesco, Vigevano
PISA
FONDAZIONE CERRATELLI
The Cerratelli Foundation was founded in 2005 in San Giuliano Terme by Floridia Benedettini and the Cerratelli family to preserve the heritage of the more than 30,000 historical and stage costumes collected and produced by the Florentine Art House, as well as the hundreds of haute couture dresses and thousands of theatrical costumes produced by the Atelier Carnet in Pisa during more than 40 years of activity.
Fondazione Cerratelli
Via Consoli del Mare, 13 Pisa (PI)
http://fondazionecerratelli.it
SPOLETO
SPOLETO COSTUME MUSEUM
The Textile and Costume Museum, located in the historic Palazzo Rosari - Spada, presents only a part of the remarkable heritage of the museum, which consists of more than 2500 pieces. Sacred and historical vestments are exhibited in five rooms, including the Empire-style dress that belonged to Alexandrine Bonaparte, Napoleon's niece.
Spolteo Costume Museum
Via delle Terme, 5, 06049 Spoleto
ALETHEA MAGAZINE
VILLA ALETHEA /
ALETHEA GALLERY
Kundenservice
Mon - Fri: 10 - 19 h
Phone/Tel: 0049 173 280 1001
Email: cm@ateliersignoria.com
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